Tom welcomes consumer advocate Herb Weisbaum (ConsumerMan) to talk through the rising headaches of modern travel and everyday scams. Herb shares a recent Delta Airlines ordeal where he was nearly stranded overseas because he didn’t have the exact credit card used to purchase his ticket months earlier — a policy he and others say is poorly disclosed and inconsistently enforced. The conversation expands to robocall loan scams, fake toll violation texts, and AI-boosted fraud that’s becoming harder to spot. Herb offers practical steps on how to avoid getting trapped, plus early holiday shopping advice as tariffs and supply issues push prices up. A lively, useful consumer-protection episode.

0:10 Tom introduces Herb Weisbaum and today’s consumer-focused discussion

1:14 Tom’s Heathrow airline mess and why travelers feel powerless

2:08 Herb’s far worse Delta experience: denied boarding without original credit card

3:44 Calling a neighbor at 3am to photograph the card and save the trip

5:13 Delta’s justification: “We’re protecting you from fraud”

6:20 Why airlines can mistreat travelers and get away with it

7:04 U.S. vs. EU passenger rights and compensation differences

8:32 Text scams: fake unpaid toll notices are surging

9:46 The new wave of “pre-approved loan” robocall scams

10:48 AI makes scam messages grammatically perfect and harder to detect

11:04 Slow down, don’t engage, verify before responding

12:20 Let unknown calls go to voicemail to avoid social pressure

14:07 Holiday shopping preview: tariffs, supply constraints, scarcity in decor and toys

15:55 Black Friday all season long—price tracking and refund requests

16:27 Brief detour into kid gifts, backpacks, and questionable plush monsters

17:21 Checkbook.org and ConsumerMan resources for unbiased help

18:17 Herb’s love of model trains and signing off

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