You just never know

As I write, the US attack on Iran is only in its 3rd day.

My weekend has been largely spent assisting customers stranded overseas and reassuring those due to travel to/from/via the Middle East about their options.

At present the travel situation is moving on an hourly basis. Affected airlines are making regular updates on cancellations and amendments. Naturally, there are a lot of worried people around the world, and I am not immune to that. I have close friends living in Abu Dhabi who are regularly hearing explosions and receiving frequent emergency alerts to remain sheltered as safe as possible. My thoughts are with them all.

However, this is a travel column and it’s at times like this when I fully appreciate the value I bring to my customers. It is almost an irony that I made a Thailand flight booking for a customer last year who never uses a travel professional. He came to me because he couldn’t get on to the airline website that day and I was able to assist him immediately with the flights that he wanted.

When the war broke, he was at Bangkok airport waiting to depart. The airline desk advised that they couldn’t do anything for him and just to come back the following day. At this point though, he knew he had someone who could help. Rather than trying to get through to an airline phone number that was on perma-engage or access a chat bot that had been disabled, he simply reached out to me on our WhatsApp group. I create these for all my clients at the time of enquiry, and they are invaluable when it comes to communication before, during and post their holidays

Fortunately, he wasn't in a rush to get home but I was able to rebook him on the next available flight option and offer my assistance in finding him somewhere to stay. I’m sure his only concern that evening would have been where to go and eat and I could have helped him with that too if it had been required!

I dread to think the chaos he would have encountered if he’d booked direct.

Creating and booking travel plans is sometimes just a fraction of what I do for my clients. You just never know when the other important part of my service will be required.