Hope you have a good flight Mother Bear

[Glenda]

Have noticed you haven't been on the forum, and I know you have been dealing with a 'dolly-daydream' of a travel agent who didn't finalise the booking of your flight tickets.   >:(

Hope it has all been sorted out and you will either be shortly on your way, already on your way, or even already here in NZ!  

:)

[Welshgirl]

MB is due to land in NZ at 12.30 pm today (Saturday) NZ time, 11.30pm Friday evening UK time. I am frantically dusting as we speak :o

The forums not the same without her eh?

Fear not though, I'm sure she will be back on as soon as she has recovered from any jet-lag :)

[Pulsarblu]

Huraay!! Hope the summer is still really good for MB.

If you happen to pass by Welly, we can meet up..

[MotherBear]

Hi folks,

Finally managed to find time to get on the PC. As some of you may know, I do tend to attract problems in that area and, true to form, have already had trouble signing into the forum from NZ and also getting into my Yahoo mailbox. It must be a gift I have. :D

We arrived here on time after a 4-leg journey i.e. Muscat, Dubai, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Auckland. We flew with Malaysia Airlines - the plane from Dubai to Karachi and Kuala Lumpur seemed to be very old, seats uncomfortable and everyone appeared to be restless and squirming around trying to settle so we didn't get any sleep that night. The 'personalised entertainment system' consisted of a pull down screen at the front of the plane and the picture was very blurred and the sound atrocious. Never mind, I don't like the look of the new James Bond anway. ;D

The airline didn't give us breakfast before we left the plane so we looked forward to eating when we arrived at the transit hotel they'd booked for us. We were staying in KL 12 hours but were told we were only entitled to one meal during that time, either breakfast or lunch, not both. This was very disappointing considering how much we'd paid for the flights and, when going with Thai Air last year for much less money, we were given all meals. Our hotel room in KL, too, was very dingy. Because of our horrendous difficulties with the travel agent during the run up to the flights, it only added to our dissatisfaction with Malaysia Airlines and hubster has been swearing never to fly with them again. I'm keeping an open mind as I've heard good reports about them in the past and think we just drew yet another short straw. The final and longest leg of the journey was on a much better plane and we saw something more encouraging in the way of service and comfort.

Fortunately we have managed to escape jet lag again and the sun was shining as we arrived in AKL to a lovely sunny day. Pity it didn't last but, then, we do have that effect on the weather wherever we go. There is a terrific din from all the cicadas all around the house so they must be very busy doing whatever cicadas do. After a lazy couple of days we're now gearing up to getting on with some work on the house.

Very many thanks to Paul and Julie (firing1) who entertained us at their lovely home and gave us a good start to our holiday. It was a very relaxing afternoon but sorry about the weather guys. Living, as we do, in sunhine for at least 10 months of the year, fate always deems that we experience a bit of wet and windy stuff whenever we leave Oman. I knew I did right to pack my umbrella. ;D

Below is a run down of the problems we had before getting to NZ as I ran out of space on this post. This is an account of how not to book a holiday. ;)

[MotherBear]

Have noticed you haven't been on the forum, and I know you have been dealing with a 'dolly-daydream' of a travel agent who didn't finalise the booking of your flight tickets. ? >:(

Glenda, I know you have some insight into our long drawn out problems with our Indian travel agent, Mary, so I'll just throw a few points on here to bring others in line with that.

We booked this flight 5 months ago and were told to fly Malaysia Airlines because we would get a very good deal with them. ?We weren't given a firm price at the time because of the seasons changing and the prices would come out in February. ?On the first visit Mary seemed very efficient and pro-active but after she'd secured our booking, she just seemed to sit back and decide to do nothing further. ?When February came around there was still no sign of these special prices, although we were promised they would be out any day. ?One time we'd called in to check and another girl attended to us. ?When she phoned MA, she was given a much higher price than Mary had mentioned and I believe it was a price we would have to pay if we booked at that time rather than months before. ?We still hung on for the special prices to come out. ?Another occasion we spoke with Mary, she let it drop that these 'special prices' she'd loosely quoted when we first booked, were minus nearly 200 GBP airport taxes! ?So, even with a special deal, it appeared we would still be paying a lot more than we'd paid last year with Thai Air. ?

