A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.....

[ozbeachbabe]

Has anyone here ever been given a bum steer with flight details from so called 'industry experts' that know just enough to be dangerous? Have heard a few beauties of late, some of which are below:

Scenario One
A cabbie telling people to get to the airport 2 hours before their 0700 flight DRW/CNS (QF1871) because it was "an international flight". Note to cabbie: Just because JQ happen to have an international flight DRW/CNS doesn't mean other flights can't be purely domestic.

These same people were flying to CNS to catch a flight CNS/SIN which just happened to go via DRW so had their travel agent in Europe been switched on, could've give them a whole day in DRW & departed for DRW/SIN non-stop @ 1610 instead!

Scenario Two
A SYD/DRW flight was late arriving in DRW by one hour, however due to the normal 2 hour turnaround there was still one hour to prepare a/c for the return flight DRW/SYD thus not affecting an on-time departure.

Stacks of people were strolling in dangerously close to the baggage close off time of minus 30 saying "the taxi driver told me the flight was running an hour late"!!! Note to cabbie: just because the inbound flight is late doesn't mean the outbound flight will be.

Scenario Three
A pax who missed her red eye JQ flight DRW/BNE because she thought 0145 on a Wed means go out to the airport Wed night (instead of Tue night). On arrival at the airport asks who she could complain to at JQ about having to buy another ticket.

At the time if you missed your flight by 24 hours they would charge a $70.00 change fee to move you to the next one (don't know whether this is still the case & I think it may have just been a 'local rule' due to DRW's red eye flights).

Airport staff: "who told you to purchase another ticket"
Pax: "The hotel did"

Scenario Four
A pax arrives at airport late October (after daylight savings kicked in) at 12.40am clutching an itinerary showing a departure of 0040 only to be told she'd missed her flight. "But the taxi driver told me the flight departed at 1.45am". Note to cabbie: even though there is no daylight savings in the NT, when it's on down south flights depart DRW one hour earlier so they still arrive at the same time down south.

Scenario Five
Pax arrives at airport at 1.00pm with itinerary for QF1197 DRW/MEL 0920/1355 saying "the guy at the hotel told me it was departing at 1.55pm" & what's worse apparently rang & confirmed it (where or with whom I don't know). Okay it was an adhoc flight due to the Western Bulldogs vs Port Adelaide AFL game so is not the norm, however it seems there were no shortage of armchair experts out there only too happy to offer their 2c worth of comments such as:

"no that's wrong QF don't fly non-stop to MEL", "you must be on Jetstar", "you must be on an international flight" or "you must be going via ADL".

By all means listen to what others say but most importantly trust your own judgement. If you are holding an itinerary that says in black and white the flights, dates & times, it can't not exist (well given the old cancellation here n there). At the very least double check your booking online or call the airline concerned.

Happy trails everyone.

 

[nlagalle]

They are great!!!

 

[sr81]

Wow.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[markis10]

And I wonder why I prefer hire cars to cabs

 

[nlagalle]

And I wonder why I prefer hire cars to cabs

I don't listen to cab drivers - only the one that has driven me around Melbourne for 15 years.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I don't listen to cab drivers - only the one that has driven me around Melbourne for 15 years.

Actually one little snippet from a cabbie that was true was the new A Lodge shipping container style accommodation at DRW Airport is being used by Immigration to house asylum seekers, well actually young teens from Afghanistan, Iraq & Iran.

It looked like a backpacker joint but I was a bit sus when I saw a couple of token 'Barry's' (aka security guards) manning the gates.

I know cabbies mean well, but sometimes their best of intentions can have far reaching effects as we've seen above.

 

[Reggie]

I think the man Darwin, was correct.:-|

 

[Flashback]

Cabbies seem to be the common denominator here.... as always YMMV and as ozbeachbabe said the best thing to do when unsure is to contact the travel provider in question!

 

[straitman]

The concept of 'A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.....' applies so often in life so you sometimes have to wonder why people who don't really have any idea speak with such authority.

 

[harvyk]

Yeah, I love some of the comments and advice which cabbies and hotel staff have tried to give me over the years. I rarely listen to it as it often contradicts my own experience and knowledge.

I've noticed some of the more interesting ones have been in regards to a/p security, and immigration rules.

I really love it when "a friend of a friend" type advice starts getting dished out.

But yeah, a little knowledge is certainly a dangerous thing, for a little while at work, my job was to fix the problems caused by those who had "a little knowledge", what can I say other than their screwup's kept me employed...

 

[drewbles]

Yeah, I love some of the comments and advice which cabbies and hotel staff have tried to give me over the years. I rarely listen to it as it often contradicts my own experience and knowledge.

I've noticed some of the more interesting ones have been in regards to a/p security, and immigration rules.

I really love it when "a friend of a friend" type advice starts getting dished out.

But yeah, a little knowledge is certainly a dangerous thing, for a little while at work, my job was to fix the problems caused by those who had "a little knowledge", what can I say other than their screwup's kept me employed...

I know certain ex-employers of mine have employed various fresh-from-uni graduates with IT qualifications and no hands-on experience in running data networks. Needless to say, my time quickly got consumed fixing their screw-ups.

They had great textbook knowledge, but didn't have the ability to look at the bigger picture and how making one change could impact a raft of different things.

