Clark loves discount airlines like Southwest, JetBlue, AirTran, Frontier and others. When they go into a market, airfares start dropping like flies.

In April, the consumer champ took an hourlong flight to a market that was only served by full-fare airlines. He had to pay $1,350 RT! Had he had access to a discounter, he would have paid at most a few hundred dollars for the same trip.

Little wonder then that discounters are the only ones making money right now. The full-fares, meanwhile, are reporting major losses of up to $250,000 billion each quarter.

How is it that the discounters can offer their services so much cheaper? Typically, they run a much simpler business. The full-fares fly up to 8 or 10 types of airplanes in their fleets. Discounters, however, will only fly one or two types of jets.

In addition, discounters put the focus on customers by offering deals instead of trying to come up with new ways to fee you to death like the full-fares.

Let's take a closer look at the fees. Discounters like Southwest and JetBlue charge you zero to check-in a bag. The full-fares generally charge $15-$25 for the first bag.

How about sending a minor unaccompanied on a flight? Most discounters will charge you $25-$50. The full-fares will run you $100.

When it comes to talking to a human over the phone, a discounter like Southwest lets you do that for free. Most of the full-fares, however, will charge you $20-$25 to pick up the phone.

And taking a pet on the airplane? The full-fares will charge up to $150. Southwest, however, charges zero dollars.

Visit Kayak.com for a full list of airline fees.

The price-fixing of fuel surcharges is something that really burns Clark up. When the cost of a barrel of oil dropped, the surcharges did not go away. Anyone smell a rat here?

The Wall Street Journal reports that this rat may be bigger than previously thought. The CEO of Virgin Atlantic Airways admits he was involved in the price-fixing of fuel surcharges with British Airways and other unnamed airlines.

Need another clear indication that fuel surcharges are just a bogus ploy? Consider this: A shorter international flight often has a higher surcharge than a longer flight.

There is a simple way to fix this: Require airlines to quote the entire price of a ticket (including fuel surcharges) in advertisements, to travel agents and on the web.

Clark is upset that no one at Virgin or BA is going to prison over this debacle. Every executive involved at every airline should go to jail. Monetary slaps on the wrist are not enough.

On a brighter note, airfares for both domestic and international travel will be fantastic this fall. Why? Air travel is discretionary and people simply aren't traveling like they once did. So look for deals from September up to mid-December -- except right around Thanksgiving.

And when you get where you're going, the hotel rates will be great too. The Smith Travel Research firm says the average room rate has dropped 10% year over year.

An enterprising musician who had his guitar broken by United Airlines has created a protest song that's become a runaway web sensation.

Dave Carroll's $3,500 Taylor guitar was broken by United baggage handlers at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in the spring of 2008. During the ensuing 9-month period, Carroll attempted to get some compensation for the guitar. But he was repeatedly given the runaround by customer no service representatives.

His response? To film a video for an original song called "United Breaks Guitars" that has now gotten nearly 3 million views on YouTube. See the video here:



After the surprising success of Carroll's clip, United came back with its tail between its legs and offered to make him whole. But the disgruntled musician refused and told United to donate the money to a charity of his choice.

The lesson here is that the web gives consumers a new level of power against businesses that have wronged them. There's a similar kind of power in sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor. Both sites cull the collective wisdom of users' experiences with a variety of companies so you know who is safe and who to avoid.

In an example of the collective wisdom sites at work, Clark's brother called him one night in need of last-minute accommodations in Bryce City, Utah. Clark used TripAdvisor to locate hotels in the area and read the online reviews to help his brother make an informed decision.

Meanwhile, The Financial Times of London reports that 92% of people say they trust word of mouth from friends, associates and colleagues when it comes to making a consumer decision. 75% say they trust collective wisdom sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. And only 60% of people report trusting traditional image-based advertising.

United would do well to remember it's no longer about the image you try to portray in commercials. What really matters is the trust you establish with customers based on how you treat them everyday.

Clear -- the verified identity program for travelers -- has gone bust and left business travelers across the nation high and dry.

Executive producer Christa is among those impacted. Clark, however, is a member of a Clear competitor called Preferred Traveler.

Unless you signed up for Clear within the last 60 days, you'll probably have to kiss your money goodbye. If you are lucky enough to be within the 60-day limit, you can do a credit card charge-back (aka dispute) to get your money back.

