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Can't possibly be true!

rulle7

Jedi Knight
Country flag
Offline
Got this in my e-mail today.
IF there's any truth to it, it's a bit scary, but I have my doubts...

>The following are actual stories provided by a retiring Washington, D.C. travel
agent of 30+ years:
>
> ==========
>I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat on the plane so that
her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
> ==========
>I got a call from a Candidate's Staffer, who wanted to go to Cape Town. I
started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information.
>
>Then she interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Cape
Town is in Massachusetts."
>
>Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, "Cape
Cod is in Massachusetts, Cape Town is in South Africa."
>
>Her response...(click).
>
>
>==========
>A Senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I
asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando.
>
>He said he was expecting an ocean-view room.
>
>
>I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the
state.
>
>He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map, and Florida is a very thin
state!!!"
>==========
>I got a call from a Lawmakers Wife who asked, "Is it possible to see England
from Canada?" I said, "No."
>
>
>She said, "But they look so close on the map."
>
>==========
>An Aide for a Bush cabinet member once called and asked if they could rent a
car in Dallas.
>
>When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said,
>
>"I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between the
gates to save time."
>
>==========
>An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was
possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20 am, and got into Chicago at
8:33 am.
>
>I tried to explain that Mic higan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could
not understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went
very fast, and she bought that!
>
> ==========
>A New York lawmaker called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical
description on your bag so they know who's belongs to who?"
>
> I said, "No, why do you ask?"
>
>She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my
luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight, I think that is very rude!"
>
>After putting her on hold for a minute while I "looked into it" (I was actually
laughing) I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, CA is (FAT), and
that the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.
>==========
>A Senator's Aide called, inquiring about a trip package to Hawaii.
>
>After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to
California and then take the train to Hawaii?"
>==========
>I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, "How do I know
which plane to get on?" I asked him what exactly he meant.
>
>To which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these
darn planes have numbers on them."
>
> ==========
>A Lady Senator called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, FL. Do I have to
get on one of those little computer planes?" I asked if she meant fly to
Pensacola, FL on a commuter plane.
>
> She said, "Yeah, whatever!!"
>==========
>A Senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in
order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded
him he needed a visa.
>
>"Oh no I don't, I've been to China many times and never had to have one of
those."
>
>I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa.
>
>When I told him this he said, "Look, I've ! been to China four times and every
time they have accepted my American Express!"
> ==========
>A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, "I want to go from
Chicago to Rhino, New York"
>
>The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the agent asked, "Are you sure
that's the name of the town?"
>
>
>"Yes. What flights do you have?" replied the lady.
>
>After some searching, the agent came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked
up every airport code in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere."
>
>
>The lady retorted, "Oh don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your
map!"
>
>The agent scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, "You
don't! mean Buffalo, do you?"
>
>
> "That's it! I knew it was a big animal", she admitted!!!
 

Basil

Administrator
Staff member
Boss
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90 percent of these types of emails turn out to be hoaxes that people just make up.
 
A

aerog

Guest
Guest
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Maybe not hoaxes, but compilations of jokes that were passed around between employees.

BUT - I can say I've heard a lot of stupid things from air travelers over the years, and none of what I just read would really surprise me (except the renting the car to go to another gate one).

In fact, I've got a neighbor that doesn't at all understand why she can't just go to the local airport and buy a ticket to go directly, non-stop to her "home town" because it has an airport close by. Of course when a charter is suggested and sees the price she thinks they're trying to rip her off because the "big" airline only charges $250 and they have to make a stop or two to get her there.
rolleyes.gif


I also had the pleasure of seeing a passenger get politely escorted out of a jetway in Atlanta one night because he didn't have a ticket. "I do have a ticket, see?", he said... then the gate agent calmly tried to explain that the ticket was for another flight - not this one. The man trying to get on the airplane insisted that the flight didn't matter; he said he had a ticket to go to a certain city somewhere, and that airplane was going to that city so they had to let him on since he was in line. They might have let him go standby, but the flight was completely full. When they finally didn't let him go he was furious and still didn't understand why they didn't make the people in line behind him go on another airplane.

Want to see some of this stuff in action? Catch the Discovery-Wings channel's broadcast of the British show "Airport" (used to be on BBCA), showing video from Heathrow. They show some absolutely amazing traveler-antics.

