What the heck? Travel agencies surely should know about the 'dangers' of flying to Sydney - I can remember reading that a British couple once flew to the Canadian city of the same name - they booked it on the internet, however.
This is truly hard to believe. When the sailors (participating in the sailing world championship in Australia) had to change planes in SEA the poor guys even wondered if the small prop was a decent sized aircraft for the trans Pacific crossing...
Hope they know more about sailing than travelling...
RedChili From Norway, joined Jul 2005, 1493 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (7 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 9781 times:
I remember reading about a Norwegian guy a couple of years ago who made the same mistake when he bought the ticket over the Internet.
When a travel agency makes this mistake, will they take financial responsibility for getting the passengers to the real SYD?
Also, I'm surprised that they got as far as Seattle. When they checked in for their flight in Germany, they should fill out a form with their intended address in the United States. And if they don't have an address in the USA, the airline is supposed to deny them boarding. So, how did they get as far as SEA?
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 6082 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (7 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 9730 times:
Two British tourists thought they'd found a very low Internet fare to SYD on AC a few years ago until they wound up in Sydney, Nova Scotia (YQY) after a connection in YHZ.
AirCop From United States, joined Nov 2005, 6103 posts, RR: 10 Reply 4, posted (7 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 9627 times:
When Pan Am purchased National, this was a problem with some of the former National Reservation Agents that couldn't think globally, Melbourne, San Jose, were a couple that they screw up quite a bit.
NWAESC From United States, joined Aug 2007, 625 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (7 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 9511 times:
When I worked at YV, I was suprised at how many people came over from Europe expecting to go to Redmond, Wa., but were instead booked to Redmond, Or. (RDM).... It happened a few times a year...
At NWA, I had a couple of ladies fly SIN-NRT-PDX thinking they were in PWM...
Landingshortly From Austria, joined Jan 2008, 69 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (7 months 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 9500 times:
I head the story of a German guy wanting to buy a last minute at the airport to "Malle" (short for Mallorca in German) ... he ended up flying to the Maledives. That lucky bast....
PanHAM From Germany, joined May 2005, 2732 posts, RR: 6 Reply 7, posted (7 months 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 9432 times:
Easy explanation - Rostock , MeckPomm, East Germany, also called "Ossis".
They should sue the travel agency if they made the mistake. That is one of the first things you learn when taking up an appreticeship with a freight forwarder - a good example is Tripoilis Libya and Tripoli Lebanon. - They same precautions should be teached to travel agents.
But it's typical for today's world, these mistakes simply did not happen 2 or 3 decades ago.
BlueFlyer From United States, joined Jan 2006, 743 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (7 months 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 9343 times:
Airline employees make the same mistake. An AA employee once denied my parents boarding at DFW for their flight to San Jose, arguing that there was not enough time left to check them and their luggage in. She wouldn't budge despite my parents' increasing protests that they had arrived 90 minutes before departure. A supervisor eventually arrived, he read the confirmation laying on the counter a little more carefully than his subordinate did and checked my parents in without any problem. The original agent had, apparently, been attempting to check my parents in for a flight to San Jose, CA, whereas they were going to San Jose, Costa Rica...
EWRCabincrew From Canada, joined May 2006, 4842 posts, RR: 54 Reply 10, posted (7 months 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 9188 times:
Idiots. It was maybe funny the first time, but with the internet and so much information available to all (and the fact you should be proactive in your travel plans), it is their own fault for this to happen.
Sure, it gets a chuckle, but in the end, they are the idiots. That and their inept travel agent.
MaverickM11 From United States, joined Apr 2000, 10005 posts, RR: 40 Reply 11, posted (7 months 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 9128 times:
Has Sidney, MT even had service to SEA in the last decade? They must have gone through BIL. That must have been SDY's first PDEW to/from anywhere other than Billings or Glendive
FLY2LIM From United States, joined May 2004, 1136 posts, RR: 8 Reply 12, posted (7 months 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 9119 times:
Quoting OORamper (Reply 3): I always hear people wanting to go to Monterrey Mexico and end up in Monterey CA. And vice versa. MTY and MRY.
