Ever Have One of Those Days?

[Deleted member 29185]

This falls fairly and squarely in the "first worl" "DYKWIA" category.

I've had an excellent day........up early, perfect fine day (at least plenty of stars out), off to work to get a few hours in before heading off to get changed before departing for the airport.

Firstly, the transfer bus forgets to pick me us, luckily some other pax knew I was booked so made him turn around! Flight 1, uneventful.....even enjoyable flying low over some fabulous mountains. Customs went well (although they forgot to get my case off the plane). Second flight went well (dozed with music in the ears.....wonderful), Arrived into customs to find my case is once again missing! Everyone else departs, I'm left in a deserted int terminal....airside! Not a sole in sight except one customs guy. He really assisted by declaring to me, "I'd be getting a bit worried if I were you, mate!". As the carosel was still revolving, I decided to give it a few minutes....just in case! Another customs guy turns up (they were both waiting for me to bugger off) and he helpfully said " I once saw a bag fall off the trolley and sit out in runway for 1/2 an hour". Oh, great, thank you, thank you very, very much! Not long after that, as I pondered who I should talk to with regard to a charter flight where everyone had disappeared for the night, and I heard a clunk, rattle, bash.....as someone threw my bag onto the conveyor from a great distance and soon after it appeared, to my delight and to my audiences enjoyment!

Having cleared customs, I head out to pick up my car! Oh, silly me, this is Europcar. They don't deliver the 100m to the internation airport. I have to trudge around to the domestic to rent a freaking car!

(To be continued as I'm being booted out of the lounge)!

 

[Deleted member]

So you were the sole pax in an airport with not a soul present. Are you the sole occupant of the soulless lounge ?

 

[Pushka]

Loving this. Wots next. .

I can sympathise. Cr*p week for me.

 

[amaroo]

This week has been excellent. Received a massive order from our largest customer - PB actually

Followed by a walk through Noosa National Park - Sunshine Beach to Noosa, followed by lunch at Season - nice way to celebrate our 21st anniversary!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

So you were the sole pax in an airport with not a soul present. Are you the sole occupant of the soulless lounge ?

Touché.....I deserved that!....but spelling? What about "us" instead of "up"...and international in lieu of internation? and WTF is "first Worl".....? I'm a donkey on the edge!!!! Stressful day and all that!

Ok, to continue "with spell check engaged this time"..........

Oh Yes, Eurpopcar. How could I forget? Well, very easily it would seem. Europcar Cairns has been pi**ing me off for many months. I was determined to gain VIP, but now, no way. I've just recently decided to go ........JQ.......and they do an airport-city connection for $10. A taxi is $25. A hire car is $55+++.

So I rock out of CNS INT and find (yet again) the Europcar desk vacant. Decide, (yet again), to walk across to DOM and find three people there, one of which (the manager) standing around picking his ar*e....er, backside! I asked why it was they expected me to walk, with luggage that miraculously didn't disappear into the Bermuda Triangle, the 1km or so to the domestic terminal when I had booked for the international? The lazy manager says, "well it depends on how busy we are". Busy? I ask him what he's doing that's so important (picking his backside) that he can't show some enthusiasm and deliver a car some extraordinary distance of 1km to keep a client reasonably happy?

Continued..........shortly!

 

[Pushka]

This week has been excellent. Received a massive order from our largest customer - PB actually

Followed by a walk through Noosa National Park - Sunshine Beach to Noosa, followed by lunch at Season - nice way to celebrate our 21st anniversary!

People should not be allowed to live in Noosa.

 

[JohnK]

LOL! Welcome to my world.

 

[amaroo]

People should not be allowed to live in Noosa.

LOL sometimes I have a similar feeling about tourists...

 

[Deleted member 29185]

OK, so Europcar thinks that stranding someone at the INT terminal whilst they make a herbal Chai Is OK, they then, (whilst sipping said tea) decide to give a status member the very best downgrade they can possibly muster and deliver a spankin', gleaming white pox-box by way of a fully manual, double overhead vacuum, nothing on the floor, rarely cleaned, only driven to South America by one little o' lady driver, boring sludgebox that wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, mean machine!

Boy these guys and gals really go out of their way to impress!

