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This morning I had the pleasure of welcoming an old Navy friend returning back to SA on their way from London en-route to Cape Town. Wow I have 2 kids and generally we travel by car and a trailer, to see what my friend came back with was hectic to say the least. He has 3 kids including a 5 and a 2 year old with a 2 week old baby. Man alive I feel for them and everyone that was on the flight with them! They did confess that the flight was not bad and their little noo is so peaceful and content, he slept in my arms for the 45 minutes check in at SAA domestic counter. (No comments on that, that is a whole story on it’s own.)

Let me reflect back to the luggage that needs to be transferred from the new terminal to the Domestic terminal. The commute between the two is streets ahead from where it was a few years ago and generally the airport is looking fantastic! As we wanted the long lost friends and youngsters to all me we were 4 adults and 5 kids and two “trailers” full of luggage, naturally a progression to be supportive and use the local porters was welcomed by all adults in the entourage. Requesting the assistance of two porters neatly dressed in their uniforms was a real blessing and supportive to no end. They helped us navigate the people and the throng of luggage and kids to the domestic terminal.

Yes this story really does have a meaning and I am getting their shortly. As my friend was ready to part with the faithful helpers remuneration was next on the agenda. Being the local and the travel agent I was asked what a going rate would be? He had R20 and I had R40 so I said lets give them that, so they accepted the R60 and off they went sharing the loot. My question is raised in that when my friend asked me and we agreed on an amount he said that a porter assisted them getting their luggage off the carousel, he gave the guy R10 and he said he wanted more. So he gave him another R10, now for 5 minutes work I believe that is good going. No the “porter” huffed and stormed off dissatisfied with his new loot. With this in mind:

• Is there a set fee to pay a porter?
• Is there an expected amount?
• Should the porters have branding on them advertising their rates?
• Income generation and job creation is great however should it not be more marketed?

I tell you why I ask this. Sure enough they do not have this luxury in other various parts of the world. We are grateful in South Africa to have this service and as a parent traveler I am extremely grateful. However would they not get more people / business by advertising their rates? Have a porter desk at the airport similar to the Virgin upper class arrivals counter. With the rates posted there? I believe more people would use the service if they knew the rates upfront and had an idea on what an acceptable rate / tip is? This would eliminate the fears of using the service offered as you want to avoid an argument over rate perhaps? Yes security is an issue and worrying about your luggage is a great concern however lets be reasonable…

Go on porters you are great thank you! Keep up the great work, just guys please be more organized and transparent to the public.

One last point on closing I scanned the ACSA website for more info , so I could follow up and speak to someone that runs this department/ service at the airport. Here is what I found:

This is real people and been happening for a while now including to me and a bunch of my clients that had problems boarding last year with Delta. In a snapshot and to quote what we have received:

Delta Airlines has asked that everybody who has clients booked on their flights, to please preseat them before departure. This is to avoid your passenger getting denied boarding due to the DL flights being very full and possibly overbooked.

Ok, so now not only is the churning “our” fault and “they” (loosely used term for airlines) want to charge us for booking their flights and also to be responsible for the ADM”s that are raised as well…!now it is our responsibility as agents to preseat our clients as Delta over books their flights. Let me take the liberty in quoting what my passengers were advised last year November when checking in with Delta:

You have not been preseated so we cannot board you!

Oh my hat can you imagine what the poor youngsters were feeling at the airport? Naturally they call the agent as surely this is their fault along with the high winds and long ques at the airport. Is this the age old story of Agents VS Airlines? Surely there should be some give and take in the travel community and common ground and to put it bluntly : common decency. In Delta’s defense in the last instance they did assist however the number of calls it took was totally unnecessary and unwarranted. I apologize for singling out Delta in this case, I believe this *shoe* would fit for many airlines.  Delta HQ in JHB has been very helpful in a few issues I have had in the past few months.

To sum up this post: Airlines it is also your responsability to be effiecent and responsive to your clients because at the end of the day the contract is between the airline and the client, the agent facilitates this agreement. Be proactive, informative and practise good customer relations rather than blaming agents for your own inadequacies.

Made a trip this weekend to the airport to see my father off on a trip. Having the kids with us we decided to go and see the airplanes. Kids in tow we made the relatively short commute to the ORT view deck. One word can describe what I saw when I got there: Disgusted! Man alive seeing the airplanes is awesome and the kids really had a great view it was brilliant. This however is short lived and one leaves a tad dejected after experiencing one of the most despicable areas of the ORT airport. With millions spent of the face lift and the addition of much needed parking bays should ACSA not spend some time doing the homework and preserver what they already have? Have a look at a few images that were taken yesterday:

Is that not just shocking! Wait it gets worse: Yes these are really chairs that are in the viewing deck, think they were put there when the airport was first built!