Quoting AirCop (Reply 4): When Pan Am purchased National, this was a problem with some of the former National Reservation Agents that couldn't think globally, Melbourne, San Jose, were a couple that they screw up quite a bit.
There was a story once about a boy at LAX who boarded a flight to Auckland when his intended destination was Oakland. That was, supposedly, on World Airways.
FlySSC From Lebanon, joined Aug 2003, 5323 posts, RR: 52 Reply 14, posted (7 months 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 9107 times:
Quoting RedChili (Reply 1): I remember reading about a Norwegian guy a couple of years ago who made the same mistake when he bought the ticket over the Internet.
This happened about 5 months ago. The 3 Norwegian tourists flew to "Rodez" in the south of France instead of "Rhodos" in Greece ...
MaverickM11 From United States, joined Apr 2000, 10005 posts, RR: 40 Reply 15, posted (7 months 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 9057 times:
Quoting FLY2LIM (Reply 12): There was a story once about a boy at LAX who boarded a flight to Auckland when his intended destination was Oakland. That was, supposedly, on World Airways.
Threepoint From Canada, joined Oct 2005, 1127 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (7 months 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 8814 times:
Quoting EWRCabincrew (Reply 10): Idiots. It was maybe funny the first time, but with the internet and so much information available to all (and the fact you should be proactive in your travel plans), it is their own fault for this to happen.
Sure, it gets a chuckle, but in the end, they are the idiots. That and their inept travel agent.
A bit harsh, aren't we? Have you never made a mistake in transposing or misinterpreting information? It may seem obvious to a person employed in this industry, but I imagine those two German tourists would get a few chuckles if you were dropped into whatever profession they do for a day.
That's more likely. The urban legends abound of hapless travelers snapping up discount bus tours of Athens, Paris and Frankfurt and feeling somewhat dejected when Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky didn't seem as romantic as they had imagined European capitals to be.
postscript added to avoid a lecture on the capital city of Germany
The nice thing about a mistake is the pleasure it gives others.
Not at all. Look at it this way...you are excited and save for a trip to Australia. Wouldn't you be proactive and check the tickets, the airlines you were flying, times of arrival, what you are allowed to bring/pack/carry on?
I'd be looking at the airline's website to see where I am sitting on the plane, the type of aircraft, the terminal the airlione it gets into, etc.. I would not blindly accept what the travel agent does as gospel.
ACDC8 From Canada, joined Mar 2005, 5912 posts, RR: 26 Reply 19, posted (7 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 8701 times:
Quoting EWRCabincrew (Reply 17): Not at all. Look at it this way...you are excited and save for a trip to Australia. Wouldn't you be proactive and check the tickets, the airlines you were flying, times of arrival, what you are allowed to bring/pack/carry on?
I'd be looking at the airline's website to see where I am sitting on the plane, the type of aircraft, the terminal the airlione it gets into, etc.. I would not blindly accept what the travel agent does as gospel.
Hard to believe, but there actually are people who can't tell the difference between an Airbus or Boeing, and there are people who actually don't care. They book a trip, and they just want to get there and they don't care how, what airline, what kind of aircraft or a specific seat. In fact, there are people who don't even like to book their own trips, they just want to get there.
You may not blindly accept what the travel agent does as gospel (neither do I), but for the most people do, and there shouldn't be any reason to doubt them.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 6082 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (7 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 8679 times:
Quoting Gigneil (Reply 9): I don't hear about the same problems to Paris, generally, and there are a LOT of Paris-es in this world.
But, unless I'm mistaken, the only Paris that appears in airline reservations systems and has scheduled service is the one in France, while quite a few cities do share a name with one or more other cities with the same name and with airline service. Sometimes, as with Sidney, Montana, even the code (SDY) is easy to confuse with SYD.
That reminds of a similar incident a few years ago where a passenger booked and flew CO from EWR to SJO (San Jose, Costa Rica) instead of the intended destination, SJC (San Jose, California). The passenger didn't realize the error until shortly before the flight landed at SJO.
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