My holiday destination was Fuerteventura (one of the Canary Islands which is a part of Spain), from the 27th of November up till the 1st of December 2010. My flight times were brilliant, departure from Gatwick at 10:00 am and on the 1st of December arrival from Fuerteventura to Gatwick at y8:00 pm, which was awesome. I soon began my packing which was simple. In a big suit case (and by big I mean those large ones. I find it much easier to drag along my side while sitting on my wheelchair), sun block (which I forgot to use during my trip), a pair of slippers, and a few summer clothes (literally 5 shirts, a skirt and my summer dress, which I managed to severely damage while wearing it. It is one of those long flowy ones, was not careful hence it got stuck in one of my wheels and got ripped). Packing was all done. Soon my travel documents (that is information about my all inclusive holiday which means my room, all food, snack drinks, airport transfers from and to the hotel were all included) and air ticket arrived via post, I was all prepared to go and excited now.
Four day before my holiday I received a phone call from the travel agency. ‘Miss Ahmed we need to check...is ure wheelchair collapsible?’ No I said. ‘We are very sorry but our coaches are unable to take your wheelchair. You need to get a manual foldable wheelchair’ ‘What?’ I was shocked, ‘but I am a permanent wheel chair user, how will I possibly be mobile without my wheel chair???’ The lady on the other end said, ‘sorry, but you failed to mention that you are confined to a wheelchair’. I felt a weird wiggle in my stomach, how can I fail to mention that anyway I asked them what should I do? The lady told me you can either pay £82 extra and we’ll organize a wheelchair accessible taxi for you. No way am I paying that kind of money, already my all inclusive 4 day holiday costed me £400, any other suggestions? , I thought aloud. ‘What about if I don’t go, will I get a refund?’ I asked. She refused as they were only 4 days left I cannot get a refund as well. I heard this and I was very annoyed, I did tell her that if you listen to the recorded call conversation with the agent during the booking you’ll find out that from the very beginning I was emphasising that I am a permanent wheelchair use. She then agreed to listen to my call and said she’ll get back to me tomorrow. Finally she did call me the next day and apologised and sad that as its our fault we’ll give you a discount and you’ll have to pay £42 so we can book you a wheelchair accessible taxi. I did agree to pay that money, gave my card details on the phone. The taxi was a booked, ‘by tomorrow you’ll receive the money debited for the taxi receipt, thanks for your patience and sorry for the confusion, bye’, she said.
And yes, the next day I did receive the taxi details and receipt. What a shocking surprise, but excitement once again as well as worries. After this, although the lady on the phone assured me that the hotel room is fully adapted to wheelchair s but who knows and that is why I was more worried and anxious. (Friends, if anything happens like this and you feel that you have be mislead or misused one can go to the Citizen Advice Bureau, which is based in the local council, in UK). On the last day I bought travel insurance (very important) from Thomson and I don’t know why when my plane was delayed due to snow, they said sorry but we don’t cover. I am going to visit there office when the weather gets better ad ask ‘em why. Although I didn’t have a good experience with my travel insurance, I still recommend it for all travellers.
5 comments:
So glad you persevered and saw to it that the travel agent got you the wheelchair tho you did pay in part.
You are so brave Nadia. So admirable
Await yr next instalment
That's stupid that they made you pay when it was their mistake. I hate the word "confined," it's limiting. I think if you say you are a wheelchair user, they should assume you need the chair. This way they can avoid looking stupid.
Thank you premulu. The next blog post shall be coming up shortly and with loads of pictures.
I know Angela, even I dislike the word 'confined'. But...I agree, they do avoid looking stupid.
Glad you posted the website of the travel agency so we can avoid them! Sounds like they didn't pay attention to details--which is exactly what you need in a travel agency. We've learned to specify that one of the wheelchair users "cannot bear weight", a term they use to indicate that he cannot stand up to transfer himself. We never get hung up on terminolgy. Political Correctness changes as often as the rest of politics, and with no results. Personality changes things; vocabulary is only a tiny part of true communication.
Absolutely correct you are, attention to details is a key when it comes to travelling specially if ones a permanent wheelchair user and travelling on there own like me.
Thomas Cook is really good when it comes to paying attention to details. Following is the website.
http://www.thomascook.com/
Oh yeh they even give 50% discount on ure next Thomas Cook holiday (terms and conditions apply)
Post a Comment