Since we travel by ourselves, we have to arrange for every aspect of the trip that needs arranging. ..hotels, flights, and ferries. I don’t mind doing that. To some extent I enjoy identifying options and then selecting the best ones based on timing, price, and reviews. However, there are times when it is a bit challenging.
The primary challenge I faced in planning the European trip was a barrage of changes that the airlines and ferry operators made after I had made the bookings.
First, I started getting text messages and emails from Lufthansa every time they changed the schedule of our flights even by five minutes. Then I started getting phone calls, which I ignored because I don’t answer phones from unknown entities. Next, I got a text message saying I had to call them back because they cannot reach me. So, I did. All they had to hear from me was that I was OK with the five-minute change they did. They probably recorded my affirmative answer because maybe some one had sued them in the past.
The same thing happened with Turkish Airlines. I had booked four flights with them, and with my luck, all of them had changes. Most were of the five-minute kind but one was a major change. They had cancelled one flight and put us on another. Fine, I made a note. On my travel spreadsheet Then, just like Lufthansa, they tried calling ma and failed to reach me. So, I got a text message to call a call-center number in India. I ignored but got worried enough to check our bookings on their website. It had a message that I had to acknowledge that the changes were acceptable but since I did not do that in time, I had to call them.
So, I did. The first person I talked to went over all of the changes they had made. I could not interrupt and tell her that yes I know and I accept those changes. After she finished the list, she asked me if they were acceptable. I said yes. Then after a few minutes she came back and said that since I was taking domestic flights, she had to transfer my call to someone responsible for those flights not the international ones. Another wait. Then a guy came on line and started going over all the changes they were making. I could not shout and say YES, THEY ARE ACCEPTABLE. After he finished his list, he asked me if they were acceptable. Funny!!
The next set of challenges was with the four ferries I had booked to go between islands in Greece. I received a text in both Greek and English informing me that one of the ferries had to go on “Survey”, which I surmised was annual maintenance, and so another ferry will takeover and my boarding pass will be honored. Alarmed, I sent an email to Ferryhopper, which is like Booking.com for ferries. They came back and said the notice was for just one leg of my trip, the others are fine. Then a second text came saying one of the other ships was taken out of service and so I will need to rebook that part of the trip as well. So, I did. Then a third ferry was gone and I had a choice of going to their office to get another set of reservations or cancel the first one for full refund. I opted for the latter. And had yet another booking done for that leg of the journey.
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