Traveller letters: 'I will divert to another airport' - captain's warning to passengers over crew abuse

This speech was greeted with cheering and clapping (apparently a carry-on bag may have been left on the plane by a passenger who could not fly, perhaps due to illness, so all overhead lockers were emptied and inspected – a wise move).

Max Woolcock, Montrose, VIC

ROUGH WATERS

Three days into a Pacific cruise my 83-year-old husband became unwell and we went to the ship's medical centre during a stop in Noumea.

The doctor decided my husband would be better if he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a chest infection. We were not worried about any costs as we had taken out travel insurance, as usual.

All paperwork was completed and the hospital was ready to send my husband home.

After five days the insurance company told me they were denying our claim as my husband had two bouts of pneumonia in 2015 and 2017 and, as a result, it was classed as a "pre-existing condition".

I asked her whether that meant we were being left stranded high and dry, she answered "yes". I think this is most unfair as doctors say chest infections and pneumonia can't be classed as pre-existing.

As we only had a certain amount on the credit card (which was clearly not enough) we had to contact the bank and make arrangements for money to be added to the card. As my husband needed oxygen to fly home he also needed a nurse to accompany him.

Needless to say the cost of repatriation by plane, nurse, oxygen and ambulance to our local hospital, a hotel for eight days and other costs totalled as much as $25,000.

We're lucky as we had savings we could access but what if someone did not? Would they still be stranded with no way to get home? Frightening.

Ducie Hood, Banora Point, NSW

TAXING TIMES

My wife has taken to describing those costly errors we often make in unfamiliar locations while travelling as "tourist taxes".

One such example was discovering that I hadn't done my homework on the Italian tollway system. On picking up a rental car in Venice, I followed the only road off the island, failing to collect my ticket and copping a €60 fine at the exit.

I did, however, manage to avoid another hefty fine on the Cinque Terre railway by endorsing my ticket before boarding, unlike the unfortunate couple seated behind.

Tourists do seem to be popular targets for officials enforcing rules that locals sometimes ignore with impunity.

Rob Vines, Point Clare, NSW

STATE OF PLAY

A few years ago I was taken aside at Auckland Airport for a bomb residue test (Traveller Letters, April 20).

The test was carried out in a fairly perfunctory manner whereupon the fellow doing the test said he'd chosen me because he wanted to talk to an Australian about the recent State of Origin rugby league game.

Garry Bryant, Thurgoona, NSW

GENDER OFFENDER

How disappointed I am by your cover story "It's a Woman's World" (Traveller, April 20).

Ironic in an article that mentioned "confounding gender stereotypes", the tips for men when travelling with women were ridiculous and sounded as though they were lifted from the pages of a 1950s guide on how to be a good husband (because, of course, the men travelling with women are always their husbands).

Women love shopping? Men are more competitive? Talk about gender stereotypes. Worst of all "give us the credit cards" because all women's finances are controlled by a man?

Rachael Harrington, Hawthorn, VIC

EDITOR'S NOTE Points taken but the element referred to in our otherwise serious cover story championing women and travel was, of course, meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

SWEET MEMORIES

Good to see that Air New Zealand still has some of the niceties of a bygone era of plane travel (Traveller, April 27).

In the old days, when you could still take family happy snaps in front of the plane that had transported you over the ditch (we did), I was "chosen" to dispense the end-of-flight lollies.

The indelibly excruciating reluctance and embarrassment of being given such a momentous task by a New Zealand "goddess" flight attendant is still with me some 45 years later.

I don't know what the other passengers thought of the 10-year-old, scrawny, madly blushing, shy "country bumpkin" girl wearing homemade clothes.

I still recall, however, my absolute wonder and delight in being given the leftover lollies in the basket to savour for months afterwards.

Thanks for the memories, Air New Zealand.

Annie Medlicott, Ourimbah, NSW

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