Later this year we’re planning on travelling in Africa. Last night I was checking through some paperwork that needed to be dealt with in relation to the travel and figured I’d confirm the flight times since we made the booking about 6 months ago. Turned out to be a good thing because although we’re flying on a Qantas service it’s actually a South African Airways plane and they had changed their flight times by 12 hours and we had not been informed.

Their records indicate that on 24 July we were advised but, unusually, there is no record of who told us nor a record of who was told. Obviously airlines record that sort of information so that if there’s a dispute later on they can say “but we told X on Y date so you knew” but this was just rubber-stamped as “we told them” without telling us. Great. After some considerable time on the phone with a very helpful and concerned Qantas employee, it looks like we’re now changing our flight path so we’re not stuck in Perth airport for 14 hours. Hurrah.

Still, I’m glad I didn’t just follow the instructions on the letter we received with the tickets…

It is no longer necessary to confirm Qantas flights.

Categories: SPOTD, Africa 2007
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I need a document to be certified for use in some upcoming travel.  I went to the nearby building that has a JP service between 12pm - 2pm and made an appointment with the woman on the front desk for today.  On the booking sheet was a statement that some documents to be used overseas couldn’t be signed by a JP.  I enquired whether the documentation I needed signed was going to be a document that couldn’t be signed and was told to come back today and discuss it with the JP then.

Stuck in a meeting until just before my scheduled appointment, I ended up sprinting several hundred metres from the building containing the meeting to the building with my office (to get the documents) and then to the building with the JP.  As I arrived out of breath but on-time and bearing the documentation I noticed the same woman was on the front desk so advised her I had a JP appointment because I knew she’d have to go get the JP.

She stood up, partly turned (in what I thought was a move to get the JP) then turned back and reached for the documentation.  As she began to study it, I realised she was the JP.  I didn’t have the energy to make a snide comment (hey, I’m not fit, I was still out of breath!) but as she looked at the documents I again stated their purpose as being outside Australia and that I was not certain whether these were acceptable documents or not.

As soon as she heard that they were for outside Australia, she handed them back to me and advised me she couldn’t certify them.

I thanked her for the time she had taken on Friday to not give me the answer then.  I thanked her for making me run a significant distance to meet her schedule.  I thanked her for being so efficient as to allow me to book a timeslot, denying others the chance to get documents certified.  I thanked her for turning the whole experience into one of frustration and anger, and I thanked her for wasting my time.

And she had the audacity to look surprised at the depth of my appreciation for her customer service…

Categories: SPOTD
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