Travel writing know-how
Travel problems can sometimes do the writer a favour says Patrick Forsyth
A problem solved
Travel can be a hazardous business. In these days of international terrorism that might apply in a very real sense. But, that apart, there are plenty of other hazards. For example, it is important that, for understandable security reasons, the name on an airline ticket matches the name on the passenger’s passport. Yet this can cause problems. In one incident (reported in The Sunday Times) a passenger booking by telephone and spelling out his straightforward surname found the name misspelt (by one letter) on the ticket he subsequently received. Rather than correct this when advised of the error, the travel agent demanded more than £800 to issue a new ticket! Attempts to resolve this on what was a trip involving three airlines resulted only in convoluted excuses about the nature of the ticket and which organisation took the leading role in the booking. Surely we all know to check carefully when typing details online, but here the passenger gave his name correctly (let’s assume he knew how his name was spelt) and thus the error seemed to be with the agent. An easy-enough slip to make perhaps, but surely the system should acknowledge this? The report left the matter still unresolved but with the journalist continuing representations on the passenger’s behalf.