Traveller Letters: We received $573 for just a two-hour flight delay

Compo acclaim

One reader was happy despite being bumped from a KLM flight in Europe.Credit: Getty Images

In July this year we were booked on a KLM flight from Geneva to Amsterdam at 11.55am. We were bumped off the flight and automatically rebooked for a 5pm departure. Luckily, once we got to the airport a kindly staff member moved us to an earlier 2pm departure, even though we’d been denied this in phone calls earlier. We applied for compensation and within three weeks of returning home, we each received a refund of €350 ($A573) which was more than the original airfare. This was a welcome surprise and a lesson for our backward system here.
Cate Irons, East Brisbane, Qld

Letter of the week: Patchy performance

Mount Hotham in snowier times earlier this year.

Now that an American multinational controls most Australian ski fields, it pleases itself, spoiling holidays without apology and impairing businesses that service skiers. On September 4, two days after fresh snowfalls, the Vail Corporation shut down Mt Hotham for 2024, having advertised a season that would run through September. I spoke to recently arrived Queenslanders who were about to drive home again. For my group, that had come for the week from NSW and ACT, it meant cancelling accommodation and return tickets, and trying for earlier berths on a booked-out train after two skiing days. Vail encourages international customers who ski summer and winter – with deals promising two hemispheres – but seemingly disdains Australians hoping to enjoy their own mountains.
Matthew Richardson, Glenbrook, NSW

Going off offsets

Your editor’s note in response to the letter on the impact of airline emissions (Traveller Letters, September 7) sent me straight online to gauge whether offsets do any good. The consensus is: “not really”. We travellers may prefer not to be reminded of the tonnes of carbon we generate, but we need to test offset assertions and be better informed before deciding whether to book that next flight.
Linda Tucker, Narooma, NSW

Coincidence reports

With reference to Jennifer Saunders’ letter about bumping into people whilst away from home (Traveller Letters, August 31), eight years or so ago, my wife and I were in a bar in Istanbul and we met my first cousin, who is from Brisbane – neither she nor we knew the other was travelling in the region. A year later we were having breakfast at the Broome Sunday market where we met her father (my maternal uncle) who, like us, is from Victoria.
Steve Griffin, West Coburg, Vic

Years before we immigrated to Australia, around 1980, my husband and I, on the last evening of our holiday, were walking along a beach on the tiny Greek island of Naxos. A woman walking towards us heard our accents and stopped to comment that she was from Australia but had just spent a week in Scotland. She asked exactly where in Scotland we were from and left us stunned when she informed us that, not only was our small town where she’d just been, but on chatting further, incredibly, she had been hosted by our very next door neighbour.
Pauline McGinley, Drummoyne, NSW

Jennifer Saunders’ letter reminded me of when I was a ski instructor in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in 1999. Shortly after I arrived there, I met another instructor who, it turned out, had grown up around the corner from me in Canberra, in the early 1970s. I had no memory of him, but he recalled my mother teaching his mother how to swim in our backyard pool.
Leigh Holmes, Currumbin Waters, Qld

More from Moresby

I recently had published a possibly entitled rant concerning my treatment by Qantas in refusing a business class upgrade (Traveller Letters, August 17) on the Sydney to Port Moresby Qantas route. A number of people asked online why I didn’t just pay for a business class seat. The simple answer is, the Qantas price for a four-hour trip in business class to Port Moresby from Sydney is the highest priced business class seat offered by Qantas anywhere. It is gouging on a grand scale in a dilapidated probably 30-year-old Boeing 737. That is why. Simple.
Peter Lowing, Port Moresby, PNG

Little ripper

I heartily endorse your readers’ praise of the Frommer’s travel guides (Traveller Letters, September 7). On one memorable trip back then, mostly using Eurail, we borrowed the latest edition from my wife’s sister. We did as Rob Jackson did and would rip out the pages of the last place visited. On handing back a couple of other travel books after we returned home, her sister said there was one missing. Uh, oh, sprung. We had to sheepishly explain that after ripping out the relevant pages, the remnant was discarded in a bin somewhere in Europe. We, of course, offered to purchase a new one but that offer was kindly refused.
Lance Dover, Pretty Beach, NSW

Feeling the Strine

The VW Kombi … a legendary vehicle for Australian travellers.Credit: Alamy

I also travelled throughout Europe and North Africa during 1974 in a VW Kombi (purchased and then sold outside Australia House in The Strand, London) using the Europe on $10 a Day guide. One clear memory is booking into Camping Fusina campground outside Venice (it’s still there) that had a sign “Australian spoken”. Sure enough, when we checked in the first question we were asked was “do you play 500?” Fantastic memories of travelling at a different time, including Post Restante before email.
David Parker, Geelong West, Vic

