For years, many travelers wouldn’t consider an electronic ticket if there was a paper alternative, now, they are so reliant on ticketless travel that they make a lot of mistakes. The same with maps and GPSs.
My client, who shall remain nameless, travels internationally several times a year. This time, however, she was just making a simple Amtrak trip between Washington DC and New York, with a paper ticket in hand.
When she arrived at the station she looked around for a similar check-in kiosk that the airlines use. The closest thing she found was a ticket machine. She inserted her credit card in hopes of getting a boarding pass. What she got, was a second ticket.
The ticket she already had would have allowed her to board the train too. But she didn’t ask anyone and so ended up double charged, actually paying more for the second ticket (Fortunately, we were able to get a refund on the original later.)
Airline kiosks have their own problems too, especially in the areas of upgrades (it’s not always clear which are and which are not paid options, especially when travelers are in a hurry. And the automatic rebooking programs in case of delays often makes travelers think they have no other options, so they accept a less-than-ideal alternative.
I’ve also recently noticed that the same clients who once used to carefully print e-ticket copies, now are relaxed enough that they may call up on the way to the airport asking, “What flight am I on?” “What airline am I on? And sometimes, “What airport do I go to?”
It may be that everyone is just overloaded with information, but most agents I know report a lot more clients “discovering” at the last minute that their flights are wrong, even after approving an initial email, than in the days of paper tickets.
Here’s an extreme example.
A client sent an email to a meeting attendee, headlined “Travel information for the ‘Blank’ meeting on ‘Blank date.'” The email itself gave contact information for our agency and other details so the attendee could book flights through us and charge the company. The traveler, so used to electronic tickets, assumed that the email already contained e-ticket information, and didn’t open it until two days before the flight to see their schedule.
Over-reliance on technology can show up in other areas too. I’ve had clients insist they couldn’t possibly drive a car without GPS, even in a city they visit regularly. Maps apparently are no longer always an option. And all GPS veterans know Google/Mapquest directions have been the downfall of more than one traveler. A small error, in reading or in copying down the directions, can result in being miles off course.
Unlike old-fashioned map reading, where “hmm, this street or suburb is past our destination,” mistakes are not as obvious, especially for travelers who are just using the written directions without an accompanying map.
(When using online direction, keeping track of the miles between instructions helps, but it’s easy to lose track. And in some cities, streets and highways change names regularly, which can add to the confusion.)
There are other examples, another common one is outdated sites that aren’t obviously out of date. This results in clients asking about hotels or shows that no longer exist, among other things.
And to be fair, it’s not so much the technology, but the reliance on it, that usually causes problems. In fact, two of the most dreaded phrases in the industry are “I got this email from…” fill in the blank with airline/hotel or cruise company, or “I saw it on the Internet.”
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.)
Having information at our fingertips does lead to “assuming” (perhaps to our detriment) that the information IS always readily available and when it’s not, problems ensue. I think information overload has a lot to do with it as well. But I do think that an email titled “Travel information for the ‘Blank’ meeting on ‘Blank date’ ” is misleading. It would have been much clearer if the subject line had said “Find out how to book your travel for X meeting on X date.”
Automation is certainly making airline counter agents less capable of using their gray matter too! Recently I checked in for an International flight on AA’s kiosk, but missed the part of checking my bag. So when I went to the counter, I was told to go back to the kiosk to check in my bag, the counter agent couldn’t even check in my bag unless a sticker printed out!!! Good grief……
Having done the WAS-NYC trip by train with an online ticket, the trick is to look for the kiosk that prints boarding passes. Your online confirmation has a bar code which you hold under the machine reader and it spits out the ticket. I had apprehension about how it worked before arriving at train station and didn’t find it easy to figure out where to hold the bar code for the machine reader. But it is there. What is stupid is the same old stupidity from the old days–failure to look at confirmations immediately when it is a lot easier to fix a mistake, whether paper or electronic.
I’m a technology victim of my own carelessness, and as a travel agent I should have known better. When in Phoenix recently, I relied on my personal Garmin GPS to get me back to the car rental center, to return my car. I selected the wrong Enterprise location, and the GPS directed me perfectly to a mid city Enterprise car rental office. I didn’t realize I made the error until I got there. Fortunately, I left enough wiggle room in my schedule so that I was able to find airport car rental facility and make my return flight to San Jose in time, but I just as easily could have been many miles off course instead of 3 miles off course. I hope i learned my lesson.