The consumer champ had been hoping that Clear would bring some real security to the United States, with its emphasis on retinal and fingerprint scans. But in the end, it was nothing more than a "glorified front-of-the-line experience," according to Clark.

It's been almost a full 8 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And in that time, we've done remarkably little to ensure safety for air travelers.

The crux of the problem goes back to former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who is of Japanese descent. Mineta came from a family that spent time in a Japanese internment camp and understandably took a very PC approach to airport security and issues of profiling.

So now we have to tiptoe through the airport while barefoot and segregate our liquids. It's just plain silly. Clark's wife calls it "security theater."

What's even sillier is that we're not relying on human intelligence. In Europe, they have trained staff to look you in the eye and ask targeted questions. They then make a human determination about whether you seem suspiciously deceptive or nervous in your answers.

In addition, Clark says it's terrible that we haven't hired an entity like the Israeli government -- from a country that faces plenty of security threats each day -- to come and advise us on how to run real airport security.

We've blown this for almost 8 years now. Yet with the collapse in tourism and business travel, now is a good time to make amends.

Speaking of tourism, The Orlando Sentinel reports that hotel occupancy in May was at 58%, down from 70% a year ago. That means the deals are everywhere.

The last time Clark looked, he saw decent hotels in Orlando for $35/night. Hotel rates at decent New York hotels are in the $90/range.

If you have the money, now is a great time to take advantage of the deals.

Swine flu fear got the best of Carnival Cruise Lines when they decided to skip ports of call in Mexico and then refused to compensate disappointed customers, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Normally, cruise companies reserve the right to change the itinerary at will. They can usually skip stops or change ports without much fanfare. But Carnival was in a unique position because of their much-publicized vacation guarantee that basically offers a money-back guarantee if you're displeased with your vacation for any reason.

The question is, should Carnival be allowed to make an over-the-top guarantee and then decide it doesn't apply because of the enormous fear surrounding swine flu?

Clark thinks Carnival is just plain wrong here. If you are going to hold yourself out as offering better consumer protection than the rest of the industry, you have to make good on it.

Carnival may have gotten some short-term benefit because they didn't have to pay out, but think about the long-term disaster in breaking trust with their customers.

You know this will end up in court, the lawyers will get rich, Carnival will look even worse and the customers will get some level of compensation.

So why not do it right from the start and avoid all that hassle?

Price-fixing on fuel surcharges is something that really burns Clark up. What a joke; the cost of a barrel of oil is lower today than it was a year ago. Yet if you buy an international ticket today, you'll almost certainly get ripped off by these bogus surcharges.

A new study from USA Today and FareCompare.com shows that surcharges are not in any way related to the distance you're flying. A shorter international flight can have a higher surcharge than a longer one. It's not legal to fix a price in the United States, but that's exactly what's going on here.

In another example, Christa found a $65 roundtrip international fare -- but when she added in the junk fees it was over $400! Clark says if they want to charge more, fine, do it. But don't lie to customers with phony fuel surcharges.

New Jersey senator Robert Menendez is the only member of Congress making any noise about this perversion of capitalism in the airline industry. Senator Menendez wrote the CEOs of 11 airlines to complain about fuel surcharges. Meanwhile, Clark has heard anecdotally that people are on a buyer's strike over these pricy international tickets.

Yet some things about travel are getting better. Hotels are a deal as people aren't flying and car rental rates are low. Clark is getting his next rental for $16/day -- and he thinks even that is too much! In another example, tourist attractions are cutting prices because they have no customers. So if you can drive somewhere for vacation, then you're getting a real steal of a deal as the cost of gasoline drops.

Finally, the TSA will have a new procedure coming that will allow you to pack big bottles again -- no more of the 3-ounce containers. This is not in place yet, but it's coming at a soon-to-be-determined date.

A few weeks ago, Clark told you about some trouble he had with Orbitz during a recent trip to visit his affiliates at WDBO in Orlando. After he went on the air with the story, he realized that he hit a nerve with people who have had trouble booking travel online. The Orbitz customer no service experience prompted Team Clark to take a look at Travelocity and Expedia. Clark's producer Kim had to contact Expedia 8 times to get a response. Travelocity answered promptly, but here's the sad truth about Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity: None of them have real travel agents answering the phones. They outsource customer no service across the globe to people who may have never left the borders of their own country. Why would you pay these companies a service fee to book with them when you can't get an experienced travel agent to help you?