It was now getting very close to our departure date and I just had the feeling that all wasn't well with our booking. ?Hubster wanted to collect our tickets as we'd given up hope of ever getting a special price and we needed the tickets to feel that we were actually going on holiday. ?It's then that things seemed to completely fall apart. ?In a roundabout way, Mary told him casually that our booking had been cancelled. ?This was 3 days before we were due to fly. ?We'd gone in to see Mary to get the tickets the week before and she said she couldn't do it because her Internet was down. ?Because she didn't contact MA, they'd cancelled our booking. ?I really can't believe that one day made all the difference to our booking. ?And what was wrong with her picking up the phone to let them know she couldn't do it on the Net and could they do it on the phone? ?

At last Mary was spurred into action and tried to rebook us. She did manage this although one leg of the journey had to be in slightly upgraded seats (MA seem to have ELEVEN classes within economy!). ?Mary was pressing us to pay for this upgrade but we didn't see why we should when it was her fault. ?Then she tried to shift us to the cheaper Thai Air (which we'd first asked to go with) but we'd already organised all sorts of things like boarding the cats etc. to tie in with the MA flights. ?There were a lot of other things flying about at the time as Mary solely concerted her efforts into saving her company (read 'her butt') having to pay for the upgrade. ?She was determined to get a downgrade cancellation or get us to pay for the upgrade and used every trick in the book. ?We finally got the tickets the day before we flew although it was grudgingly on Mary's part. ?Luckily, as Mary hadn't deemed fit to mention it, hubster noticed that the first flight now left Muscat in the morning instead of the afternoon so what would be a leisurely morning taking the cats for boarding and doing some last minute things was now done in a panic. Then there was a problem with the hotel vouchers for KL which seemed missing. ?Eventually we got one voucher at the last minute for the outward journey but still haven't got one for the return. ?

Absolutely frazzled, we made it to the airport and checked in. ?I must admit to being thoroughly pleased that Mary hadn't been able to get us downgraded as that would be letting her off too lightly. ?Then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a pink mass floating towards me. ?Bl**dy Mary! ?Oh well, she felt bad enough that she wanted to make sure we got off OK. ?Had she hell! ?She'd finally managed to get a downgrade cancellation and told the guy to change the tickets. ?I prayed he coldn't do it as we'd already checked in, but he did. ?There isn't actually any difference in the seating so we found but, being a vindictive sort in these matters, I just wanted Mary to experience some of what she'd put us through. ?I visibly sagged and told her the whole thing had been horribly stressful. ?She put her hand comfortingly on my arm and said 'Don't worry. I'M here now. ?It'll be OK.' ?How I didn't strangle the bl**dy woman there and then I don't know. ?It was the way she said it, having been the sole cause of all our problems. ?

There's a lot more I could post about her lies and manipulation, trying to blame everyone but herself but I'm running out of space again and probably boring you all to death so I'll leave it there, put it all behind me and get on with enjoying my holiday downunder. ?Now, where's that paint brush. ? ;) ?

[MotherBear]

Huraay!! Hope the summer is still really good for MB.

If you happen to pass by Welly, we can meet up..

That would have been lovely, Alex, but unfortunately we probably won't have time for much travelling around as we have quite a lot of work to do on the house while we're here and other things like organising heat pumps and stuff. We hope to get in some day trips around the area but that will be all, I suspect.

Hope all is well with you and Catherine and the family are settling well in Wellie. 8-)

[LilAmy]

Wow I feel stressed after reading your post!

Not much I can say to it to make it any better but I think a very stern letter to her superiors is in order when you get home. That is just a joke what you went through...

You should contact holidays from hell and get on the TV with that story ;D

Hopefully your journey back will run more smoothly, it doesnt sound like it could get any worse.

I think what you have to do now is forget about Mary afor now, sup a wee G&T and enjoy your holiday in NZ.

[Glenda]

Hi Mother Bear.  

So glad you managed to get flights after all that (jeez!) and your journey was safe, albeit a little lacking in comfort and service.  

We knew the weather would change as soon as you set foot in the country.  You should be employed and handsomely paid for your rain-making abilities.    

Hope the rest of your holiday goes well and you do have some R & R.

:icon_biggrin:

[Dawn]

What a nightmare MB! :o

Kick back and relax for a bit now 8-)

[Welshgirl]

We knew the weather would change as soon as you set foot in the country.  You should be employed and handsomely paid for your rain-making abilities.  

Funny you should say that - it was suggested earlier that she be allowed to gain PR via the skilled migrant category on the strength of her rain-making ability ::)

Seriously, how much rain can one person bring? It is chucking it down! (not that we are complaining because our water tank was desperately low. She said it would happen but we didn't believe her.

As long as she knows how to make the rain stop in a few days.....