Bah Humbug

The holiday spirit is non existent for some people wanting to book travel. Apparently it's OK to call us and let loose all the frustrations you've endured throughout the season thus far.

One man berated me because AAA had a better rate on a hotel than we had. He demanded to know why we didn't have a comparable rate. I explained that we have comparable rates for rates that are available to the general public. AAA is not considered in that category. He yelled at me that everyone has Triple A.
Well, I don't....

Next, I got a man who wanted information. Every question he asked I answered. Every answer I gave him didn't suit him. finally in frustration, he hung up. Well, he called back. He went on to tell me all the things "the other agent " told him. Almost nothing was what I had said. He didn't realize I was "the other agent".

The woman called saying there was something wrong with the website because it wouldn't let her book the flight she wanted. After trying to book the reservation myself it was clear the flight was booked and there were no more seats left. Soooo, something wrong with the website? Ummm maybe not.

Help Me...PLEASE

I got an earful tonight about the health care system, occupy wall street movement, a centenarian's view of President Bush, the harm we are doing to our environment, the lack of morals in the general population, the deplorable state of our school system, the waxing and waning of the human population, various religious views of the end of time, (including Native American views), the roaring 20's, the 1% versus the rest of the world, as well as how we are viewed by the rest of the world...

Please.... stop talking. All I want to know is where are you going, when would you like to go and the credit card number...Please.

Someone save me.

It's Either Lost or Stolen or...

When we book travel we need to have the information on the card, card number, expiration and the security code. There is no other way to do it.

So I get this dummy who wants to book a reservation. No card. In fact he hasn't even notified anyone that it's lost or stolen.

Just can't be bothered.

I'm Rubber...

This customer I had was a liar. He says he is at the ticket counter and he wants his full refund before getting new tickets, and he has purchased the insurance. He says he wants his full refund from the insurance now so he can use the credit to rebook his flight. After advising him of the penalties if his reason for cancelling is not a covered reason, he says he is covered, he is sick and not re booking. He claims his covered reason is illness.

I get the insurance department on the line with us. Then he tells insurance agent he is sick. The agent tells him he will be sending a form for a doctor's note. But, he says no, he's not going to the doctor. The rep explains to him it is required. Suddenly it is his kids that have the "standard bug" and they are throwing up, so he is staying home but does not need to spend the money on a doctor. When rep says a doctor's report will be needed in the claim and he would be happy to file it, the customer says F U and your company and hung up...

I'm thinking- So let me get this straight you are at the ticket counter getting a new ticket, then you are sick and not going and then you are staying home because the kids are throwing up, BUT you are cancelling your trip but NOT taking kids to the doctor...OK then...

Then I looked even more closely at his reservation and it looks like somebody got to the airport LATE! By the time he even called his a$$ should have been in his seat. Looks like with that F bomb he dropped on the insurance rep and I at the end of the call it is a case of "I'm rubber you're glue" (remember that childhood saying), I mean, he acted like a child with his lying tantrum.

I Wonder...

I just had a woman calling to get prices for two round trip tickets to Paris but wanted to get a copy for her attorney as the tickets are part of her divorce settlement.


Geeeez, I wonder who she's going with.....hmmm...

Click!

Lady calls me - she said that she had been disconnected 4 times and thinks it might have been a problem with her phone. It only took me 5 minutes to figure out that she was being disconnected on purpose.

After 5,275 questions - each after we had made it all the way through to the end of the booking. So, I had to undo all the passenger information - just so I could go back and look up the answers WHILE she complained that it was taking so long!

Trust me - it was not her phone that was disconnecting her - agents were dropping likes flies and falling on their hang up buttons!

It's too Hard...

This woman called wanting a hotel in Lake Tahoe, California. She wanted me to give her the names of all of the available hotels. I recommended she use the website.

She said "It's too hard to read and could I just give them to her?"

I told her I'd give her 3. So I named off the three I thought would meet her needs.

She asked me, "So, is that all there is?"

I told her "There are a hundred more!"

She wanted me to give her specific information about all the others. I'm sure I could have spent all day giving her every tiny detail about every single hotel in Lake Tahoe.

Instead I said Thank you for Calling...

The END.

Liar Liar part 2

I got a call from a woman who claimed to be having problems booking her reservation on the website. She told me she had a specific flight she wanted to be on and proceeded to give me the information.

When we got to the seating information she requested a specific seat number so she could sit next to her "sister". However, that seat wasn't available. So she gives me 3 other seat numbers. Then tells me she can book any of the seat numbers she had given me because she is a premium member. So I mentioned that I thought she wanted to sit next to her sister, You should have heard her back petal, uhhh, ahhh, well....ummm....

I guess her "sister" was sitting all over the plane?

10 Rules for Bookings

Rules for Booking a Reservation:

1. No matter how much you fuss, we cannot book a reservation in 15 seconds. Give yourself enough time for us to do it

2. If you are on the phone with us show some courtesy. Don't put us on hold while you take care of customers at work, don't answer that other line ringing, and I cannot stress this enough.... wait until you are finished with personal hygiene before calling us.

3. Be polite. We can send you to China.

4. Don't be such a tightwad. If you are booking a vacation package of $10,000 I will not listen to you whine about a $25 booking fee to have me book it for you.

