Market rules: the value of your flight can go up as well as down

Market rules: the value of your flight can go up as well as down

When a couple of know-it-alls requested some cheap flights to Crete, I soon found myself wishing I was out to lunch

When the price is right…

Monday, the start of the week and a stark introduction to the blame an agent gets for making clients the victims of fluid pricing – the agent takes a lunch break!

Doesn’t make sense? Well, I had drawn the short straw and was obliged to take a late lunch.

When I returned, laden with shopping, I was greeted by two smiling Jack-the-lads who announced they were awaiting my return so I could book them flights to Crete.

Without much ado I deposited my bags, discarded my coat, and quickly returned to my desk. My clients wanted to travel the following day and we had last checked prices on Friday.

Olympic was too expensive and full on the return flight. The flight that suited was an Airtours service from Bristol, priced at £169.

Reluctant to pay that amount, they confidently insisted the price would fall by Monday, in spite of my warning that Monday was during the half-term holiday.

I accessed the system and watched as a look of disbelief spread across their faces when I informed them the same flight now cost £189.

The know-all of the two exclaimed this could not possibly be the price as the seats were only £99 this morning on the Internet.

I really did try not to smile when I asked why he hadn’t booked them there and then.

His response was that he thought if he held off buying until the last minute, he would get the seats even cheaper. Panic set in on his companion’s face as he announced: “But we have to get there, it’s a business meeting.”

The pair insisted I ring Airtours to check whether there may have been a mistake and if there should really be a ‘1’ in front of the ’89’.

I rang Airtours who informed me there had not been a mistake and that prices change by the hour.

I relayed this information to the client who promptly told me it was all my fault for taking my lunch break when I did and, had I been there earlier, they would have booked at the cheaper price.

Trying, not very successfully, to conceal their ill-temper, the pair left the shop with a request for me to try again “first thing in the morning”.

The following morning there were two seats left at a price of £129. They booked.

Flag finds it funny

We agents may be brilliant actors but some operators are employing sparkling comedians in their reservations departments.

Kate was in the process of checking tickets before handing them to her client when she noticed that, although the client had paid for Flag accommodation throughout New Zealand, there was no information on the hotels.

While the client waited, she rang the operator. The operator’s response was they did not have any Flag directories in the department and, even if they did, they would not be allowed to send them out.

A puzzled Kate enquired as to how the client would find the hotels he had booked into.

The smugly superior response was quick and cutting: “Tell him to stick his head out of the car window and look for a hotel with a flag on it!”

That bit of sarcasm didn’t come cheap – it cost the client £8,500. Fortunately, Renato at Flag Hotels was far more friendly and considerate. He promptly popped a directory in the post, apparently wooed by Kate’s honey-rich West Country accent.

My guide to saying ‘no’

I think I am a doggedly persistent agent in my resolve to get what the client wants, so I was a little taken aback to be on the receiving end of one middle-aged gent’s efforts to obtain out-of-date OAG guides this week. It would have been laughable if it hadn’t taken up so much valuable time.

The dialogue began promisingly when herequested information about flights to Colombo then on to Australia and New Zealand.

I asked when he was thinking of travelling and received a vague response to the effect that he wasn’t sure. This was followed by a request for me to look in the OAG and tell him who flies the route.

Thinking he didn’t trust our technology, I did as requested.

“Have you had your new books in yet?” he asked. I replied we had not. “You’ve got all that information on your system then?” he continued. I confirmed that indeed we had.

“So if you don’t really need the books you could let me have them couldn’t you?

“I could then save you time by taking the books home to look things up and work out the route for myself.”

In an attempt to forestall him while seeking further information regarding his proposed trip, I told him we needed the OAG guides for reference purposes.

I tried to be helpful by offering him the address so he could purchase them if he wanted them that badly.

“I’ve got the address already. You normally give me your old OAGs.”

I ignored this comment and carried on with the phantom booking, quoting him for an around-the-world fare.

“That’s gone up a lot. I paid £500 less than that last time I went,” he complained.

As soon as I asked him how long ago that was, I knew he would give me a ’80s date, and he didn’t disappoint me.

The OAGguide farce continued, with him pretending that he still wanted to book flights when it was blatantly evident that all he really wanted was the old guides.

After the third time of asking “did we really need our guides”, and yet another rebuff from me, he stood up and said he would let me know about the flights but in the meantime, would I ring all the airlines and find out the seat pitch as he is so tall – but not as tall as his stories I fear.