Flying companion?

Flights to the ‘Promised Land’, a safari in Jurassic Park and a ‘date’ are just some of the requests that Flight Centre travel consultants have had in the course of their careers. Employees of the high street travel retailer were asked to name some of the more memorable enquiries they’d had and there were no shortage of replies.

One woman booked a flight to Perth with a travel consultant in Leeds and when asked if there was anything else they could help with, she paused then confidently requested if the consultant had any single clients on record who might like a companion to Australia as she would be “very interested”.

Another woman who wanted to book two flights to New York with a London travel consultant was asked if she had any preference of who she flies with – meaning which airline – and she replied “Yes, my husband”.

Destinations and dates also seem to cause some confusion. A man from Manchester came into a store and asked if he could fly to the Bermuda Triangle because he heard that it’s good and no one ever comes back! Another said he wanted to go on a safari to Jurassic Park.

One agent was asked if Monday 3 March was a Monday in Australia as well as in the UK, and another got asked if it was better to exchange your holiday money on a Friday or a Monday.

Another customer refused to book as he wanted to travel on 31 April and when he was told there were only 30 days in April said he would go and book somewhere else.

Brent Novak, head of marketing for Flight Centre said customers view our travel consultants as the experts and a good source of general travel information, so its part of the job that they get asked for advice on all aspects of travelling.

“As a nation the Brits love to travel and are generally quite clued up, but it’s easy to forget there are a lot of people out there who don’t travel so much. Understandably some people may have questions that to frequent travellers may seem a little odd, but this is all part and parcel of an agent’s daily job,” he said.

Memorable questions asked of Flight Centre agents include:

• Could I get a window seat on my flight so that I can get some fresh air?

• Does Virgin Upper Class have different air? Asked by a male model who did not want his hair to dry out as it did in economy

• If you book a ticket valid for a year to Australia, does it mean I can go back and forth as often as I like?

• How can I take my dog to Australia?

• A man asked if it was OK to carry his gun onto a plane – it was a clay pigeon shooter and he thought it would be OK as long as it was in its wooden case

• A consultant booked a passenger who when asked what his name was on his passport said Obi-Wan Kenobi. Apparently he had changed his name after a drunken weekend watching Star Wars movies

• A customer asked for travel insurance for the North Pole and wanted to know if it would cover having limbs torn off by polar bears or having his frozen body flown back home

• Can I get a higher baggage allowance because I don’t weigh very much