5. We can tell a lie from a mile away. Your computer did not just go down changing the prices, you did not just step away from your computer, and the price was not what you say it was just 5 minutes ago.

6. We are required to verify what you tell us. We heard you the first time you told us where you wanted to go, we just need to verify.

7. Slow down. We can type but not 200 words per minute. If you rattle off 20 things a nano- second after saying hello we won't get all of it. Also, see above.

8. Crappy cell phones should be banned. Also, don't call us if you are driving in your car. It is much too dangerous.

9. Keep in mind we do not set the prices, the policies, the procedures or availability. Getting angry with us may make you feel better but it won't change a thing.

10. Be nice

WISCONSIN?

A woman was wanting to book a hotel in Kowloon. The problem was she had a very strong accent. The agent was trying her best to figure out what hotel she was wanting to book. It sounded like "Wisconsin", so she asked the woman if that was correct. The woman responded that yes that was correct. The agent had no luck at all finding this hotel so she finally asked her to spell it for her.
R-I-T-Z C-A-R-L-T-O-N

Where oh Where....

This seems to be a recurring theme among some travelers. They will call us up and say something like:

"I want to go somewhere".

"I'll be happy to help. Where would you like to go?"

"Oh, I don't know.... what do you think?"

" How about Italy?"

"Oh no, too expensive."

"Would you like a beach vacation, a theme park vacation, skiing, or historical tours maybe?"

"Well...no. I've already done all those things."

"So what can I help you with?"

"Humph, you aren't being very helpful!"

Take a Little, Take a Lot... It's All the Same

An executive assistant called to book travel for her boss. She had a corporate card where about 4 million dollars had been charged on it. Her boss traveled a lot so that card was out there everywhere, hotels, airlines, restaurants, trendy shops, you name it. In the course of the conversation she mentioned that they had had some problems with fraudulent charges appearing on the card.

She told me her boss had notified her there were fraudulent charges showing up on the card originating from somewhere in the south. No one had been any where near there so she looked into it.

That's when she discovered someone had somehow gotten the card, charged a bucket of chicken at KFC for $20, then headed on over to Walmart and spent $300.00 on merchandise.

The penalty is the same if you charge $20 or $20,000! You seriously would risk that for a $20 bucket of chicken and some Walmart merchandise???

Flushers be Gone

I cannot stress this enough... If you are on the phone with us do not call us from the restroom!

We do not want to hear what hits the bowl, or hear the flush, the running water as you wash up, the towels being wadded up and hitting the receptacle. It's gross. It's obnoxious. We do not want to hear it. Call us after you are finished and out of the facilities.

Yuck.

Duh

Many credit cards have reward programs. Most airlines have frequent flier programs. The points you accrue with the credit card companies are part of the reward program, so they belong to the credit card company. The frequent flier points you accrue by flying on a specific airline, so those points belong to the airline.

It's unbelievable to me how many people cannot differentiate between airline miles and reward points. They are not interchangeable. The whole point of offering rewards to customers is to reward you for using their card or reward you for choosing to fly on their airline. Why would you think you can pass them back and forth between airline and credit card?

Before you get all indignant because I won't help you use your airline points for credit card rewards, stop and think it through. It ain't gonna happen.

And I Want the Moon and Stars...

It is unbelievable to me that a customer will call us when the entire city is booked. First they start out desperate, wanting anything we can find for them. Then they start adding things that they want to have included in the room. Does that stuff really matter?? Do you want a room tonight or not?

Or the customers who because they have been with us for many years will ask us for a hotel room with all the amenities with a four star rating, in New York City for under $200. Are we to call the hotel and say "Mr Hotel because this is a long standing customer of ours can you give them a break?"

The Charges Will Stand...

Like most online travel services we have a charge to book a reservation with an agent. We can however waive the fee for a customer who is unable to book on the website or is having problems with the website. We won't waive it if you just don't want to do it yourself.

We get all kinds of reasons why someone cannot book themselves and why we should waive the fee for them. The most ridiculous reason to date was a woman who right away said we should waive the fee for her. The reason? Her sister had trouble on the website.... so we should waive the fee for her.

Dirty Rotten Liar

All credit cards are consistent. All Visa cards start with a 4, all MasterCard start with 5, American Express is 37 and Discover is 601. If you are insisting the card in your hand starts with a 2, I know you are a dirty rotten liar. There is no card that starts with "2". And I know without a doubt you do not have the card in your hand as you are insisting, So there....you are busted.

Let Me Get My Crystal Ball

The customer was suspicious of me because I asked too many questions.... like, where are you coming from? Where are you going? How many people will be traveling? What day are you planning to leave? When would you like to return? How many adults will be traveling? Any children?

She said.."Are you really the card company? I thought you could help me with this reservation?"

Not without a crystal ball.

One of these Hotels is Not Like The Others....

The man was traveling to Brussels and wanted a flight and hotel. He wanted a particular hotel someone had recommended to him. He found the hotel on our website, on the hotel website and on another online travel website as well. The hotel website and the other online travel website had the same address listed. However our website had a different address.

His concern was whether or not this was the same hotel. He gave me the name of the hotel but refused to give me any other info... said I didn't need it. Well, come to find out not only is the address different.... it's in a different part of the city for crying out loud!

