WTF – The airline lost my client!

          Let’s file this one into the “smack your head in amazement of their stupidity” file.   And I stress, I am not making this up.  If I was making it up it would involve a rare species of bird and a police chase.  This, on the other hand, is just stupid.

        An airline (who shall remain nameless to avoid a lawsuit) actually managed to loose one of my clients. 

        Yep, as in “no we have no idea where he currently is, but we know he’s on a plane going… somewhere”.   That’s actually pretty close to the exact words the agent said to me.   At this point I’m staring at my phone in complete disbelief.  You’re a freaking airline, moving thousands of people every day and with an incredibly sophisticated computer system, but yet you have no idea what plane you put my client on?  You have got to be kidding me.

          The situation was this: my client showed up at the airport in Cordoba, Argentina, only to be notified that his flight had been rescheduled and he’d miss all his connections, so he been rerouted.  Instead of the planned route Cordoba to Santiago to Mexico City to Vancouver, he was now going Cordoba to Santiago to Los Angeles to Houston to Vancouver.  Nice, eh?  Ooh, surprise, you’re no longer even touching down in an entire country (where he had been supposed to spend the night and had a hotel reservation) and we’re sending you all over the Americas just for the hell of it.  But because all these changes were made right at the check-in counter at the airport, his tickets were issued and he was on a plane even before the airline’s computer systems had time to catch up with the changes. 

         Luckily he had called his wife, who had called me, to notify her of his new schedule, so we (the important people) knew where he was at least supposed to be, even if the airline didn’t.  I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like had his poor wife not known where he was and I wouldn’t have been able to give her any answers.  I’ve had upset clients before, but she would have taken the gold medal for having the best reason to freak out.  But alas, all was calm.  Just dumbfounded.

       On the upside, he arrived right on time and everything turned out great, but I just can’t help but wonder that if the airline could spend hours not knowing where a passenger is, what do they do to luggage?  “Oh, I’m sorry, your bag had an emergency rerouting to…somewhere.  You may get it back, but we really have no idea at this point”.   

              And get this: regular passengers out of Cordoba told my client that this wasn’t unusual.  It’s like airplane roulette, you have a 50% chance of landing close to where you want, but nothing is guaranteed!  Needless to say, next passenger I have going anywhere close to Cordoba, I’m monitoring their progress every step of the way so that even if the airline looses them, I don’t!

Tags: argentina, BlogSherpa, crazy, flight, Mexico, south america, travel agent, weird

If you won the lottery…

           So, tomorrow’s Lotto Max draw is worth CAD$50 million.  With a carrot like that dangling in front of me, I can’t help but start daydreaming.  If I had that money, what would I do with it?  I’ve been asked this question tons of times over the years, and my standard answer is “I don’t know, but I’ll send you a postcard when I get there.”  I’d be on a plane so fast my clothes wouldn’t even have had time to crease in my suitcase.  But that poses the bigger question, if you had unlimited funds, where would you go?

             For me, someone who plans her own vacations on a daily basis (I’m not sure this is healthy anymore…) it’s a tough decision.  Of course, I eventually want to go everywhere, but you have to start somewhere, so you might as well start off with the important places on your to-see list (the ones underlined and bolded with the little stars scribbled beside their names). 

              Tokyo.  Definately Tokyo.  If you’ve read my other blogs you know that I love me some Asia, and nothing looks more incredible than Tokyo.  The colours, the people, the food.  I want to get lost at the Shibua Scramble crossing.  Plus, they have a Disneyland.  With that checked off, I would only need to go to Florida and I’d have seen them all.  And since I was already in Asia, might as well hop on down to Vietnam and Cambodia, two places that not only look cool, but that I’ve heard nothing but incredible reviews about from clients.  Everyone says without fail that the people are just so unbelievably friendly.  And Angkor Wat’s there.

            And for something completely different, I’d go to Rio.  Climb Sugarloaf mountain, visit with Christ the Redeemer, learn to samba and wear feathers on my head.  Then down to Iguassu falls to see one of the most incredible waterfalls.  Another skip and I’d be in Buenos Aires, tango-ing away and eating at the restaurant where a bar code tells you exactly what cow your steak came from (that’s right, specific cow, not just farm) so you know it’s perfect.

          And Venice.  Gondola-ing along the canals and wearing amazing masks as I watch Murano glass being blown.

            And finally, topping my must-see list is Cairo.  I love Egyptian history and archaeology, hell my cat’s even named Cairo.  I want to stare in awe at the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Karnak temple, the crazy cab drivers. 

         So basically, I still can’t decide where I would go first if I win that jackpot tomorrow night, but you can bet it’s going to be fantastic! 

 Where would you go?

Tags: amazing, Angkor Wat, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Cambodia, dance, Disneyland, dreams, Egypt, Food, glass blowing, Iguassu Falls, masks, money, pyramids, Rio de Janiero, Sphinx, Tokyo, travel, Venice, Vietnam