I’ve endured my fair share of bad travel experiences. Haven’t we all? Some of us just let it roll off our backs while others love to rant and rave. But there’s a happy medium when it comes to dealing with such blahs of travel.
If you’ve experienced a bad flight, whether it be because it was delayed or canceled, you had bad customer service, or the trip itself was just crummy, then it’s important to bring it to the airline’s attention. While you can speak to an attendant about your dismay, they often don’t have the authority to actually do anything about it (such as offer you travel vouchers or rebates), however if you contact the airline directly, you can usually get someone in management on the phone and you will get a lot further in your complaint. Stay calm and as pleasant as possible so you don’t give them any reason to ignore your complaints. Quite often airlines are very good about responding to a complaint by giving you money off of your next trip.
The same holds true of hotels – the front desk person may not be in a position to handle a complaint properly however management will. Ask to speak with the on-site hotel manager from the get-go. If you’re not satisfied with how they deal with things, call the hotel’s main number and ask to speak to someone in charge. In order to save face, most hotels will give you a discount on your current stay or toward your next stay with their hotel.
The main thing to remember is – losing your cool and getting heated with staff will not get you very far. Remain as calm as possible (which can be tricky if you’ve spent a lot of money on some aspect of your trip like plane or hotel fare) and keep a record of whom you’ve spoken with and when. Follow up on any unanswered complaints.
Happy traveling!
Bon Voyage,
Jenn
Jenn Cox is a Montreal-based freelance journalist. Visit her website or email her at info@wordaddict.ca.