Gee... I wonder if it's the same hotel.....

Who Knew???

A fellow resource agent tells me that the points used for booking travel are considered income and the IRS will come after you for them. They are so popular, it's a shame.

Also, a customer got over a million points in a divorce settlement! Now THAT'S a settlement!

Whacko-Magnet

An agent tells me:

So far this week I had a lady trying to buy a ticket to fly across country to pick up a cat she purchased, but she needed 3 hours to bond with it before boarding the plane. Apparently they don't sell that type of cat in Colorado because it's too cold.

Then I got a man stranded in the Philippines because his ex wife revoked his passport for back child support.

There was a woman demanding to know what system we booked with because she was a travel agent and was entitled to a special rate not available to the general public. And we don't know what we are talking about, so give me a supervisor.

And then, the ever annoying man who tells me he can get anything he wants if he yells loud enough.

Grrrrr

It irritates the heck outa me when customers will not stop what they are doing to actually pay attention to what I'm asking them.... "What city would you like the hotel?"
"Whaaaa? Huhhh???? Can you repeat that??"
Over and over and over......

Too Much Time on Her Hands

What would possess someone to stay on hold for 3 hours? My customer this morning told me she would try not to take it out on me or hold it against me but she sat on hold for that long yesterday.

I'm sorry, but even if it were urgent I would just call back in a little while, certainly not hold for hours at a time. No way would I hold that long for a reservation. She did not book by the way after all that.

Park Hyatt, Michigan Ave, Chicago

I usually avoid naming names at all cost but this time I will not refrain. The housekeepers kicked off a day of striking to protest working conditions at the hotel. It's the hottest day of the year with temperatures over a hundred degrees. So what does the hotel do? They turn on the outside heat lamps above the picket line. The heat lamps are designed to keep customers warm in the winter while outside.

The thing is... there is no way it could possibly have been unintentional. The lamps are not automatic and even after they were notified the lamps were on it took an HOUR to turn them off and pass out water to the employees.

Geez...I can't imagine what the problem could be that the employees would need to picket. Hmmm. If they treat their employees this way while they are outside where all the world can see it I can only imagine what conditions must be like behind closed doors.

I say, lets support the workers. That is not the only hotel in the area. Let's avoid it at all costs.

Now It's ME!!

I like to think I'm reasonably intelligent. My sister is also reasonably intelligent. We both have a fairly high IQ and she has a slightly higher IQ than mine. (OK, it's only 2 points higher but you get the point).

We got on the phone with each other so we could compare the costs of flights. Since I work for a specific company I'm very familiar with their website, but I'm not so familiar with other company websites. We had both found a company that you can bid on flights and decided we would try it out. What the heck. Worth a shot if we can save a few bucks.

She is on her computer looking at the website, across town I am on my computer looking at the same website. We are both searching in vain for the "one way" option. Mystified, she tells me she is sure she has seen it in the past and they must have removed that option. I am grumbling pretty loudly at this point, indignant this company would not offer that option. What kind of company IS this anyway. There are plenty of people wanting to book one way., why is it not offered???

Suddenly, my sister says, "Umm, There is a button. Right in the middle of the screen. "

Just about that same time I suddenly see it too. We both burst out laughing and can't stop.

We are too stupid to travel!!!!

Hey, But That's Different...

I had a customer this morning that called in to make a hotel reservation. From the get go he sounded very annoyed. I asked him if he had tried to book online at the website. Exasperated he tells me "Yes, of course."

So I continue to look up the hotel he wanted, gave him his total and asked him for his credit card number so I could access his point information.

"Don't you have a way to pull up my information?"

I politely tell him I am unable to get into his account information because I am travel and I need his credit card information to proceed with the reservation. By now he is getting irate, tells me I need to pass on a message at our next "meeting" that he is unsatisfied with how difficult we make it for our customers to use our services.

Wow. Really?? Would you have that same feeling if someone easily got that information and booked a trip to Paris on your dime? But that's different....

Another Perspective

If you are calling into the call center because you can't figure out how to book a reservation on the website it's probably not a good idea to complain about getting a call center in India. You will not get any sympathy from me.

I hear all too often "Oh, thank goodness you're in America."

Just FYI.... every single person who works in a call center in India, without exception, has an advanced degree. Every single one of them is bilingual and spend many, many months in voice training. In fact, many of them speak multiple languages. Could that be why they have an accent?

So.... you call me, and lament you can't figure out the website but yet, when you get someone who is obviously way smarter than you, who is unfailingly polite and offering to help you, you want to complain because they live somewhere else. You really are too stupid to travel.

I Can Perform Miracles Part ll

So a woman calls in and needs a room in San Diego for tonight. She has a specific hotel in mind that her sister had stayed at several months ago. When her sister booked the reservation she got a special pricing and a few perks with it.

Well, not only are the special pricing and perks not available any more but the hotel doesn't have availability. The agent does her best to find a suitable hotel for her but the woman doesn't want any of the suggested hotels.

Finally she tells the agent to "Call me back when you find a hotel, I need to leave now. And by the way, I have a dog. You need to find a hotel that will take my pet."

