Our tickets have arrived, but............

[bengunn]

Good news - our tickets arrived today.

Bad news - on checking them I found that they were for the early Virgin flight VS028 coming back when we had asked for the later flight VS016. I checked with Virgin that our seat requests were still OK and was told that they were BUT we were booked on VS016 not VS028 as the tickets said. The upshot is that we now have to send the tickets back so they can be reissued with the correct return flight.

Other bad news - for our third week, we have a villa in Bradenton but we were given an address and directions for New Port Richie to pick up the keys. New Port Richie is about 30 miles north of Tampa whereas Bradenton is about 30 miles south of Tampa. It turned out that the directions were wrong so they are being corrected as well.

What else can go wrong?

The moral is (and this is why I am posting under Trip Planning) do check your travel documents very carefully and question anything that looks odd. If we had not checked, we would had driven about 60 miles out of our way and then been refused boarding on our way home - it doesn't bear thinking about does it?

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Phew - at least it sounds as though you've got everything in its right place - now

You rightly say check your travel documents . . . couple of years back Virgin had messed up the return date of our hire car, but caught it and got it sorted.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Richard

Nothing has really gone wrong yet because you have been very clever and checked your travel documentation.

I have had several experiences of travel agents/documentation getting things wrong and have not been able to spot the problems until it is too late and then having little recourse afterwards because everyone blames everyone else (travel agents are very quick to take your money, but not very helpful at sorting things out when things go wrong... ).

My (tainted) view of this world is that nothing is ever perfect. The best way to deal with it is to be vigilant (which you are) and then TRY (easier said than done ;-)) to let those things that still go wrong wash over you. No matter how vigilant you are, things will go wrong - that's life.

A few Christmases ago (Boxing day) we flew into LA (visiting relatives) and got the bus to Alamo to pick up our RESERVED rental car at the RESERVED time. When we got there, there was a HUGE queue and the manager stood on a table and announced that there were NO more cars left. He just told people to try other rental agencies - there was nothing he could do, so it wasn't his problem! There were about 60 families there with reservations (many of them British): after a long flight, many of them wanted to tear him limb from limb. Most people left to try other rental agencies, we hung in there (they were have driibs and drabs of cars returned) and - over an hour and a half after getting to the rental depot - we got a rental car. So I now know that a hire car reservation isn't worth the paper that it is printed on AND I don't use Alamo anymore ;-).

Boo
(the holiday control freak - who find vigilance the easy bit, but the "letting it wash over you" somewhat harder....)

 

[KayleeUK]

Glad you checked it in time

Kaylee

 

[Janice]

Yes - a timely reminder Richard - thankyou.

It is imperative that everything is checked, checked and then checked again!

Hope it all get sorted and you have a wonderful time

 

[kazzie]

Hi,

I agree absolutely with checking the documents when they arrive.

This is a reminder to check properly the invoice you receive when you have booked a holiday.The holiday I booked for this October is with Funway holidays.I noticed when I checked my credit card bill on-line only £440 had been taken instaed of a deposit of £550 that would be for 5 people.I did think maybe they've just taken less,but when I realsied it was a deposit for exactly one person less I worried in case they had only booked 4 fly-drives.When I 'phoned them they said the booking was for five people,they'd just take the other money off the card.
BUT, when my invoic e arrived I saw there was a booking ref. for 4 of us,then listed seperately a seperate boking and booking ref. for one more.So they had only booked the flights for 4 people.If I hadn't checked my credit card statment I can't be sure I would have checked the invoice that thoroughly.Can you imagine not finding out until the tickets arrived,one of your family hadn't been booked on the flight!!

 

[bengunn]

Well it is getting better, in today's post we got the correct instructions for picking up the keys to our second villa.

Thanks for the sympathy, I am sure many people have had worse happen; I just thought that it would be good to remind people to check carefully.

 

[neilybealy]

think i'll double check the tickets i've received from virgin atlantic when i get home

 

[snookhams]

How early did you start recieving your tickets for virgin flights - we go in 13 days and still haven't received ours just keep being told they will arrive, but am worried in case there is a problem and we have to return them - I think I'll give them another ring and the car hire people still no voucher either!

 

[chris16]

Hi
We got our tickets yesterday, just over 4 weeks before we go.
All seems correct having carefully checked them

I would chase yours up

Chris

 

[snookhams]

Have phoned the Travel agent today and they assured me that they do not send them out until 2 weeks before you fly , they said we should have them by the begining of this week! hope they arrive soon.

 

[flakey]

10 days before is the norm.......

 

[bengunn]

We got all our tickets 3 weeks beofre we fly but that is direct form the travel company not via a travel agent.

 

[MalcolmC]

If you buy flight tickets through Expedia, they send the tickets to you within about 5 working days.

We got ours six months before departure!

 

[bengunn]

I am pleased to report that the correct tickets came this morning but by first class post not special delivery as promised - never mind, I have checked them and they seem to be OK.

Only 2 weeks and 1 and a half days to go now

 

[snookhams]

I'm really begining to panic now, still no tickets or car hire voucher, am getting fed up with phoning daily to see where they are and constantly being told they've been posted - the Travel agent or car hire compnay don't seem particularly bothered that we go in 8 days and still not got anything - am going to phone local sorting office in the morning as the postman only delivered to the odd numbers down our road today no one on the even side got any post at all!!!!!!!!

 

[snookhams]

I can now relax and get excited tickets arrived in post today, phoned car hire company again as still not received voucher and they have emailed it to me should I not get the original in time .

 

[bengunn]

Hi Snookhams,

Glad you got your tickets sorted out - I know how you feel!