[TominScotland]

2019 is almost upon us and I wondered what small things would make a big difference to your travel lives into the New Year?

For me, I did 12 legs with Qatar in 2018 and it looks as if there will be quite a few more this coming year. The boarding/ disembarking music by Dana Al Fardan, while OK as a one off, goes round and round in my head and is depressing and dirge-like at the 24th time of asking. 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 be done and should be done.

6 users thanked author for this post.

TupeloKid, kevin46, travelworld2, BPP, LuganoPirate, Montysaurus

[TominScotland]

Oh, I agree 100% 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……

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kevin46

[Inquisitive]

No person shall need to wait more than 15-20 minutes in any immigration checks. Some countries can do it (by placing more people during peak hours, sudden peak or by technology) why not all? Especially those so-called developed economy countries that are laggard on this.

[MartynSinclair]

This one is easy & its free…

It should be made compulsory for Customer facing staff and passengers to smile more and say thank you…. and the world will become afar better place….

[christopheL]

I know you like generalities but I can assure you that many capetonians are smiling and polite 🙂

[LuganoPirate]

Great thread Tom,

Internet sites that do not assume that everyone can receive an SMS to validate their credentials
Service call centres that do not realise that perhaps their clients travel abroad and may need a normal number rather than a 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!

I’ll add more as I think of them.

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travelsforfun, GivingupBA, ASK1945

[capetonianm]

Car rental companies that actually give you the car you reserved!

… at the price that they confirmed. I am currently in dispute with Europcar over precisely this, and so far their Customer Services has handled it appallingly. As it is ongoing I will refrain from further comment.

Service call centres that do not realise that perhaps their clients travel abroad and may need a normal number rather than a 0800 or 0844 etc

Another one. A major ZA travel company, Flight Centre, used to send out itineraries with an ‘0861’ support contact number. Just one small problem, 0861 numbers in ZA cannot be reached from outside the country (at least, I’ve never been able to using a variety of platforms), which is surely where most of their customers (victims) go. This may have changed since I last had the misfortune to deal with them.

[RHMAngel]

For American 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 in a felon to a prison.

Ratio of men who smile is higher than women. Never had a woman on security smile…Or say welcome (back to my country). Or take lessons from Far East or Australian immigration personnel who actually joke and ask what fun you plan on having (business or not).

[LuganoPirate]

[quote quote=911512]Stop treating me like you’re checking in a felon to a prison.[/quote]

Or as if I’ve arrived from outer space and 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 OK. Or perhaps that just means I have successfully lowered my expectations so much that I am more often than not surprised and relieved things went as well as they did!

But UK rail travel 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 4 trains between London and Scotland this year: 2 were delayed by over an hour and 2 were cancelled outright. As for suburban rail, the timetable is increasingly a fiction, and one of the most used apps on my phone is the “live running on South Western Railway” one. 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.

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Montysaurus

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=911505] Internet sites that do not assume that everyone can receive an SMS to validate their credentials ….. Car rental companies that actually give you the car you reserved! [/quote]

Absolutely right for me on both of the above, LP. I got into endless hassles this year because a bank in the Far East assumed could I receive an SMS when in fact I could not. They froze my account and it took a lot of effort to unfreeze it. And about car rental companies – I have rented from a certain company at Heathrow, their name begins with “AV” ha-ha, a zillion times over several decades and they have NEVER ONCE, no not ever, given me the car I had reserved: on the other hand they’ve always given me an equally good or better car. I’m not complaining, I’m always happy with “AV” [except they once allocated me a car covered in numerous scratches and dents not marked on the rental agreement, and looked very miffed when I went back to the office and said I wouldn’t take it … they reluctantly changed the car]. Otherwise they’ve been great for me.

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travelsforfun, LuganoPirate

[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 ex Ireland with an Irish CC, when your Exec Club membership is in ZA.

Amazon on the other hand make it so easy.

[Montysaurus]

Re RHMAngel – US Immigration staff at San Francisco are always polite, charming and welcoming. They smile as they ask all the questions to which they already know the answers and are understanding if one can’t remember exactly when one was last in SFO. It is very much a human to human encounter!

[capetonianm]

I haven’t travelled to the USA as much as most of you, but have entered at JFK, EWR, HOU, MIA, SEA and CHI and never had a problem with US Immigration. In fact I’ve found the Canadian Immigration people far worse.

[Author]

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