Experience counts, especially in IT (as well as aviation where there are many armchair experts, and then the real ones on here )

 

[Flashback]

I know certain ex-employers of mine have employed various fresh-from-uni graduates with IT qualifications and no hands-on experience in running data networks. Needless to say, my time quickly got consumed fixing their screw-ups.

They had great textbook knowledge, but didn't have the ability to look at the bigger picture and how making one change could impact a raft of different things.

Experience counts, especially in IT (as well as aviation where there are many armchair experts, and then the real ones on here )

I agree, which is why we were happy to take on 2 work placement students for 6 months, so that they had some real world experience before completing their degree.

 

[drron]

I know certain ex-employers of mine have employed various fresh-from-uni graduates with IT qualifications and no hands-on experience in running data networks. Needless to say, my time quickly got consumed fixing their screw-ups.

They had great textbook knowledge, but didn't have the ability to look at the bigger picture and how making one change could impact a raft of different things.

Experience counts, especially in IT (as well as aviation where there are many armchair experts, and then the real ones on here )

Though as an old teacher of mine said-the only people who are very confident are the young and those that never let their experiences contadict themselves.

 

[drewbles]

Though as an old teacher of mine said-the only people who are very confident are the young and those that never let their experiences contadict themselves.

Well said, although obviously it's confidence with different results. People need to be able to think laterally and 'outside the box' in my field. Failure to do so can lead to disaster, which is where fresh out of uni people can fall down, as they've not had the real-world experience.

It's a conundrum that people without confidence will see through to become the confident people with experience.

Gotta love those situations

 

[trooper]

So we are laying ALL the blame on the cabbies?... yet the basic problem in many of these stories is that (apparently) a lot of folks are too stupid to understand the 24 hour clock...:shock:

If you can't understand that 0140 is an hour and forty minutes after midnight.. or that 1855 is 6:55 (PM).. then perhaps you shouldn't be out unsupervised....:mrgreen:

 

[Fantic125]

So we are laying ALL the blame on the cabbies?... yet the basic problem in many of these stories is that (apparently) a lot of folks are too stupid to understand the 24 hour clock...:shock:

If you can't understand that 0140 is an hour and forty minutes after midnight.. or that 1855 is 6:55 (PM).. then perhaps you shouldn't be out unsupervised....:mrgreen:

Nope, not the Cabbies, or the 24 hour clock.

Just humans.
:shock:

 

[ozbeachbabe]

So we are laying ALL the blame on the cabbies?... yet the basic problem in many of these stories is that (apparently) a lot of folks are too stupid to understand the 24 hour clock...:shock:

If you can't understand that 0140 is an hour and forty minutes after midnight.. or that 1855 is 6:55 (PM).. then perhaps you shouldn't be out unsupervised....:mrgreen:

The workings of the 24 hour clock probably deserves a thread of its own but probably the best excuse I've heard was "I can't understand these LCC itineraries" which happened to have the arrival & departure times of the flight in both 24 hour clock & am/pm time. I really don't think the airline, whether a LCC or not could've done anything more to make it clearer.

I think some people can't grasp the concept that if flying home on eg a Wednesday at 0145 you go out to the airport on Tuesday night. They somehow feel robbed if they don't have the Wednesday at their destination.

Another pax who was 24 hours late for his red eye flight said "I wasn't sure if it was am or pm"! Failure on both counts - if it was am he would have been at the airport 24 hours earlier & thus able to catch his orginal flight. If it was pm he would have been at the airport 12 hours earlier!

It's a bit like when you did exams at school then changed your answer when you checked your work only to find your first answer was the correct one. I think a lot of people put too much faith in what others have to say & doubt themselves when it should be the other way around.

 

[JeniSkunk]

The workings of the 24 hour clock probably deserves a thread of its own but probably the best excuse I've heard was "I can't understand these LCC itineraries" which happened to have the arrival & departure times of the flight in both 24 hour clock & am/pm time. I really don't think the airline, whether a LCC or not could've done anything more to make it clearer.

I think some people can't grasp the concept that if flying home on eg a Wednesday at 0145 you go out to the airport on Tuesday night. They somehow feel robbed if they don't have the Wednesday at their destination.

It really depends on how the airline, LCC or not, arranges the information in the printed itinerary.
In a DJ itinerary, in the section headed "TRAVEL PLAN WITH VIRGIN BLUE" they have the information for the flight legs, departure, and arrival in clearly separate columns, and below those columns, clearly state that the times shown are local to the relevant airports.
And in the section above that, DJ tell pax that they need to have completed check in 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Jenifur Charne

 

[NM]

So we are laying ALL the blame on the cabbies?... yet the basic problem in many of these stories is that (apparently) a lot of folks are too stupid to understand the 24 hour clock...:shock:

If you can't understand that 0140 is an hour and forty minutes after midnight.. or that 1855 is 6:55 (PM).. then perhaps you shouldn't be out unsupervised....:mrgreen:

Which is exactly why we need to promote changing to the Metric Time System, with 100 seconds in a min, 100 mins in an hour, 10 hours in a half-day, and 10 days in a week (5 working days and 5 weekend days of course).

 

[medhead]

Which is exactly why we need to promote changing to the Metric Time System, with 100 seconds in a min, 100 mins in an hour, 10 hours in a half-day, and 10 days in a week (5 working days and 5 weekend days of course).

The main limitation being changing the rotation period of the earth to match the new time. Or perhaps people can adjust to 2.3 sunrises everyday.

But other than that an entirely good idea