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Check Your Route ! !

Replies: 20 - Last Post: Sep 23, 2012 10:43 AM Last Post By: battybilly

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battybilly

battybilly avatar

Sep 18, 2012 1:14 PM
Posts:  12,228

Check Your Route ! !

I've just been into my local travel agent to compare a few prices with those on-line....
I asked for the cheapest fare from Manchester to Tirane.
The guy quoted me £620 return, changing in Istanbul (Ataturk).
Sounded a bit expensive and an odd route, but I said OK.
He asked me if I would be booking there and then. I said I'm gonna have another look at home.
He printed off the details and had been looking at 'Tehran'.
Good job no spend - huh? I'm fast losing faith in GB High Street travel shops.

edthesock

edthesock avatar

Sep 19, 2012 1:35 PM
Posts:  206

1

I was lookin for a ticket into BEY and outta AMM last year and the price quoted to me made my heart stop. The girl mistook Amman for Oman.

battybilly

battybilly avatar

Sep 19, 2012 1:37 PM
Posts:  12,228

2

Not just me that could have got stung then ! !

Fools.

danbushell

danbushell avatar

Sep 19, 2012 5:22 PM
Posts:  495

3

a few years ago was looking at cheap tickets to Goa
the travel agent quoted me a really cheap fare-but it was to Genoa and not Goa.
the airport codes were GOA for Genoa and GOI for Goa!!!

cgasc

cgasc avatar

Sep 19, 2012 7:46 PM
Posts:  21

4

Tirane: I had never heard of it........If I heard it I would have thought Teheran - perhaps saying "Tirane in......" or Amman in Jordan. I'm not sure what your expectation of travel agents is but they arent well paid.

pedro555

pedro555 avatar

Sep 19, 2012 11:08 PM
Posts:  376

5

Agree with 4. I once went for a quote to San Jose (in Costa Rica) and got one for San Jose ( in California).

Edited by: pedro555

battybilly

battybilly avatar

Sep 20, 2012 1:25 AM
Posts:  12,228

6

Blimey - this has opened a rather big can of worms ! !

Raki_Man

Raki_Man avatar

Sep 20, 2012 1:28 AM
Posts:  1,989

7

I got a one-way ticket today from Kuala Lumpur to Australia for $95 + $16 bags in the Air Asia sale. No more to pay!

battybilly

battybilly avatar

Sep 20, 2012 1:39 AM
Posts:  12,228

8

I'm not sure what your expectation of travel agents is but they arent well paid

Perhaps that's why ! !

eurotrash

eurotrash avatar

Sep 20, 2012 3:25 AM
Posts:  348

9

When I last went to South America our travel agent (who admittedly got us a better price than we could find online) gave us a 27 hour layover in Mexico City without telling us. I assumed it was a 3 hour layover until I checked the day before leaving and had to scramble to find a hostel and get my head around the idea of wandering around this big scary city.

iviehoff

iviehoff avatar

Sep 20, 2012 7:22 AM
Posts:  1,672

10

A colleague of mine was once given by the travel agent a ticket to fly from London to Panama City Florida instead of Panama City Panama. Since he had never heard of Panama City Florida, and he was otherwise weakly informed in relation to geographical and institutional issues in the region, he did not discover the mistake until he had been in Panama City Florida for about 90 minutes, and had taken a taxi from the airport to a hotel of the same name as the one he was booked into in the other place, despite the taxi-driver's strong assertion it was very unlikely an international business traveller could possibly have booked into that hotel, and various other confused telephone calls. Apparently the rather short flight time from Miami and lack of immigration at the airport had not raised any suspicion. To his partial defence, I must point out that Panama uses US$ for money and English is widely spoken there, whereas Spanish is widely spoken in Panama City Florida.

battybilly

battybilly avatar

Sep 21, 2012 3:44 AM
Posts:  12,228

11

Tirane: I had never heard of it

Nor had the travel agent.... Obviously. Is it that much unheard of really?

iviehoff

iviehoff avatar

Sep 21, 2012 6:04 AM
Posts:  1,672

12

A travel agent in Britain really ought to recognise the name of a European capital city, whether Tirane, Skopje, Podgorica or Chisinau. But some confusion would be understandable had you thought the final e of Tirane was silent. It is often spelled Tirana in English, perhaps for that reason.

battybilly

battybilly avatar

Sep 21, 2012 6:46 AM
Posts:  12,228

13

Well I did say Ti-ra-na.
Easy enough mistake to happen though, especially for a bimbo - I suppose.

kurgan

kurgan avatar

Sep 21, 2012 6:39 PM
Posts:  44

14

The classic one is people ending up in Sydney, Nova Scotia rather than Sydney, Australia
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