I Can Perform Miracles

An agent tells me:

A woman calls, obviously from the road, around 6pm. She says she needs a hotel in Orlando near Disney World TONIGHT and for the next 4 nights. She has a specific hotel she wants. Great, I'll give it a shot... We get through the locating the hotel phase and surprise, sold out. I spend 10 minutes offering alternatives and she becomes more and more irate telling me she "just" talked to them and they have rooms available.

I explain that sometimes they don't allow us to book after a certain level of capacity, but I avoid asking her WHY she didn't book with them directly (I want the sale obviously). So after 10-15 minutes of finding alternatives I find one located on the property of Sea World that has a great rate for Florida residents, which she is.

I get to the point of asking for her credit card information and she drops the bomb on me...."I left it at home... but I can give you my Social Security number and you can look it up, right?"... No. I ask her if she is near home so she can get it. Of course she is not. In fact she is 30 minutes from Orlando and she's been driving for 4 hours and she is just NOW deciding she should figure out where she will be staying!

I finally get her to agree to an alternate credit card and she starts yelling at me about how she has 2 small children sleeping in the back and how dangerous it is to be talking on the phone at night and having to dig through her purse for a card. I offer to wait while she finds a safe place to pull over, which doesn't go over well.

Needless to say the card doesn't have enough limit on it, so it would not go through. She ends up less than impressed with my abilities to perform miracles

Are You Smarter Than a....

I can't tell you how many times a caller will call and demand to know why a hotel will only have a king sized bed when they put in 3 adults in the search criteria.

As wonderful as technology is it is not without it's limitations. The information within the website is mind boggling. There are perhaps a million hotels, flights and cars at any given time. Are you seriously so pathetic you can't think for yourself and decide that 3 adults probably don't want to sleep in the same king bed???

So, you ask... What can I do? Well, for starters, use your brain. If you all don't want to sleep together, then get another type of room. No other room type you say? Well, get 2 rooms.... or just stay home.

Pay Your Bill

An agent tells me...

So... I get this caller, young woman, who wants to use her points to book a hotel but her card is suspended for non payment. She wants to know if she can use her points anyway. The way this particular point program works is this: We charge the card the cost of the reservation, then using points will credit back the amount to the card. So basically the card needs to be in good standing so we can charge it.

She starts arguing with me, she wants to put her points towards the reservation.... I tell her she needs to discuss this with card services. So I finally get her to agree to be transferred. She just couldn't understand why she could not use her points.

About 15 minutes later, I get her again! They have not lifted the restriction on her card. She is insisting they told her she could use her points without using her card. Uhhhh, really???

Sooo, I tell her again that I cannot process a reservation for her using her points without being able to initially charge the card... she goes ballistic! She is freaking out that she needs to book a flight TONIGHT!!! She demands to speak to someone who can release her points.

Unfortunately we can't do much to help you if you don't pay your bill. Customer service was able to transfer her points to a frequent flyer account and she was able to book with the airline. I hope she has cash for when she gets there...

Stating the Obvious

A woman calls up and asks me, "If it says it's a non refundable room then what is the refund policy?"

"Ma'am, it means there are no refunds."

"But what if I have an emergency or something?"

"Sorry, but you would not get a refund. It is a non refundable room"

"Well, OK. Just one more question. Under room type it says 'poolview'. So what view would that be?"

Really, how can you answer that one......

BED TYPES

A common practice for hotels throughout the world is to offer really good pricing on rooms without specific bed types. How that works is the hotel on any given day will have for instance, a few rooms that are king beds and a few rooms that have two queens. In Europe it's more likely to be a double bed or 2 twins. It's impossible to be one hundred percent accurate in determining what bed types customers will want or require.

What hotels will do is give you a great price on the rooms if you will take whatever room type they have available on the day you check in. This guarantees they can still book the room without specifying the room type. This ensured they fill the rooms.

For most people this is no problem. If it's a couple they generally don't care if the room has 2 queen beds or a king bed. That's not the case if you are traveling with for instance your brother or parent or even a teenage child. In that case you would need 2 beds.

That's why it just floors me when a customer will get all indignant because they cannot have the discounted rate AND the room style they want. The whole purpose of giving you the discounted rate is because you will take what there is when you check in.

If you are traveling with your mother or teenage son you need 2 beds. If the hotel you want has a great rate for the room type you want, well that's great! If not, well, guess what? You will need to pay more and get what you want, it's that simple.

If the hotel you want doesn't have the room you want, well guess what, you will need to get another hotel. Simple.

Oh, I Work From Home....

As many of you know I work from home. It really is the best possible way to work but as with any job there are occasional glitches in the system. One agent tells of one such glitch.

I was speaking to a customer and somehow we got disconnected. I tried to call him back but I got no answer. So I decided to take advantage of the situation and take a quick bathroom break. I put myself on "NOT READY" and ran to the other room. For some reason the phone rang while I was in there. Since I was on "NOT READY" I assumed it was a personal call coming through the line so I asked my 12 year old daughter to answer it for me. Well, it was the customer!

My daughter proceeded to tell him I was in the bathroom and would be right back! The customer just laughed and by the time I got to the phone I could barely speak from holding back the laughter.

"So..." he said, "you must work from home..."

By then I was laughing so hard I couldn't hold back! I got the reservation booked though!

