8 reasons your travel complaint is being ignored

5. Writing long

For some reason, lots of travelers want to compose the great American novel when they complain. Who knows why? The essentials of a long — and likely to be ignored — letter include the following: first, it must be incomprehensibly verbose. I’ve read letters that run more than eight pages, single-spaced. Instead of clear, simple language they use big, empty words.

Another telltale sign of a long and ineffective letter is a timeline. “Saturday morning, 9 a.m., tried to board flight; Saturday late morning, 11:45 a.m., flight delayed; Saturday afternoon, 2 p.m. flight FINALLY boarded.” No one needs this information. In fact, these specifics probably are standing between you and the compensation you deserve. Why? Because customer service agents will take a quick look at it and then send — you guessed it — a form response. Save the details for court.

6. Not offering a solution

Most travelers with a solid case do a fine job of explaining their problems. But not everyone offers a solution. This makes the travel company’s job exceptionally difficult. Now their customer service agents must guess what it would take to make you happy. Is a letter of apology enough? A voucher? A couple thousand frequent flier miles? Or are we talking real money? Here’s the problem: The customer service agent will almost always err on the low side, offering a highly restricted certificate instead of a refund, or just sending you a cleverly-worded apology and hoping it will be enough. It hardly ever is.

7. Being impolite

I shouldn’t have to tell you that yelling on the phone or online by typing in ALL UPPERCASE is a terrible idea. You will get hung up on. Your letter will be taken to the dumpster. Remember, the customer-service department is staffed with real people. How would you feel if you got an e-mail that said: “This is the WORST HOTEL IN THE WORLD and you should all be ashamed of yourselves.” Doesn’t make you want to do something nice for that person does it?

8. Threatening

If you’ve ever wanted to end a complaint letter — or phone call, for that matter — with the words “I’LL NEVER FLY YOUR AIRLINE AGAIN!” or “I’LL SEE YOU IN COURT!” then let me offer a little advice. Don’t. Threats won’t just guarantee your failure. You could also end up on a company’s blacklist (oh yes, they have them) or if your threat is serious enough — say, you threaten the president of the company with bodily harm — then you find yourself on the wrong side of the law. Interestingly, when I see one of these letters in my “in” box, it’s attached to a note sheepishly asking me why the traveler hasn’t heard anything from the airline or hotel. Hmm, let’s see. Maybe it’s because you threatened to boycott the airline.

I was tempted to include a few real-world examples of travelers saying things that guaranteed their complaints would be ignored. But no. I’m not here to embarrass anyone. As long as you remember to complain only when you have a good reason, put it in writing, tell them what you want and mind your manners, you’ll get what you deserve.