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READERS SHARE FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES AND IDEAS
A TRAVEL WISH FOR 2019 POST:TOMINSCOTLAND
As 2019 is upon us, I wondered what small things would make a big difference to your travel lives in the new year? For me, I did 12 legs with Qatar Airways in 2018 and it looks as if there will be more this year. The boarding/disembarking music by Dana Al Fardan, while okay as a one-off, goes round and round in my head and is depressing and dirge-like by the 24th listen. Please, Qatar, change it to something a bit lighter!
➜ CAPETONIANM
Since you’ve started by mentioning “music”, I’ll bite on that one. I detest unnecessary added noise, it is an insidious form of pollution. I accept that some is unavoidable, but I would like to see all background music everywhere banned. I would also like to see more restaurants using sound-deadening soft furnishings and ceiling materials. It can and should be done.
➜ TOMINSCOTLAND
Oh, I agree 100 per cent Capetonianm. Especially the “seasonal music” to which we have been subjected over the past few weeks (feels like months). I would also ban TVs in bars and restaurants.
➜ INQUISITIVE
No person should need to wait more than 15-20 minutes in any immigration checks. Some countries can do it so why not all?
➜ MARTYNSINCLAIR
This one is easy and it’s free. It should be made compulsory for customerfacing staff and passengers to smile more and say thank you… and the world will become a far better place.
➜ LUGANOPIRATE
Internet sites that do not assume that everyone can receive an SMS to validate their credentials. Service call centres that realise their clients travel abroad and may need a normal number rather than an 0800 or 0844, etc. Security lines that do not require you to take out laptops and tablets. Car rental companies that actually give you the car you reserved.
➜ RHMANGEL
For US immigration to stop using the word “alien” when I visit in 2019. Hey, I’m either spending $$ in your country or doing business. And it’s clear I have a return ticket. Stop treating me like you’re checking a felon into prison.
➜ LUGANOPIRATE
Or as if I’ve arrived from outer space and am a citizen of another planet.
➜ CEDRIC_STATHERBY
I am surprised no one has mentioned the shambolic state of Britain’s railways here. I may be lucky, but my experiences of air travel, car hire and even US immigration are mostly pretty okay. Or perhaps that just means I have successfully lowered my expectations so much that I am more often than not surprised and relieved that things went as well as they did. But UK rail is another matter. It is now the case that one routinely expects rail travel, both suburban and long distance, to be at best delayed, at worst chaotically disrupted. I took four trains between London and Scotland this year – two were delayed by more than an hour and two were cancelled outright. As for suburban rail, the timetable is increasingly a fiction, and one of the most used apps on my phone is South Western Railway’s. One simply does not try to catch a train according to SWR’s timetables these days – it is essential to check first what state the service is in.
➜ CAPETONIANM
Websites that don’t assume that because I happen to be in country “X” when I access them, I speak that language, use that currency and want to start my journey/make my purchase in that country. Even when I have set a preference. BA is particularly bad for that. Try sitting in Switzerland, making a booking out of Ireland with an Irish credit card, when your Executive Club membership is in South Africa. Amazon, on the other hand, makes it so easy.
➜ CATHAYLOYALIST2
To many companies in the travel space, when things go wrong, I would say to senior management: get off your backsides, go down to the coalface and give customer-facing staff the authority to genuinely try to help travellers resolve an issue. Good customer service provided with sincerity and a smile is priceless.
➜ CANUCKLAD
No person should need to wait more than 15-20 minutes for immigration checks
The removal of misleading hyperbole – I get advertising sells but it simply raises expectations that can’t be met. Especially when describing in-flight menus and seat comfort. Honesty might not be the best policy, but raising hopes is worse.