Day by Day

So if Monday turns into Tuesday, is it possible to hold back the day? If an opportunity is missed, is it possible to retrieve that opportunity? But what if you really, really want Tuesday to be Monday again? What if you realize too late that the missed opportunity was just what you wanted?

Well, it's kinda like that with travel. We can't hold back the day and we sure as heck cannot go back and get the perfect price on that dream vacation you let slip by. And just as opportunity will fly by, sometimes as if on the wind, those prices are just as fleeting.

Take my word for it..... we did not do this to you. If we had that kind of power we would rule the world.

POOF!

We don't have magic wands. They are far too dangerous in the wrong hands. So subsequentially they will not let us have them. Because we are not allowed to have the magic wands we can't make the hotel you want appear out of nowhere with rooms available. Same thing with the flights. We can't make empty seats appear. But... If I ruled the world....

Wait... even if I ruled the world I wouldn't get that flight/hotel for you.

Just Drive....

I've made it all too clear how I feel about people who try and book travel while driving. Today I got a woman who when she found out the hotel she wanted was not available, asked me to list which ones were. Then wrote them all down as I listed them. Then she wanted to know how far her points would take her, so she needed to pull out her credit card and read it off to me. She mentioned that she was driving so bare with her but she wasn't going to book until she got home.


I even told her the approximate ratio of points and told her since she didn't have enough anyway to just be safe and wait till she got home. She still insisted on getting her card out, taking her eyes off the road and reading me the info so I could tell her exactly how far they would go. It's bad enough if she takes herself out but what about everyone else on the road?

Just Shoot Me

How is it possible to become a senior citizen without being able to follow simple instructions? I have the most befuddled couple ever, who can't seem to understand simple instructions. Each tiny step must be carefully explained or they just don't seem able to comply. Arrrgggghhh. So befuddled, so non comprehending, so very clueless.... I almost feel like I should set them up with a chaperon just so they aren't hopelessly lost in some airport somewhere, aimlessly wandering. They are reading each sentence of the policies and procedures , every word of the trip cancellation information while I wait on the line. All in a sloooooow southern drawl. I can't take any more.... They shoot horses, don't they?

No Room at the Inn

A woman standing in the lobby of a hotel claims she "spoke" to someone earlier about a reservation. She didn't get any confirmation nor did she stay long enough with the agent to book it. But there she was in the lobby and couldn't figure out why she didn't have a reservation. The second agent tried to book a reservation for her but she was having none of it. So... she didn't want to book a reservtion but was irate because there was no reservation.

I'd Like to Speak to Mr. John Walsh....

I'm very suspicious of a "parent" who doesn't know his own child's date of birth. I even asked him how he could not know it. He said " I have so many kids I can't keep track of them all". Hmmm. One way ticket, he doesn't know the birth date and the kid has a different last name and he's flying late at night....

Would You Like Some Cheese With That?

There is something very distasteful about an adult who whines. This customer whined about the hotel, then about the price of the car rental. He whined about the service fee for me to book the reservation. He whined about me not having all the information in his account. He figured I should just have the frequent flier number without him having to give it to me, and then whined because I didn't. Then he whined about me not having a place to put his guest number with Holiday Inn. What do you want to bet he lives alone?

Who is This??

A woman calls up in a snit. She says she is late and cannot board the plane. The agent tries to find her information but nothing comes up. The woman starts to yell at her, telling her she is stupid, says she booked it through our company and cannot believe we can't find her information. Problem is, she mentioned the name of the wrong company! The agent lets her know who she actually dialed. The woman stops yelling, there is a long pause, and she quickly hangs up. Gotta love the customers.

Have you been to the South of France?

A caller calls up and wants to know if the agent has been to the South of France. He is wanting to book a hotel, so he wants a personal recommendation. OK, well, first of all with the income we have as agents there is no way we can afford to go to France. The south of France? Just a fantasy. The agent, ever polite person that he is, says no, he has not been there but he is familiar with the area and he would be happy to help him find a great hotel to stay in. To which the customer says "Well, I used to live there so I need someone who is a little more than "familiar" with the area".

So why are you not "familiar" with the area? Were you in a coma while you lived there?

Where are you Located?

I guess the newest thing in call centers is to train the agents to have American accents. I guess so many people have fussed about calls to foreign countries that they have attempted to disguise that fact that the calls are going overseas.

One agent recently got a call from someone who right away wanted to know where he was from and seemed to want to "test" him to see if he really was in the USA.

The agent told him he was in Greensboro, North Carolina to which the customer replied "Oh, I have relatives in Columbia, North Carolina!" The agent replied, "I've never been there, but I have been to the BMW plant in Columbia SOUTH Carolina." That seemed to win him over.

Oh My...

The customer has frequent flier miles she would like to use for a flight. She also has reward points with her credit card. Therefore she wants to book two separate reservations so she can take advantage of both options. I stress to her over and over the pitfalls of that idea, she may not be able to get the same flight for both reservations if done separately, she may not be able to get seats next to each other, the price may change, any number of scenarios. She has me look up the flights and apparently she is dyslexic because she transposed the flight numbers. So again I stress the pitfalls of her idea and try to convince her to book both flights with me. She doesn't want to do that, but she is insisting she needs the seats together. Again, I tell her that may not be possible. Then she tells me it has to be that way because she is booking the reservation for her and her 4 year old!!!