Sing’s praises sung

Australian born and of Chinese heritage, I was surprised by my emotional reaction visiting the war fields and cemeteries of World War 1 in France and Belgium. My husband always had a deep interest in this history and on our fourth visit we finally located his great uncle’s grave, a young victim of the Battle of Fromelles. It was located in the Estaires Communal Cemetery and as J McKenna noted in the recent letter of the week (Traveller Letters, September 7), the Commonwealth Graves Commission does great honour to fallen soldiers. We contacted them regarding great uncle’s badly degraded headstone, and we now have a photo of it beautifully renewed. I highly recommend the Australian War Museum at Villers Bretonneux, the Victoria School, Passchendaele Museum, the Cloth Hall Museum in Ypres and the 8pm Menin Gate Last Post ceremony. I have learnt that 200 Chinese Anzacs fought in World War 1, the most famous being Billy Sing in Gallipoli.
Judi Rosevear, Wantirna, Vic

Tip of the week: Red carpet ride

Cannes and its waterfront.Credit: iStock

Bonjour from our favourite hotel, and city, in Europe, the Martinez in sunny Cannes, where the Mediterranean is sparkling, the beach clubs are buzzing and the atmosphere is magical. We stroll the Croisette day and night when it feels like walking on the red carpet. Rue D’Antibes is just around the corner for endless window shopping and people watching. We have explored Le Suquet, the oldest district in Cannes. This is our second visit and we are filled with joie de vivre.
Rhoda Silber, Manly, NSW

No fees, please

When I was booking a motel in Warrnambool, Victoria, I logged on to what appeared to be its booking website which in the URL included the words “guestreservations.com” as well as the name of the accommodation. A good rate was offered so I entered my credit card details and did a final check before hitting submit. However, there was an added charge of $149.95 for “fees and taxes” making this booking 50 per cent more expensive. I left the site quickly and then received an email with an accompanying US phone number inviting me to complete my booking. Be warned: this is nothing but a scam. I phoned the motel and booked directly for a slightly higher price, but saved on the fees and taxes – and probably foreign exchange fees.
Louise Kloot, Doncaster, Vic

Game, set, tickets

For anyone interested in attending the Wimbledon tennis championships, it pays to know that the organisers run an annual public ballot to give everyone an equal opportunity to secure tickets. If you are not successful in the ballot, you still have access to a returned tickets shop. You can also try the ticket queue, which we did with our four young kids back in 2011 (we must have been crazy). Each day, a large line forms to buy either a ticket for the show courts or a “grounds ticket”. Tickets are sold on a one per person queuing basis.
Leonie Jarrett, Melbourne, Vic

No TLC from T&Cs

Mele Cascades, Vanuatu.Credit: iStock

The terms and conditions that came with our holiday booking to Vanuatu sounded reassuring. “Peace of mind” it said – if you change your mind or need to cancel your booking, there is a fee of $400 a person. When Air Vanuatu went into receivership, we decided to cancel our trip as we were unable to find another suitable time to go. Due to the circumstances, our insurance policy did not cover the airfares so we had to wear that one, but hopefully down the track we might get some compensation. But the hotel where we booked the package also wanted a cancellation fee. As a result, not only did we miss out on the Vanuatu holiday, we received a mere 10 per cent back of the total cost. Won’t be doing that again.
Jenny McMurray, West Pymble, NSW

Proudly unsocial

I’m not on any social media or apps and have no intention of ever joining – something that hasn’t affected several decades of travel through some of the world’s most inhospitable countries, largely without incident. If I’ve arranged something by email prior to departure and its success involves receiving a last-minute WhatsApp message (Traveller Letters, September 7), as per your reader’s experience, then the only disappointment and financial penalty will be borne by the “unAppy” person breaking the commitment, as I also always have a contingency plan in place. Perhaps if travellers really want to enjoy themselves and soak up the local ambience, they can leave their mobile phones in their hotel rooms, or even better – leave it at home.
Chris Roylance, Paddington, Qld

Bench the benchmark

A Maasai women in Kenya.Credit: iStock

In one of the articles about travel in Africa in your recent special edition on the continent (Traveller, September 19) Bench Africa and the safaris they organise was mentioned. They arranged a trip for me through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and it was fantastic. We were part of a small group of eight Australians, unknown to each other before the safari, who enjoyed good accommodation and great guides. After the safari, Bench got me set for trips around Johannesburg, and surrounds, including a hire car and accommodation and then down to Cape Town and around the southern coast to Port Elizabeth (now known as Gqeberha) in another hire car. Everything was done to make the experience unforgettable. Even to the point when an internal flight with South African Airways was cancelled, they emailed me about it and gave me advice on my options to get to Johannesburg and my flight home. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Ron Wessel, Mount Saint Thomas, NSW

The Letter of the Week writer wins three Hardie Grant travel books. See hardiegrant.com

The Tip of the Week writer wins a set of three Lonely Planet travel books. See shop.lonelyplanet.com