Travel 10jun07 to Hawaii

All,

In an effort to set the record straight, and to also let everyone know
that all travel agents are not illiterate idiots, here are a couple
things:

As a travel agent, when a customer has a complaint about the service
or treatment they've received, I always offer them the option of
contacting the airline themselves, or having me do it on their behalf.
The vast majority of them choose to do it themselves and copy me on
the correspondence.

On the rare occasions that I'm compelled to write on behalf of my
customer, there are certain protocol we follow. This includes speaking
with the sales rep of the offending airline and/or faxing or emailing
her or him directly and detailing the problem.

What is NOT standard protocol is to write a letter to the airline via
PFB, ESPECIALLY asking for the reimbursement to go directly back to
the agency. If this 'person' is truly offended on behalf of her
traveler, she would be asking for a refund back to the travelers'
credit card. It's very rare in this day and age for an agency check be
used to pay for a trip.

Just had to get that off my chest, ya'll. Thanks for listening.

Rant over. :)

1. Punctuation and proper spelling will get you further than entry
level.

2. Why aren't the passengers complaining? Why are you complaining
instead?

It's short, sweat, and too the point. Do let us know when United
Airlines responds and what they think of your requests, especially the
there vacation.

Tammy, File under "stuff happens" and put it in the "H" file for
hazels.

I...can't...breathe!

That is all.

Good grief, you are completely illiterate. Please go back to school,
and this time, please pay attention. Honestly, if this letter is an
example of your business skills, I'm surprised someone would trust you
to book a trip to the mall.

I'm glad my travel agent knows how to write a simple business
letter...

what are hazels? Multiple maids from the 1950's?

If you are going to write a letter from a business to a business, you
MUST use proper grammar & correct spelling.

In addition, if your clients ended up in Chicago in time to make their
flight to Hawaii, United Airlines performed (to the best of their
ability at that time) that portion of the travel for which you
contracted with them. Your clients are very fortunate that UA was
concerned enough to make the effort to get them to Chicago within a
specific timeframe. I've missed connecting flights where I had a more
than adequate window of time due to unexplained delays in departure.

Also, FYI, there is a place, their is a person.

Good luck with your compensation request.

Tammy, never book travel for me. With your spelling and grammar I'd be
afraid of where I'd end up.

There are many errors here, but for the sake of all that is sacred,
it's WOULD HAVE. Not WOULD OF. That drives me insane!

No point sending a complaint letter to United. Your clients will only
get a form letter response. Tell you clients to send their complaints
to the Department of Transportation Consumer Division. The email is
airconsumer@dot.gov These are forwarded to United, and are pretty
much the only complaints that get a personal response. It will be
much more effective if each involved customer sends their own email.

This letter is an affront to travel agents everywhere.

From what I can get out of this poorly written letter, you are the
travel agent. You are asking for compensation for a flight that
didn't happen but you are asking for it to be sent to you, correct?
If you are a travel agent, aren't there other avenues available to you
to address this sort of issue?

Yes, they probably should get some sort of compensation but it will
probably come in the form of a travel voucher loaded with
restrictions. Ultimately, they made their connecting flight and got
to Maui so it seems that United did do something to make that happen,
even if it was on a bus.

I suggest a rewrite of this letter. It is so poor. Please learn the
proper use of their (belonging to them), there (such as got there) and
they're (they are). It's not hazels, it's hassels.

Tammy, who are you? What is your relationship to these passengers?
Did you make it clear who the passengers are in the non-redacted copy
that went to United so that, in the unlikely event that United wants
to compensate them, it's even possible? Did they get to Chicago? Did
they make their connecting flight? Did they eventually get to Maui?

The mechanics of this letter are pretty bad. It's a business letter,
and it does not make you (or these mystery passengers) look like
someone to be taken seriously. (In fact, ....) It's not even clear
whether you are asking PFB to send this to Countryside Travel -- which
they're not going to do when you specified the recipient as United
Airlines -- or whether you are asking United to follow up with
Countryside Travel, which may or may not happen, depending on what
information you've elected to share with them. And seriously, when
you can't even tell to whom a letter is directed it needs to be
rewritten. If you are not a troll, I would encourage you to rewrite
the letter and get someone else to proofread it for you, paying
special attention to capitalization, and the words "there", "they're",
and "their".

I can certainly understand preferring to fly over taking a bus (and I
believe that the word you're looking for is "hassles"), but in the end
if United doesn't have a plane available they can use buses instead.
The passengers may be owed some kind of compensation, given how long
it took to get them on a Maui-bound flight and why there was such a
delay, but having to deal with the indignities of travel by bus
instead of waiting around in Milwaukee hoping that a plane will
eventually be ready to take off does not, I believe, warrant
compensation.