Too Cheap to Travel

A customer needs a hotel room in Las Vegas for one night. He tells me he has a test to take there, so he is questioning why he should have to pay the resort fee. I look up the hotel, it's a three star hotel, on the strip, and it's on sale for $32. He is wanting me to see if the hotel will waive the resort fee of a huge whopping $13 dollars. If only we could get him to run for President....

Definition of Stupid

The definition of a truly stupid person is doing the same thing over and over and somehow expecting a different result to happen. If you have selected a hotel or a flight or a car and each time it comes back with a message that it is no longer available, then it is no longer available. If you call me and I get the same message that you got, does it make any sense at all to ask me to "try again"? Stop with your grown up tantrum and select another hotel, car or flight. Save yourself from looking like a moron.

It's Too Late, Baby

A woman called up and complained about being transferred eight times in the past hour. She had spoken to a specific agent yesterday, received a quote on a trip and wanted that agent and that price, again. After probing questions I realized why she had been transferred multiple times. The rate was TRIPLE what it was yesterday. She was indignant and wanted me to pull up the information again, same as the other EIGHT agents, who by the way all had the exact same price. Can you say obsessive/compulsive? Shoulda booked it YESTERDAY!!!

Ski Dude

Most people will avoid a layover at all cost. So I was surprised to have someone ask for the longest possible layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. I suggested maybe making his flight a multi-destination and get a hotel for the evening but he didn't want that. I found a flight with a layover of a little over three hours. Boy, was he happy! So obviously, I asked him why he wanted such a long layover. Turns out he wanted to go skiing in Park City, Utah. He somehow got in his mind that he could get from the airport to Park city, to the ski resorts, get in a few runs and get back to the airport to catch his connecting flights. The thing is Salt Lake City, like most cities, has the airport on the outskirts of town. And like most cities in the west, Salt lake is spread out over a large geographic area. In this case it also happens to be on the opposite side of the valley from Park City. Park City, like most ski towns is nestled in the valley. The ski resorts are above the town in the mountains. It's also very popular and very busy. I tried to explain to him why this wouldn't work: By the time he gets off the plane and finds transportation to the lifts, he still has a ride of at least 40 minutes to get to Park City (remember the airport is on the opposite side of the valley). Then he would need to wait in line for the lift tickets. Then wait again to rent the ski equipment. Add another wait for the lifts and you already have well over an hour, minimum. You might get a couple of runs in before you'd need to reverse the process to get back to the airport. If he missed his flight and had to reschedule it would require a re-booking fee which is substantial. If he is going to pay a re-booking fee he might as well stay in Park City for the night and just get a hotel. I did my best to explain this to him but he would not listen. So how do I know this? Well, I lived in Utah for many years and part of that time was in Park City. Even though I don't ski I made a fortune babysitting for neighbors who did. I heard over and over how busy it is and how much time it takes to get to the slopes. This is by far the most ridiculous scenario I have heard to date.

PLEASE! Rip me off

A customer calls in wanting to book a hotel in Connecticut. OK. I can do that. But you called from a crowed restaurant. Did it not occur to you that you would need to give your credit card number, the security code and your full billing name and address? Even with the best identity protection in the world you have no idea if you are sitting within earshot of a serial killer or at the very least a prolific burglar. Not to mention how rude it is to be on you phone while dining it's very difficult to hear you with so much commotion going on around you. Can you not wait until you get home or at least get to a quiet area?

Letter to a Customer

Dear Customer, I'm not sure what you think I can do for you. You called me with a specific hotel you wanted to book. It's a major brand, worldwide hotel chain. You were specific. You want a room with a view and you want a king size bed. We had 2 types of rooms available. They were a Deluxe King for $138 and a Deluxe King for $158. What is the difference between the rooms? Can't you call the hotel and ask them? You were rude. You were insistant. You wanted a room with a view. Seriously Sir. I can call and ask them. I will give them the info and you know what they will tell me? The difference is 20 bucks. The view is dependent on availability ON THE DAY YOU CHECK IN!! Just like I told you. Just because you want something does not mean you get it. Here's the deal. If it doesn't SAY it has a view, it DOESN'T. We are not going to give you a view just because you are obnoxious. I politely informed you that if it isn't listed as a room with a view it isn't. If the description of the room is too vague I can't get clarification. Yelling at me and demanding a supervisor won't get you anywhere. You mentioned you don't want to spend all that money to look out over the parking lot. I suggested you either consider a different hotel or if you didn't want to book a different hotel to book directly with the hotel. Your temper tantrum was not very adult of you. And you will not get a supervisor because at my house there are no supervisors. Sometimes Sir, you can't always get what you want. Sincerely, The Agent

Trash Digging

An agent tells me: I had a customer tell me: "I don't have my card. I think I tore it up. Do you think you could help me in getting the security code so I can use my points?" Another agent replies: "Sure, you can help him. Offer to dig in his trash to find the card!" I'm still laughing, that tickled my funnybone!

There is no helping here...

I had a customer call and tell me she needed help with the description for a hotel room she was looking at online. As I'm entering the information for the hotel I ask her what the description says that is unclear to her.

