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Want to select your seat on for a flight? It could cost you $100.

The 13 travel rip-offs we keep paying for

Want to choose your airline seat? Check in to your hotel early? Park your car at the airport? Prepare to be gouged.

  • Ben Groundwater

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Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully in testimony on Friday.

New consumer protections would undermine Jetstar’s ‘existence’: CEO

Representatives from the airlines suggested the new legislation could worsen consumer outcomes on flights and drive up prices.

  • Chris Zappone
BTS fans are livid at Ticketmaster for refusing to release ticket pricing information until just before the point of sale.

‘Should be illegal’: BTS fans livid over Ticketmaster’s ‘very predatory’ hidden prices

The global ticketing platform, found to have an illegal monopoly in the US, has infuriated some of the most dedicated and mobilised K-pop fans in the world.

  • Jessica Yun
Businesses are a bit like runners. They do well with some healthy competition.

Businesses, like runners, thrive on competition – at least, most do

It’s not just customers who like to see companies fighting for their money. Many businesses like the rivalry, too.

  • Millie Muroi
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb speaks directly in public, but shows no love of the limelight.

First Qantas, now Coles: the star corporate lawyer beating her one-time clients

Kevin Rudd implied that Gina Cass-Gottlieb would be a patsy for the corporate world she had represented as a lawyer when she came to the ACCC. The accusation hasn’t held up.

  • Nick Bonyhady
Andrea McGann owns a simple house in Botany, quite a long way from the bay. Her home and contents insurance went up from about $3000 to $6000 last year, now she is being quoted over $19,000 to renew. QBE says she is at high risk of storm or flood damage.

Andrea lives in a simple home in central Sydney. She was quoted $19,000 to insure it

In a sign of how insurance companies are slashing their appetite for climate risk, even homes that have never been flooded are becoming hard to insure.

  • Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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Qantas has been working to restore its reputation after months of delays, cancellation and lost baggage.

Qantas, Virgin lag foreign airlines on customer satisfaction

The survey of Australians’ air travel behaviour experiences paints a picture of resigned customers, accustomed not to seek remedies when disruptions occur.

  • Chris Zappone
Life is not a carousel … at the airport.

The 24 most annoying things about travel (and how to fix them)

Glass-walled loos, 10am checkouts, crowded baggage carousels? The travel industry is built on such gripes, designed to shrink your wallet and test your patience.

  • Michael Gebicki
A Ray White auction general bidding picture.

‘More than 30 per cent below’: Melbourne real estate agency hit with major underquoting fine

The investigation into the agency was sparked by multiple public complaints and included claims agents bet on how high the properties would sell.

  • Aisha Dow
ASIC has successfully prosecuted Harvey Norman and credit provider Latitude Finance Australia.

Harvey Norman facing class action for ‘misleading’ ads

Angry customers are taking on retail giant Harvey Norman in a class action over claims they were misled by false promises of interest-free loans, only to be slugged with hefty fees and charges.

  • Robyn Wuth