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Page B7, August 15, 1979 - North Shore Ne

‘There are
differences

-~—Pm sure one of my readés

who called me. last week is _

psychic! He called to give
me a suggestion for a
column. The message was:

“Tell your readers to SHOP .
AROUND § before they buy °

an airline ticket.” He went
on to. explain how, by asking

the right questions, he was _
able to shave off a sizeable —

sum from his cross-Canada
travel.

- OO RE

“On one occasion, he
decided to combine a
business trip to Toronto with
a Bermuda vacation. After
one airline quoted him a
hefty figure, he “shopped”
.and was able to buy an
excursion fare out of
Toronto for” only sixty”
dollars more than his regular
Toronto-Vancouver flight.
He complained that travel
agents and airline reps often
don’t know: — or can't be
bothered —~ to find you the
cheapest fares.

Lo and behold — before I
could get the column I'd
written about the problem

into the paper — a couple of"

other newspapers did some
research on the subject,
agreeing with this gentleman

wholeheartedly.

. IF YOUR DESTINATION ts a quaint fishiig village on the east coast or overseas, there is a-chance you can pick up

He also suggested that
regular travellers get
themselves
schedules. Often, travellers

“are given flights that are
inconvenient — just because
they are apt to be un-
derbooked! There’s no way
that any of us want to get
plopped on the “milk run”
just because smarter
travellers demand the best
connections. As far as I'm
concerned, the best flight is
the one that goes non-stop.
The fewer take-offs and
landing I have to endure, the
better my white knuckles
hold up.

One of the excuses used
by travel agents to ignore the
SkyBus (CPAir) and Sale
Prices (Air Canada) is that
you may not get a seat.
Hogwash! Seats are reserved
on a first-come basis. On
CPAir it costs you $20 extra

‘to, re-book if you change.

your flight.-Who's going to

be that stupid? ‘Anyone with"

half a brain arrives at the
airport with plenty of time to
spare. For me, that means
over an hour on domestic
flights and two hours,
minimum, for overseas. One
of my prime reasons is to
make sure of an aisle seat in
the smoking section! Once,
due to choked traffic, I was
quite: late arriving at the
airport and had to suffer
several hours of nicotine fits.
NEVER AGAIN. Also,
airport “security” clearance
can be deadly slow.

On another occasion,
Mom and I were a bit late
arriving at the airport in
Genoa. We got the last two
séats — cight rows apart.
That wouldn't have been a
catastrophy, exccpt that
there was an air traffic
controllers’ slow-down = in
London and = our plane
couldn't take off until it has

some airline.

a good price with a bit of careful shopping.

Barbare
McCreadie

clearance to land. there. we
sat, for SIX HOURS at the
end of the runway. They |
opened the plane doors and

‘placed a fan in one at the tail

and we were allowed to
smoke.

Poor Mom got stuck with
two honeymoodners who
spoke only Italian and spent
six hours rehersing their
wedding night. I lucked out
with two charming English
doctors who carried their
own portable bar! Needless
to say, Mom's humor wasn't
the best. The doctors and I
were too blotto to care —
even when the pilot an-
nounced: “Ladies and
gentlemen, we are scheduled
to land in Gatwick airport in
15 minutes. However, due to
the strike, we have been
stacked over the airport and
may not land for another
hour. We apologise for this
additional aciay ”

“There was a pause, and
then the captain came back

on the intercom. “And if you
think you've got problems,”
he said, “My wife’s giving a
dinner party which I
promised to attend. The
guests finished their dessert
half an hour ago!”

All the English-speaking
passengers roared with

‘daughter and there was much

translating between the
stewardesses and Italians.
When we landed; I said to
Mom: “Despite all the
problems, that was one of

the best flights [ve ever |

had!” Her reply was un-
printable.

This garbage is costing all
of the travelling public
nothing but
inconvenience. Let's all
“flo Ottawa (Canadian
rt Commission) with
letters demariding -a change
in.-policy. Maybe we can

help cut the costs of airline

travel!

For anyone who doesn’t
want to pay the $50 bucks,
Jeave them the option of
Mying standby at a slight
reduction.

eee

Pood, food, glorious food!
Well, sometimes short of
glorious! Next to high prices
and flight delays, the
traveller screams about
airline meals.

If the offering is steak,
half the people are angry if
it’s well-done. The other half
crab if it isn’t still moo-ing. If
they get peas, they want
broccoli. If * they get
potatoes, they'd prefer rice.
If the chicken has a sauce,
they'd rather have it bald. If

money andé

_ 4
it’s bald; they complain that
it’s dry.

If I were running an
airline, I'd fix all those
people who book (reserve)
seats on five flights so they
can take their choice when
they are due to leave. 'd do
another job on all those
donkeys who don’t confirm
their flights within 24 hours
of who just fail to show up!

Vd charge everybody a
non-refundable $50 for the
reservation!

That ought to put a stop to
planes being overbooked,
passengers getting bounced
and flights..going out half-
empty!

By serving two choices,
the airline is in trouble’
again! By the time the at-
tendants get to the rear of
the plane one or the other
has run out and the screams
are loud.

Some flights run out of

meals completely. Then, you
ought to hear the yells.
Readers have complained
loudly about ordering a
special meal — vegetarian,
diabetic or Kosher — and
finding a steak drenched in
sauce accompanied by a
shrimp salad, buttered rolls
and a goocy dessert. Bad
luck!

Both CPAir and Air
Canada have invited me to

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

It can’t all

QUESTION: Di you ever
take a holiday that you
despised? Everything that
you do sounds like so much
funt It can’t all be perfect.

ANSWER:

You bet! I took one
“holiday” that I'd go to hell
before I'd repeat. The kids
were aged four, one and
“brand new baby”. We
rented a cabin on a lake with
another couple and their two
kids aged four and two. For
two weeks we were cooped
up in a place, about the'size
of our garage, while it rained
steadily. The kids fought.
The fathers got in the car
and vanished. I washed
diapera in a pail. The baby
screamed incessently. The
toddlers kept staggering out

the door and into the lake. A
couple of times, I was
tempted to see how well they
could swim! Ever tried
cooking meals for nine
people on a coal stove?

Every holiday has_ it’s
“down times”. That one
didn't have any “Up times”
except one night when Brian
and I left the whole works of
them behind and took off in
the canoc. It had stopped
raining for a couple of hours

\

and we paddiecd around he,

passport

hotos

while you wait

Yr Gare agen

viet 9BB-9B13

Hqog cat

visit their kitchens in the
next week or so, and as a
former Home Economics
teacher I CAN HARDLY
WAIT! I usually enjoy
airline food, especially in
CPAir’s Express section.

eee aa

One of the best booklets
I've seen in a long time is

your's for the writing:

Aviation Consumer
Action Project, P.O. Box
19029 Washington, D.C.
20036.

Ralph Nader is_ the
chairman of the advisory
board. The booklet deals
with every aspect of con-
sumer rights in the field of
aviation. It’s free, but the
association likes donations.

lake. And, I'm. not telling
you what else we did!

WAIKIKI $369

6 Days, T Nights, Ak & Hotel

WAIKIKI $439

. 18 Daya, 14 Nighta, At & Hotel

LAS VEGAS $189

6 Daye, 4 Nights, Aw & Hotel

RENO $209

8 Days, 7 Nighta, At & Hotel

RENO $179

6 Daye, 4 Nighta, At & Hertel

*

CENTA Tours

1686 Robeon Street
10807 K. Geo. Hwy. Surrey

689-7117

Rag. Travel AQemt Wa. 167-8