She proceeds to tell me the hotel has 2 queen beds, a balcony, terrace level with a hot tub and ocean view. Then she says, " So... What does that mean?"

What exactly is unclear about that description? Do you need to know the color scheme as well?

What Money Cannot Buy

An agent tells me...
I have a classic arguing couple on the phone, he is talking to me and she is interjecting in the background. We are looking at upscale hotels on an island in the Caribbean and he is not holding back and the prices are way up there. We are both on the website looking at the features and the pictures together.

"Does it have this, does it have that" she keeps asking.

"Yes, yes and yes" he says. But no matter what hotel we settle on it's always something. After a while he is getting impatient (with good reason). Every time this gentleman and I settle on a property she chimes in with "Maybe the food isn't that good", "maybe it's not safe". Something.

Finally, we are about to book and there she goes again... She didn't even finish her sentence this time and he just says "Sorry, I'll have to call you later" and just hung up!

Just goes to show that money does not buy happiness. This poor guy can afford many nights at these top properties and this crazy woman can't find any 4 or 5 star hotels she can get excited about going to!

BEWARE of the arguing couple. They come in many different forms, but usually hang up arguing rather than booking.

Amen to that.

Nothing Stupid About THIS!

This is cool....

An agent says:

A guy pulls up to the hotel, calls me and says book the hotel, within 2 minutes I ask him if I can charge the card (I can hear his car door slam) The confirmation comes up on my screen, and I click process. (I hear the front door of the hotel open). Process complete. He gives the hotel his last name and tells them he just booked the reservation then asked me for the confirmation number. The hotel says they already have the reservation so they won't need the confirmation number. How is THAT for real time!!!! I'm in Ohio and he was in Roseville California!

I'll Get Right on That

Customer: I booked a hotel with another company on a different website. Will you call the hotel and make arraignments for a shuttle to pick me up?

I Wanna go to.....

This is something we hear waaaaaay too often. It never fails to baffle me. A customer will call up and say something simililar to...

"I want a special discounted rate because I am an important card member. I don't know where I want to go but I want to travel between March and May. What can you do for me? I looked on the website but it's too much trouble to figure it all out"

Seriously??

I Don't Know Where We're Going... But We're on Our Way!!!

Customer: I want to go to Main.. in the middle of Main.. an airport in the middle of Main.. western Main..
Agent: ???? do you have a city..
Customer: No. Middle of Main, western Main..Let me ck my email.. oh it is a long one..
Agent: Portland is the best airport..
Customer: But there are no direct flights to where we are going.. where are we going? just a second I don't know .. I have to look at my email.
Agent: lets just say you are going to Portland.... Main
Customer: oh & I am military..Bethel Main.
Agent: Bethel Main..Sorry. No airports there.

Airbus?

A little old lady missed her flight. The agent who took the call was having a hard time understanding what it was she was asking about. She wanted to know why she never got picked up. It seems when she booked the flight the agent had told her the plane was an Airbus, which is a type of aircraft. She thought it was a bus. A bus that would pick her up at her home and take her to the airport. Of course, she missed her flight.

That's Just Rude

Agent 1: I just hate people that have to stop us every 5 minutes to fix dinner or help their child do their homework or something else. Don't they know how rude that is?

Agent 2: it's one of my pet peeves. No one is that busy.

Agent 3: I agree or the one holding two conversations at once and you can't tell if they are talking to you or their friend.

Agent 4: I had a man earlier who had a baby screaming in my ear, talking to it and me.

Just One More Question

No matter how may ways you ask the same question the answer will be the same. You can rephrase it any number of times and the answer is the same. Just because you are not getting the answer you want doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about or that I have some agenda. I don't have it out for you and I'm not just not understanding what you are saying. You can't have it how you want it. That's the answer.

Website Error??

A woman calls up and immediately wants to know if I will waive the booking fee since she says there is something wrong with the website. So, I go through the process of asking what kind of problems she is having with the site. She tells me the website keeps asking her for the security code. I tell her how to locate it and ask her to try again.

Then she tells me she can't see the code. Well now I'm stumped. We have to have the code to book as well, we can't book anything without it. Then I ask her if there is someone around who can get that information for her because we have to have it in order to book the reservation.

She tells me she can't do that. She put her card away for safe keeping and now she can't remember where she put it.

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch

It is NOT OK to eat while booking reservations. It is gross and it is rude. No one wants to hear you talk with your mouth full. Finish eating, carefully wipe your mouth with a napkin, push away from the table, then give us a call. Didn't your mother teach you any manners or were you raised by wolves?

Angryman

A man calls up and speaks to multiple agents over several days trying to book a trip. Some how he keeps getting disconnected. He finally finds an agent he likes but hangs up on her. He calls back demanding to speak to that agent and only that agent.

We have back to back calls and the agent he wants also happens to be a resource leader which requires added duties while working. She is putting together a complicated itinerary for someone else, answering other agent questions plus monitoring agent statuses. She is busy!