The entire area just lacks any respect at all for the magnificent area that it can really be, this area should be a show case for the airport and it’s visitors, instead it is a rubbish dump!

ACSA this is disgusting!

I wanted to share this with you and call it the smile of the week. As you can see from yesterdays post I am doing some searching for groups in 2010 during the time of the world cup. Here is the response I received from Qatar airways: “Please find attached requested quotation, due to the world cup we cannot quote anything lower” The quote is R 12650 per person excluding taxes.

OK now that part is not funny and really does not bring a smile. The following does however. I emailed Qatar back, I mean if it is for the world cup that your fares are so high why not advise when they can fly around that time. So here is an extract from my email to them: “Can you please advise when the rates will be reduced around that time?”

Here is the response from Qatar airways:

“We will only know once the world cup is finished.”!

I mean WT?

That is just a classic example of really not listening to your client or having a “I am a dumb ass attitude and really do not want to assist you.”

Guys really I understand that the World Cup 2010 is coming and it means more work, guys lets make it work, sharpen the pencils and your attitude towards it. This is a bunch of young guys going to the UK to play cricket, do you really think your planes are going to be full the night of the world cup final? You are right in one instance and yes you will KNOW AFTER the world cup however how is that going to work for you now, how can that assist your business right now.

Wow, further to my posts on my thoughts on the World Cup 2010 happening in South Africa next year, I have had some queries for travelers that are looking to do a cricket tour in the UK. After sending the request to various airlines to get some quotes on what it would cost to fly the guys return to London during June / July in 2010. Here are some of the replies that I have received:

SAA: “SAA Groups has been advise to quote full Y class. The flights have been closed off to agents for the 2010 world cup. After the 5 December 2009, the flights will be opened up for sale to the other agents. The full Y class fare is ZAR 24290 exc all taxes.”
Emirates: “Regarding your June/July booking for 2010, Kindly note Dubai have closed all flights for sale due to FIFA 2010.”

Interesting times ahead, this does raise some questions and food for thought going forward:

• Has FIFA bitten off more than they can chew?
• FIFA has this event so tightly sewed up is there really room for the small guys, in a country where the government should be spurring on entrepreneurship and small business growth?
• Is it only the “Fat cats” that will really benefit from 2010?
• Should we (Agencies) close our doors for a few months during the world cup?

Hey do not get me wrong I think it is brilliant we have the world cup, I have some tickets and look forward to been there shouting with the rest of the fans! Just want to raise some thought and further my understanding and comprehension of this massive event that is dawning on SA very quickly. As for “is there space for the small guys? “For sure, there must be, still looking for some place in the sun so watch this space as I will let you know as soon as I find it!

This past long weekend we trekked up to Belfast to spend time with some family. While we were there we took our usual time out to visit Dullstroom. Wow does this little town only pump on a long weekend! We were there Sunday morning and really enjoyed our time browsing through the various stores. If you are heading north on this route take some time out and stretch the legs in Dullstroom. Depending on traffic getting out of JHB you could comfortably be in Dullstroom in under 3 hours. There are dozens of various stores where you can browse looking for anything from animal skins, African art to an awesome pair of leather boots from a shop called Tsonga (Visit this shop they have some awesome shoes!). There are various other attractions that can be found including the Bird of Prey centre which can be found on your approach to Dullstroom.

While spending time in town you will notice the amount of MTB that you see in and about. As I am a roadie and have not explored the MTB world as yet I did some homework and yup there are some great rides in Dullies for th MTB fanatics… here is a site I have found: www.dullstroommtb.co.za time to get a new bike and hit these trails that look brilliant!

Doing some searching on the net I have found dozens of sites on Dullies and fail to find one that is complete and worth singling out so user google and see what you can find.

If you want the vibe of Dullies at its best you want to visit on a long weekend and generally to just after lunch as the passerbys generally tend to move off after lunch which returns this area back to the state of a sleepy hollow. One place that is worth mentioning if you have young kids is the kids play room that can be found in the back of the Old Transvaal Inn. This is an awesome shop on’s it own with a sweet shop, toy shop and a book shop if you left that novel at home. The kids playroom has a DVD player as well as toys catered to for the younger kids.

Stretch the legs if you pass this area of town.

Saw this great article which lists some awesome things about South Africa, I wanted to share it with you on the start of this long weekend.

Click here

Travel safe if you are travelling this weekend!

Well we should have seen this one coming, it is spreading around the globe and many countries have even stopped counting their infection rate. Saw this and for everyone that is interested would like to share it with you. This is the fact sheet released by ASATA.

Click here and we will open the info in a new page