I'm wearing out.......more tomorrow!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

To continue, Europcar is now officially gone with me. If the so called benefits are no longer there, I'm not even remotely interested in continuing to support them. So I arrive at the Hilton looking forward to a relax in the lounge and drop past reception to get my key card for the 9th floor room I had checked in on line to. Much to my surprise, the 9th floor had slipped to the 7th floor! :shock: I've never had a room below the 8th at H-CNS. When I queried it, I was told my checked into room had maintenance issues, but I'm doubting that. One staff member told me they were 101% full and another told me that I was lucky to get a room at all, so I'm guessing I got bumped for someone who was actually paying for an exec room! Got to my room to find no water, no mini bar and no internet. Today my client cancelled the job so I didn't need the Europcar box and when I asked for a 1pm late checkout, I was told couldn't do 1pm but 12 is OK unless I wanted to pay $20 for a 1pm! What I don't understand is if for 20 bucks I could have a 1pm check-out why wasn't it available as the HH benefit?

So now I'm sitting at the airport, amongst the great unwashed, looking wistfully at the escalators and wondering what my JQ flight has in store for me. At least the check in was fairly uneventful.

Oh, well, the joy of travelling.

 

[Deleted member]

Touché.....I deserved that!....but spelling? What about "us" instead of "up"...and international in lieu of internation? and WTF is "first Worl".....? I'm a donkey on the edge!!!! Stressful day and all that!

Ok, to continue "with spell check engaged this time"..........

Oh Yes, Eurpopcar. How could I forget? Well, very easily it would seem. Europcar Cairns has been pi**ing me off for many months. I was determined to gain VIP, but now, no way. I've just recently decided to go ........JQ.......and they do an airport-city connection for $10. A taxi is $25. A hire car is $55+++.

So I rock out of CNS INT and find (yet again) the Europcar desk vacant. Decide, (yet again), to walk across to DOM and find three people there, one of which (the manager) standing around picking his ar*e....er, backside! I asked why it was they expected me to walk, with luggage that miraculously didn't disappear into the Bermuda Triangle, the 1km or so to the domestic terminal when I had booked for the international? The lazy manager says, "well it depends on how busy we are". Busy? I ask him what he's doing that's so important (picking his backside) that he can't show some enthusiasm and deliver a car some extraordinary distance of 1km to keep a client reasonably happy?

Continued..........shortly!

I did consider those. But we're clearly finger problems. ..... Never kick a man when he's down.
Loving your post BTW :

 

[Deleted member]

To continue, Europcar is now officially gone with me. If the so called benefits are no longer there, I'm not even remotely interested in continuing to support them. So I arrive at the Hilton looking forward to a relax in the lounge and drop past reception to get my key card for the 9th floor room I had checked in on line to. Much to my surprise, the 9th floor had slipped to the 7th floor! :shock: I've never had a room below the 8th at H-CNS. When I queried it, I was told my checked into room had maintenance issues, but I'm doubting that. One staff member told me they were 101% full and another told me that I was lucky to get a room at all, so I'm guessing I got bumped for someone who was actually paying for an exec room! Got to my room to find no water, no mini bar and no internet. Today my client cancelled the job so I didn't need the Europcar box and when I asked for a 1pm late checkout, I was told couldn't do 1pm but 12 is OK unless I wanted to pay $20 for a 1pm! What I don't understand is if for 20 bucks I could have a 1pm check-out why wasn't it available as the HH benefit?

So now I'm sitting at the airport, amongst the great unwashed, looking wistfully at the escalators and wondering what my JQ flight has in store for me. At least the check in was fairly uneventful.

Oh, well, the joy of travelling.

Sounds like you need a hot bath and a glass or two of what you love .

 

[farstar]

. Today my client cancelled the job so I didn't need the Europcar box and when I asked for a 1pm late checkout, I was told couldn't do 1pm but 12 is OK unless I wanted to pay $20 for a 1pm! What I don't understand is if for 20 bucks I could have a 1pm check-out why wasn't it available as the HH benefit?