The agent who took the call offers to book the reservation for him so he won't have to wait for the agent. No Way! Only THAT agent will do. She tried to transfer the call to THAT agent. Well, she is on the phone and she is busy. He insists on waiting, and he does.... for 45 minutes!!! She offers to take his number so THAT agent can call him back. Not unless she will tell him exactly when THAT agent will call him. Finally after berating the agent who just happened to answer the phone she offers to send him to a top level travel agent. No way! He wants THAT agent. He hangs up again, calls right back, only to start the process again. Including the obscene wait time and angry outbursts.

By the time all is said and done by the time he gets that travel booked, if it's still even available, he will have wasted many days. It could have been done in less than an hour, probably within several minutes.

Too Stupid to Travel

A woman calls up and says she is trying to rent a car but the website says there are no cars available for the dates she requested. So she says " I need a car. I don't understand what the problem is."
The problem is there are no cars available for the dates you selected!

Smell the Roses? What Roses?

One of my pet peeves are people who call from work and want "information". Shouldn't they be working while at work???? Instead we are forced to wait while they take phone calls and wait on customers and in general conduct business while we sit here. That's just rude. And if you are so busy you cannot wait until you are home to look into travel, then you don't have time to travel. Cut something out of your live. A good place to start would be rudeness.

Whaaa???

Another agent told me this story:

A woman calls up and wants to know why her 8 year old son can't stay in the room with her. She was reading the policies and it said you must be 21 years old to check in....

Names Will Never Hurt me....

I had a woman today who wanted an evening flight for the vacation she was booking online. Now mind you she was having me look up all the information for her so she could turn around and book it on the website and save the $25.00 booking fee. There were no evening flights on the day she wanted to travel. I told her the different options such as try another day, come back to it later to see if any flights had been added. That kind of thing. Nothing made her happy. She kept asking me to look again and I kept telling her there were no evening flights available. Finally she called me a bitch and demanded to speak to a supervisor. Not gonna happen. What you will get is a dial tone.

You Moron

No matter how many times you insist that the flight or the hotel was there on the website yesterday or even an hour ago, if it is not there now it's GONE! There is nothing we can do for you if you are such a moron that you figured the rooms or flights you wanted are unlimited. The flights only have so many seats and the hotels only have so many rooms. If you called the airline or hotel and they have availability then for crying out loud!! Book with them!!! If it's more money then boo hoo. That's what you get. Live with it.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

It really annoys me when someone asks a question and when they don't get the answer they want act like you are either stupid or making up an answer or just out and out lying about it. We have as most travel sites do, a low rate guarantee. The thing is you have to have already booked your reservation. Then at our discretion we will either let you cancel the reservation you made with us without penalty and rebook with the other company with the lower rate or we will pay you the difference in the rate.

Well guess what? Most of the time they will just let you cancel without penalty. It's cheaper than actually issuing you a check for the difference in price. That's what I tried to explain to my customer today. She told me she didn't WANT to cancel and I must be mistaken because it clearly states on the website we have a low rate guarantee. And she wanted to know why I thought it was a better idea to cancel?

Hmmm. I don't know I guess. Read the fine print.

My Other Passion

Aside from travel I have a genuine passion for animal rescue. I truly believe we define ourselves as humans by how we treat those creatures who depend on us. I am an advocate of animal rescue in general but have a soft spot in my heart for our domestic animals, cats and dogs and of course rats. (I know lots of people are saying ewwww to the last one).
A really good site is http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces;jsessionid=6659E6A056CAD694C367ED1D369408EF.ctg-b?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_home_from_ars_shelterchallenge_leftnav_logo While you are there, click the tab and then look for the button that says "vote", upper right. There is a shelter that is run by one of the agents that works with me called SRL in Minneapolis Kansas, USA. Please vote. Vote every day. It's a small thing but would make a world of difference for this shelter.

Very Funny...

People get really possessive with the member rewards points they earn. Therefore there are restrictions about who can use them. If you are not authorized to spend the points you can't access them. You can spend money to rack up the points but unless you are authorized you cannot touch them. Simple enough concept, right? You would not believe the flack I get from people who have a secondary card who want to use the points who are not authorized to use them. I can book a reservation and charge the card but I cannot use the points to cover the cost.

One guy was livid that I would not let him use someone else points. He started to become belligerent and very insulting. I did my best to try and sooth his ruffled feathers and continued on with the reservation. As I got further into the reservation he got more and more agitated until he was becoming quite rude.

Part of the process of booking a reservation is asking for the billing address. So I ask for the address. He mumbles out something like Mumphlelump Street, so I ask him to spell it. Mumphlelump Street he said. So do you need me to spell "street" for you?

Wise guy.

I are a Teacher

Our children are screwed. I just priced out a flight hotel package for someone who said she was a teacher going to a teachers convention. She didn't have the proper authorizations to be able to use the reward points on her father's credit card so as a courtesy I gave her a ball park ration of points to dollars.

What I said was " If the flight and hotel for instance costs $300, it would take between 35,000 and 45,000 points to cover it."

She said "but the trip is $575.00. Didn't you just say it cost $575.? How will I know how much the points will cover? He has 100,000 points"

So I said. " I can't give you an exact figure because you are not authorized to use the points. But if the trip costs 300 dollars for instance, it would take between 35 thousand 45 thousand points to cover the cost."

She was clearly confused and again said "but you said the trip cost $575.00. How can I tell how much the points will cover?"

Like I said, our kids are screwed....