There were many comments posted to this blog about your unhappy travel experiences and I received heaps of emails. I thought I should address this issue one last time upon receiving an email from Lillian. After reading my blog she also chose to boycott Air Transat.
The poor service received was from a charter airline, and having flown other charter airlines in the past, the service level is about the same from all of them. Since many companies partner with various charter airlines for travel prizes, I do not want anyone to stop entering to win a trip from a couple of blog posts. Even I have not done that. (I am now just very selective!) There is a reason the advice forewarned is forearmed is spot on. If you know what to expect before you enter, and win!, then I think your holiday will be a good one.
The best quote was one I received from Sandi and I think she sums it up the best: “I have found on airlines leaving the US have one set of regulations, and I could only speculate what I would find when leaving my destination country. The problem is that the airlines are changing their rules daily. Foreign countries also dictate what the airlines can or cannot do whether the airlines like it or not. They have little concern of how uncomfortable they make their passengers. It’s totally a control and ego thing. The frustrating part of all of this is the customers who get caught up in the confusion between what the employee’s are told and the foreign country’s decision to change the rules in midstream is maddening.”
No one can predict what is going to happen in the next five minutes, let alone on vacation. You should have a contingency plan for problems that could arise while travelling, even a vacation you have paid for yourself, such as travel insurance, and then, expect the unexpected! That could either be good, such as being invited to have tea with the Queen, or not so good, such as paying extra to get your luggage home.
So if you, like Lillian, have decided to boycott Air Transat, make sure it is for the right reason.
And for those that didn’t get a chance to read all the comments posted, Cathy suggested we all check out Trip Advisor before booking (or entering) your next vacation.
Out of curiosity, I did a check on both the President Hotel and Air Transat. The President Hotel had 160 reviews and was given an average 3 out of 5 stars rating. I would have given a two. Pretty accurate I would say. There were 2,316 reviews for Air Transat. I think it’s because they fly to so many cities and resorts around the world. They were given anywhere from 0 stars to 5. (I am leaning towards the 0 end of the scale.)
So, as I stated before: CAVEAT VICTOR, or Winner Beware.
Now go enter and win something, will ya!
Hi Carolyn — Don’t get me wrong, I too would now boycott Air Transat (who would want that ever happening to them?). However if not a petition (which I suggested because many people seem loathe to write to the airline themselves), have you lodged a formal complaint in writing with Air Transat (which would do far more than retorts at the airport), perhaps mentioning your boycott and how you’re advertising it? Kay, who talked about the children’s trip and having to come up with about $120 for each of 20 kids when returning (similar to your situation) mentioned that there were complaints, but were they in writing? If enough people did this the airlines would have no choice but to pay attention! — Also it’s interesting about Trip Advisor and how your hotel was generally given high marks — one wonders whether it’s because people tend to grade higher on leaving or whether they actually got good service (and of course this tells us we can’t trust Trip Advisor completely)? — My final point is, do you think there’s any possibility that you were also treated badly just BECAUSE you were a contest winner and not an individually paying customer? I’m so glad that you brought all of these points out into the light for us, because we do deserve an accurate description!