The summer of 2022 was the summer when the tourism industry thought that everything would be back to “normal” as we know it from before the pandemic.
That has definitely not been the case. The stories of travel trouble and chaos are pouring in. And even for people accustomed to traveling, traveling abroad can be a real surprise and challenge.
This was also the case for Hogne Høstmælingen and the family from Lillehammer. The family had been planning a trip to Texas for months to visit the host family of their son Jesper, who has been an exchange student in the US state.
sea view
–
Feared cancellation
The trip was booked already last year and was to go with the airline KLM from Oslo and via Schiphol in Amsterdam. But the airport has been hit by major chaos for several weeks, and KLM has canceled a very large number of flights to and from Amsterdam.
Hogne Høstmælingen was not surprised when he received an SMS and e-mail informing him that the trip had been canceled – two days before departure. And KLM had no alternative flights to offer.
The trip south is in danger
The price went up
Through, among other things, the job as director of Hunderfossen Adventure Park, Høstmælingen has become accustomed to traveling, and not unfamiliar with finding alternative ways of traveling.
He therefore threw himself around and found an alternative itinerary, but the price now went up from the original 10,000 to 30,000 kroner for the new plane tickets.
As long as KLM did not have alternative flights, ticket prices rose each time he checked. And since the time was very short for departure, Høstmælingen chose to cancel only the trip to the USA – and not the return.
– Do not cancel
No warning
But since the departure was canceled, he automatically also lost the return. The autumn survey contacted KLM’s customer service and was explained that “When you cancel an outing on a return ticket, you also lose the return ticket”.
– I do not want to appear as a complaining air passenger, but hope that others can learn from what we experienced. I understand that this cancellation policy applies to most airlines. However, a red pop-up window could have appeared to warn that it would lead to an automatic cancellation of return when the departure was canceled.
Trouble in a row
– I dare say that I am above average versed in tourism and flight bookings, but the like of the “joker north” that we experienced on this trip I have never experienced. I think I have spent a week working on managing the orders that are constantly changing, and then trying to understand the ordering rules.
With unavailable customer service, endless queues, frustrated employees and angry passengers as the icing on the cake.
What the airlines, airports and OTAs (internet companies that arrange airline tickets) are now doing is shooting themselves in the foot – it is simply not tempting to travel abroad for a long time as it is organized now, says Hogne Høstmælingen.
– What should have been a relatively simple and straightforward journey from Oslo to Houston round trip was a trip that can easily and simply be summarized as “completely Texas”
LOOKING FOR THE ROAD: The Hogne Autumn Survey’s trip to Texas offered plenty of complications. Photo: Private
sea view
A detour home
– On our family trip for five people who were to be with one company round trip Houston, we had to deal with the following series of airlines and agencies:
- KLM
- Lufthansa
- SAS
- Norse
- American Airlines
As well as the internet travel companies: - FlySmarter
- Kiwi
- SuperSaver
- Ready2fly
And we visited Oslo Airport, Frankfurt, Houston, JFK in New York, Heathrow and Schiphol. Among these, Gardermoen and Houston were the best. That is, it most resembled what it was like in the “good old days”, Hogne Høstmælingen continues.
Southern prices plummet
Well prepared
No matter how well prepared you are, you cannot be prepared for everything that may happen right now. Understaffed airlines and ground airlines, strikes, conflicts and weather problems. All of this can create major challenges.
– The advice is really to think carefully about whether you really need to travel right now. We downloaded apps for the airports where we were going to stopover, so that we were updated about any chaos due to strikes / lack of personnel and delays in flights.
SORRY: Do not be surprised if you get various messages about the change your trip if you are going to fly this summer.
sea view
– And we had confirmations both by email, web login, screenshots and paper printing. And we do not want to whine or hang out any companies specifically, but rather to prepare others to follow the “flight rules” of the new age. To travel this summer is not at all a streamlined experience, Hogne Høstmælingen states.
New round awaits
He receives support from the Consumer Council.
– Those who are going to travel must be prepared for the unforeseen, says the Consumer Council’s expert on travel law, Thomas Iversen to DinSide.
Now the Høstmælingen family is probably at home in Lillehammer. But now the next stage begins to put an end to the travel complications:
The struggle to get all extra expenses reimbursed.
– There are a few hours of work waiting, Hogne Høstmælingen concludes.
–