I would be send an email to HHonors as the hotel does not seem to be providing published benefits if late checkout is possible you should not be asked to pay for it, if not available that would have been different.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I've had a couple of horrors this year, including as a final straw Qantas offloading our luggage due to weight problems! However we have just had a wonderful one, where absolutely everything flowed like a dream (making our 4 nights at airport hotels to avoid connections seem a bit silly). So swings and roundabouts - hope your next trip is a dream one

 

[AdMEL]

OK, so Europcar thinks that stranding someone at the INT terminal whilst they make a herbal Chai Is OK, they then, (whilst sipping said tea) decide to give a status member the very best downgrade they can possibly muster and deliver a spankin', gleaming white pox-box by way of a fully manual, double overhead vacuum, nothing on the floor, rarely cleaned, only driven to South America by one little o' lady driver, boring sludgebox that wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, mean machine!

Boy these guys and gals really go out of their way to impress!

I'm wearing out.......more tomorrow!

I've almost always found Europcar service far from satisfactory - haven't experienced CNS bad service, but have at MEL, Melbourne Downtown, DRW, to name a few that spring to mind. OOL I had no complaints from.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Actually, when I just reread this post, I thought to myself, "what a load of rubbish". I was clearly having a bad day, but today was great. The JQ flight yesterday was fine as well. I really enjoyed flying into OOL instead of BNE so all is good.

Apart from being a rubbish thread (for which I apologise), it has actually made me realise just how much the little things do mean when one travels frequently. All of these little things I mentioned were really nothing, but put them all in a day that started at 3.25am and didn't finish until late and it is noticeable. Oh well, did some gardening today to unwind before it all starts again!

 

[JohnK]

I really enjoyed flying into OOL instead of BNE so all is good.

I guess you say that because you live closer to OOL and have someone pick you up and not use public transport?

.... it has actually made me realise just how much the little things do mean when one travels frequently. All of these little things I mentioned were really nothing, but put them all in a day that started at 3.25am and didn't finish until late and it is noticeable.

Well put. By the time I got to apartment in Milton from OOL last night it was nearly 7 hours since I left home in Sydney. I was so tired that I fell asleep on the bed and don't remember too much. Still tired now.

At the end of the day though if I stopped commuting I think I would seriously miss it.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I guess you say that because you live closer to OOL and have someone pick you up and not use public transport?

Yes, most definitely. If I lived closer to BNE, then I'd prefer BNE, but don't assume someone picks me up (my +1 did last time, but that won't always be the case). At times I will be catching the bus as the fare on a GoCard from OOL to home is just over $5, so I couldn't justify taxi or door to door transfer.

I too know what you mean about the travel time. My PNG trip is not very far (as the crow flies) but takes me from day start to day end about 20 hours. Starts at about 4.00am and finishes (if I fly into BNE) at about midnight. It often involves 4 flights (1 rotary, 3 fixed wing), 1 PMV (small bus), 2 customs clearances, five very ordinary terminal waits (only one with a lounge and the rest basically just a seat in a room) and then an hour long drive home at the last and of course all that is subject to some very changeable weather. It has been known for one 1/2 flight to turn into a 6 hour PMV ride along the not-so salubrious Highlands Highway (think of the bus trip in the movie "Romancing the Stone"). So that 1 hour that I save by flying into OOL rather than BNE is like pure gold. One of things I fear most is dozing off on the drive from BNE to OOL, so I see Jetstar as something of a God send :shock: and until fairly recently, I didn't even know they flew OOL-CNS. It also sort of explains me cracking the s*its with the Europcar clown who couldn't even be bothered getting off his backside to drop the car over to me at Int, rather than making me walk with luggage in tow to the dom terminal......but as I said, first world problems!

 

[TonyHancock]

Presumably Europcar will charge you for damage you are not responsible for......just to complete your experience.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Presumably Europcar will charge you for damage you are not responsible for......just to complete your experience.

I've never had that experience......yet.

Europcar CNS have however billed me for $22 (or something like that) for 6 litres of fuel, despite me filling up at the closest servo and despite the amount of kms driven could not possibly use 6 litres of fuel (Airport-Hilton-Airport). I complained and pointed out their pathetic business decision is proven to be in error by their very own paperwork (which displayed the correct kms driven) and guess what? I never heard boo back from them, nor did I ever get my $22 back.

It wasn't the money, I didn't really care too much about $22, but it was the fact it was stolen from me by a pack of ar*eholes that stuck in my throat. Not dealing with Europcar CNS anymore is a real upside to this thread (for me at least). Their arrogance has cost them (admittedly, they probably won't care at all).