[ 11-16-2003: Message edited by: aerog ]</p>
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
Urban legends or not, they're sure funny...& with the intelligence of some of our elected officials, i can see how they might be true!
 

Basil

Administrator
Staff member
Boss
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tony barnhill:
Urban legends or not, they're sure funny...& with the intelligence of some of our elected officials, i can see how they might be true!<hr></blockquote>

Never mind elected officials - I saw a poll recently in which a very large number of Americans could not name a single Cabinet position. Never mind naming the person IN the position, they couldn't even name any of the positions!

Basil
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
Elected officials do as voters demand!
 
A

aerog

Guest
Guest
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Ignorance is bliss - and rampant... I could start some debate here, but then it might fuel the recent push to turn the control of the internet over to the UN
mad.gif
....nevermind...
smile.gif
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
Toured the UN recently...man is that place out of sync with reality!
 

MattP

Jedi Knight
Offline
No comment on the veracity of the story, but DFW it huge and sprawled out. Running 1/4 mile between terminals with all my luggage strapped to my back because I was late, I would have killed for a car. But it was all indoors so that might not have been the best way to go about it.

I have seen pictures of the UN building, and I wonder how much it costs to keep all that ivory on that tower white in New York?

MattP
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
I've not flown into DFW in a while (on purpose) but don't they still have the little tram that runs between buildings?
 

Ed Wynne

Senior Member
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Yes, the DFW airport can be a nightmare if you have to change terminals, but I has a friend who flew into DFW ( Which is actually not in Dallas county but in Tarrent which is Ft. Worth). He did end up having to take a car to his connecting flight. He flew out of Love field. His company travel agent had booked him on Southwest for his connection and they don't even fly out of DFW.

Best DFW story. Shortly after it opened, there were few if any road signs directing people to the airport. When questioned about it, a local official said, "Wellll, everyone around here knows where the airport is, we been building it for awhile." The implication is, "If your from Texas, you know how to get there, if your not from Texas, thats your problem.

I still like it better than Atlanta, O'Hare, and anything close to NYC.

Ed
 
A

aerog

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<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by MattP:
But it was all indoors so that might not have been the best way to go about it.
<hr></blockquote>

Could be worse. The two terminals in Caracas are completely different buildings, one on the west end of the field, the other on the east end of the field. One is domestic, one international. If you need to make a connecting flight either way you go through all the baggage stuff (one reason I don't check luggage), then walk outside, down the street, and to the other terminal. Of course there are always taxis eager to take you to either building should you take that route
smile.gif
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
aerog....sounds like the terminal in Tokyo...we'd just flown in from Sendai, Japan & wanted to make flight to Los Angeles...through customs, luggage on shopping cart down the street to next terminal (running!), through customs again & onto flight to US...pain in the butt

...then coming back from Guadalajara, Mexico into Houston for connection to Birmingham had to go through customs with bags & run from one end of building to another...longer than most tram rides in Atlanta...to catch flight

....airports just aren't laid out with any thought towards passenger comfort!
 
A

aerog

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<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tony barnhill:
....airports just aren't laid out with any thought towards passenger comfort!<hr></blockquote>

Some worse than others - some countries worse than others too. What also made Caracas even more interesting was there were no signs for the international terminal to be found (except OUTSIDE the domestic terminal).

The HUB system always seems logical until you inevitably get to Atlanta (etc) and you park at "A20" and you depart at "D20", or something like that...but then occasionally I've had connecting flights next to each other too.

Then there's also times you catch a flight on an RJ/717/MD80 range airplane and the gate seems to have enough seats for everyone on the QE2... then you go to get on a booked flight on a 747 and the gate seems to have a handful of seats.

Fun huh?
smile.gif
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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....or, US Air expands to add another gate...only all the US Air gates are in terminal A except the 1 expansion gate in terminal D...& they give you 15 minutes between flights to get there! Why? Folks at e-ticket don't realize the new gate is half a mile away!
 

bugimike

Yoda
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No, really basil! Most americans can't name a cabinet position? It must be from going out and eating all that fast food! All one has to do is stroll into any kitchen to note the cabinet positions! Both upper & lower!
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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iagree.gif
lol.gif
good one!
 
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