Clark and Christa were recently in Milwaukee visiting affiliates at WTMJ. Clark was reading the Financial Times of London and there was an insert about Mauritius. That's where Clark's initial call to Orbitz was bounced. During the call, he spoke to a lovely woman with an intriguing accent who wasn't really able to help resolve his issue. That's symbolic of the problem with customer service at these online travel sites. Know that if you do book with these big outfits, they all deliver major customer no service. After all, there aren't any actual employees or actual travel agents available to help you!

Were you one of those cruise customers who got hit with a fuel surcharge fee after you booked on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity? Florida's attorney general has reached a deal to refund this rip-off surcharge to customers. The cruise industry is controlled by a small number of players who act in utter arrogance, so Clark is pleased to see this latest development. He completely supports the right of any business to jack their rates to whatever they want before a sale. But to tack on bogus fees after the fact is disgusting. While the attorney general deserves kudos, where was the FTC on this issue?

Clark has a personal experience of customer-no-service to relate that dovetails very nicely with all the talk of the ACSI results and the Business Week cover story. The penny-pinching guru was recently in Orlando with his associate producer Joel, marking his 10th anniversary of syndication at WDBO. The affiliate wanted Clark to book his own hotel because Clark usually thinks they overpay for his accommodations. Clark enlisted Christa's help, and she found rooms for $57/night on Orbitz. Being 24 years old and a lover of CouchSurfing.com, Joel does not have high standards when it comes to hotels. But even he thought the place was a dump! So Joel and Clark immediately checked out. Clark went on Hotwire and found a last-minute place that was great. Then he called Orbitz to get a refund of what he paid for the first hotel. He initially spoke to a lovely customer service rep in Mauritius, but was then bumped around 7 times to different people with no resolution. Each time he had to explain his situation anew. It was like Groundhog Day. Clark also tried e-mailing Orbitz but didn't get any response. He doesn't like to use his platform to air personal vendettas, but this just goes to show that even consumer advocates can get the short end of the customer-no-service stick.

Clark is a frequent traveler, and it's not too long ago that he recalls people queuing up in airports at endless banks of payphones. The mad rush for payphones in the pre-cell phone days gave rise to a dangerous crime called shoulder surfing. Criminals would pretend to videotape family members near the gates, but they'd really be filming people punching in their long-distance calling card numbers. The crooks would turn around and sell those codes all around the country within minutes of filming.

The days of shoulder surfing are now long gone; payphones may be the next to go. AT&T has announced that it's getting out of the payphone business. There are some 300 million people in our country and more than 250 million of them have cell phones. The 50 million that don't is largely made up of children, such as Clark's 2-year-old son and his 8-year-old daughter. But while we no longer have to worry about shoulder surfing, we can still fall victim if our cell phones are stolen. Clark gets tons of calls from people who get stuck with a huge bill when criminals make international calls on their phones. So it may be wise to get your international long distance blocked. At the very least, be sure to report your phone stolen as soon as possible. That way you'll be able to avoid this costly mess. On a related note, Continental Airlines in Houston now allows you to check in with your cell phone just by showing your e-boarding pass.

The airlines are behaving so badly these days. Continental is often thought of as delivering the best customer service, yet something might be going wrong judging from the slew of recent horror stories Clark's been hearing. First there was the tale of Continental's sewage-filled flight from Europe to New Jersey. Apparently there was a malfunctioning toilet that wasn't fixed before takeoff. It spilled raw sewage up and down the aisles all across the Atlantic. The company's response to that incident was lame at best.

Now there's been another Continental snafu that's caught Clark's attention. This one concerns a passenger revolt that took place on a grounded Continental flight, and it was first reported in The Baltimore Sun. About two weeks ago, a flight from Venezuela to Newark, N.J., was diverted to Baltimore because of bad weather. Once the plane touched ground, it sat on the tarmac for five to seven hours. Worse still, the passengers had no food, no water and no working toilets or toilet paper. So some travelers began rhythmically clapping their hands in protest while others beat out an accompaniment on the overhead bins. The unrest caused the pilot to radio the police, who put the passengers in a hallway with what some have called an "attack dog." Continental doesn't even deny the facts. The airline only says that the airport couldn't make proper arrangements. But the airport denies this version of the story. What this all points to is the need for a federal passenger bill of rights that guarantees food, water and working toilets during a delay, plus the provision that after a plane is delayed for three hours on the tarmac the passengers will be brought back to the terminal. So far only JetBlue has even come close with its own passenger bill of rights that promises to pay customers if there are any delays.