The client was at the airport and not happy. The airline didn’t have her reservation. She called our office and insisted she had asked to booked out on the 12th of August.
Well, as it turned out she had. But she thought the 12th was Tuesday, and unfortunately, it was Wednesday.
In this case — partly because she is an elite flier with United — they were able to adjust her ticket for a minimal charge. And it is always easier to get on a plane the day before a scheduled flight, than after a no-showed flight.
But the incident illustrates what seems to be an increasing problem, both in our office and with other travel agencies and airline employees I know: people just are not getting their dates right.
At this point, I would estimate about three quarters of my bookings are by email. And these days not a week goes by without one or more requests for something like Saturday, September 6, and it turns out September 6 is a Sunday. Or sometimes even the wrong month.
Usually, but not always I catch it, and other times the error gets caught before ticketing. And then there are the times when it doesn’t. Which are the days of wishing for a nice relaxing alternate job like washing windows on high rise buildings.
Although one advantage of an online world is the ability to forward someone’s original email request back to them, so at least in the case of a booking that is exactly what the client asked for, there is some protection. (And yes, which does sometimes prove that it’s an agent error.)
In discussions with both coworkers, other agents and airline employees, I actually have begun to wonder, are the increasing date errors just the result of people being overly plugged in and tired, or do we approach the whole idea of calendars differently?
The pretty wall calendars that airlines and businesses used to give out regularly have by and large disappeared. And watches, which can have day and dates, also seem to be a vanishing species. Which means travelers increasingly are going from dates in their head — or perhaps from their computers.
Some travel sites, for example, Orbitz.com, show day of week and date when flights are requested, but not all are so clear. On AA.com – American notes the day of the week in a small box at the top, but the actually flight availability is month and date only, so once a date mistake is made, it may not be as obvious to correct.
But what do you think, readers?
Are we suffering from calendar withdrawal, are we just living overly hectic lives, or are we just getting more careless? Unfortunately, in an age when airlines are less and less likely to correct mistakes without a penalty, the answer can be expensive.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
