Triphap - Funny Travel Stories and Travel Horror Stories

It seemed like a normal day at work. We were moderately busy making reservations with our usual clients. I was available; my headset was open to receive calls when I finally heard the familiar beep, announcing a call was coming through my line. The conversation that followed would become one of many memorable stories I would tell later as I reflected back on my days as a travel agent. It went exactly like this:

Me: "Hello and thank you for calling, how may I help you?"
Traveler: "Hi, I'd like to make a reservation, please."
Me: "Sure, sir. When and where would you like to travel?"
Traveler: "I'd like to go to Acapulco, Spain on the first of December,"
Me: "I'm sorry sir, but Acapulco isn't in Spain,"
Traveler: "Well, where is it then?" (Did I detect a little annoyance in his voice?)
Me: "Sure, sir. Acapulco is in Mexico. Acapulco, Mexico. Is that where you'd like to travel to?"
Traveler: *heavy sigh* "No! I want to travel to Acapulco, Spain," (yes, definite annoyance with me.)
Me: "Just one moment, sir. I'll place you on hold for just one minute."

I pull out my OAG (long before the Internet, we had to resort to actually looking things up in a... read more >>

I got a phone call from a client who was frantic to get home. I was a reservations agent for 6 years and in the travel and tourism industry for a total of 17 years, so I had grown very accustomed to clients calling in a panic. This particular client had purchased an airline ticket from us to fly roundtrip from Washington, D.C., to Buffalo, New York and back. He was however, calling from Toronto, Canada. At the time, I worked as a government agent – responsible for making official travel arrangements for travelers on official government business for the Federal Government. I asked my traveler why he was calling me from Toronto. The flight he was traveling on was a "direct" flight which meant the flight made a stop en route to its final destination. His flight was a flight terminating in Canada and only stopping in Buffalo to let passengers off and on. He should have gotten off in Buffalo. Apparently, according to my passenger, he had taken a valium pill because of his dislike for flying and had SLEPT through the layover in Buffalo. When he awoke, the plane was in Canada. I asked him how... read more >>