Originally Posted by
radeng
It can be very hard to get over to travel people that if you have a customer meeting due to finish at 1730 on a Friday
Hello Radeng. How many of your "finish 1730 meetings" are you even out of the client premises by 1830 ? Half ?
According to our company travel agent at the time, you could not go by train from Stockholm to Copenhagen. they hadn't heard of the bridge! Then they said it took 24 hours and three changes......I gave up and booked directly with Swedish railways! Travel agents and departments are best avoided wherever possible.....
I came to the conclusion long ago that travel agency staff were principally formed from those who never made it to higher education and so wanted something to do until they found a husband and got married, something which maybe didn't pay too well but had good perks and bonuses. It may not be politically correct to say this, but we mustn't let that get in the way of the facts. Having GCSE Geography cannot be part of the requirements because they appear generally unable to even read a map, let alone use one sensibly, and LET alone actually know the geography of where they are sending people to. Putting origin and destination into the booking engine of their favourite carrier is as far as many are capable of going.
Here are some belters that have come my way (or through our office, as you can imagine they often get referred to me ....)
- "No direct flights from London to Orlando, it is necessary to change at St Louis" (this at a time when TWA, with a hub at St Louis, were running a travel agency promotion, of course).
- Asking for the 1930 next day London to Dublin, by phone, getting a locator sent back, TOD, then when getting to the airport finding it had been booked on the 0730 that morning.
- Making the reservation but not buying the ticket (which we mere mortals cannot do any more but travel agents can) at least THREE times over the years.
- Being told to check in at London City an absolute minimum of 2.5 hours before an 0700 flight to Amsterdam, "Because it's International", when the terminal didn't even open until 0530.