# Travel Agent Stories



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Every occupation and profession has its' stories about the stupid things some
people say. Travel agents are no different. A friend who cuts my hair is also a
travel agent and has told me a few stories about some of the stupid things some
people do and say.

Here are some of those unbelievable stories I received from another friend.

All In A Day's Work

I had someone ask for an aisle seat on her flight so that her hair wouldn't get
messed up from sitting next to a window.

A client called in asking about a travel package to Hawaii. After going over all the
cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the
train to Hawaii?"

I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the
length of the flight and the passport information when >she interrupted me with
"I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but I know Capetown is in Massachusetts." 
Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I explained, "_Cape Cod_ is in
Massachusetts, it's Cape_town_ that is in South Africa." Her response ... click.

A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong
with his vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I
tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state.
He said, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state."

I got a call from a man who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada?"
I said, "No." then he said "But they look so close on the map."

A client called and asked me to reserve a rental a car at DFW. When I pulled up
his itinerary, I noticed he had a 1-hour lay over in Dallas. When I asked him why
he wanted to rent a car for a one-hour a layover, he said, "I heard Dallas was a
big airport, and I'll need a car to drive between the gates to save time."

A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from
Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that
Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept
of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that!

A woman called to ask "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so
they'll know who the luggage belongs to?" I said, "No, why do you ask?" She
replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage
that said FAT, and I'm overweight, is there any connection?" After putting her on
hold for a minute while I "looked into it" (I was actually laughing) I came back and
explained the city code for Fresno is "FAT", and that the airline was just putting a
destination tag on her luggage.

I just got off the phone with a man who asked, "How do I know which plane to
get on?" I asked him what exactly he meant, which he replied, "I was told my
flight number is 823, but none of these darn planes have 823 on them."

A woman called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-cola on one of those computer
planes." I asked if she meant to fly to _Pensacola_ on a _commuter_ plane.
She said, "Yeah, whatever."

A businessman called and had a question about the documents he needed in order
to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed
a visa. "Oh no I don't, I've been to China four times and they have accepted my
American Express every time."

A woman called to make reservations, "I want to go to Hippopotamus, New York."
The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the agent: "Are you sure that's the
name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the customer. After
searching, the agent came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every
airport code in the country and I can't find a 'Hippopotamus' anywhere."
The customer retorted, "Oh don't be silly. Everyone knows where it is. Check
your map!" The agent scoured her map of the state of New York and finally
asked, "You don't mean _Buffalo_, do you?" "That's it! I knew it was a big animal!"

###


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

True Story...

Part of my job is to manage a credit card program for a school district.

Yesterday a teacher called me. She had booked a conference and purchased airline tickets online for a trip to Vancouver.

She arrived in Vancouver BC but could not find anyone who had ever heard of the hotel that was hosting the conference. She finally discovered that the conference was in Vancouver, WA, not BC. Not only did she fly to the wrong city, she was in the wrong country!!! :icon_stup

She actually got United airlines to comp her a ticket to Portland OR (near Vancouver,WA).
They did charge her a $100.00 change fee to get her back to Denver.

She called me because she didn't understand why her receipt from the restaurant at the Vancouver BC airport didn't match the amount on her statement. I had to explain to her (trying not to break out laughing) that Canadian dollars are a different exchange rate then US dollars and the bank had converted her charge to US dollars. !rolling


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Phil- 

Please don't tell me this teacher teaches your kids Geography. I'd be writing a letter to the school board that this teacher be sent back to middle school to earn her diploma.


"A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong
with his vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I
tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state.
He said, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state."


I saw the shuttle launch from my room at a highrise Disney hotel once. With powerful binoculars, I could see the VAB and the shuttle on the launch pad. Yes, the Atlantic ocean as well. This travel agent just didn't do his job!


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## RichW (Mar 29, 2002)

Yep, all of our teachers know where Vancouver, WA is located. They pay their teachers about 10% more across the river.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I helped a friend move to Vancouver WA many years ago. I drove his moving van straight through from Minneapolis to Vancouver, crashed there for a week and took the train home. Overall it was quite fun. He was working as an ER tech at the University Hospital in Portland.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I guess to be fair I should say that I found out she teaches the before and after school day care program in an elementary school.

I still don't think she should be allowed to travel. :nono2:


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Phil T said:


> I guess to be fair I should say that I found out she teaches the before and after school day care program in an elementary school.
> 
> I still don't think she should be allowed to travel. :nono2:


 I don't think she should be allowed anywhere near a teaching position "day care" or not.

It's people like her (who probably has a college degree), that are half the problem with public schools.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

SimpleSimon said:


> I don't think she should be allowed anywhere near a teaching position "day care" or not.
> 
> It's people like her (who probably has a college degree), that are half the problem with public schools.


Are you sure you don't want her executed? She mistook one Vancouver for another. It wasn't like she went to the wrong Portland. :lol:
It's funny, its not a huge deal. This is the humor forum, not the bash teachers forum.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

It could have been worse... The conference could have been in London, Ontario and, well, ummmm.....


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

At least she didn't end up in _Vegas!_ :lol:


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

I remember a Paul Harvey story from many many years ago. A man with a heavy foreign accent called the airline and booked a flight to what he thought was Oakland, Ca. After sitting on the plane for hours flying over nothing but water he finally realized he was headed to Auckland, NZ. DOH!


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