Traveller Letters: If I’ve paid for business class, I want the seat I chose
Each week Traveller publishes a selection of rants, raves and travel tips from our readers. See below on how you can contribute.
Musical chairs
One reader was unhappy about not being given his pre-selected seat on board Thai Airways.
At Munich Airport last month, after standing in the Thai Air Business Class check in line for 75 minutes, my issued boarding pass was not for my selected seat of a mid-cabin window but rather a centre seat in the very back row. I had selected my seat five months earlier and had confirmed it was there through the “My Booking” page on the Thai website, only days previously. The airline staff said that the seat issued was the one in their system, and did not answer my point that my selected seat had been changed without my knowledge or agreement. The unaccompanied man occupying what should have been my seat told my wife (whose seat was as originally selected for her) that his secretary had made his booking. He refused to move. All I can say is bye bye Thai.
Ross Petersen, Kew, Vic
Letter of the week: Ain’t it grand
Underrated: Denali National Park.Credit: iStock
We recently returned from an Alaskan cruise which included four days in Denali National Park, one of the largest national parks in the US. Denali definitely deserves a mention in terms of great national parks of the US (Traveller, November 11). The landscape is epic and unspoilt, spectacular valleys, flowing rivers, majestic snow-capped mountains and vast grass plains. Vehicle access is limited but hikers have unlimited access and are encouraged to explore off track to avoid creating pathways. We saw bears, moose, caribou, squirrels and Dall’s sheep and it was a privilege to walk in such a pristine environment. The park is a restorative place to connect with nature on a grand scale.
Susan Nash & Susan Chalmers, Preston, Vic
Oh, Vienna
I had to smile at your extraordinarily accurate description of your article, “The art of being Viennese” (Traveller, November 21). My Austrian husband is certain that if Dr Sigmund Freud had been brought up and educated elsewhere than in Vienna, he would not have developed the science of psychoanalysis or reached the conclusions he did, as nowhere else would have provided such a potpourri of characters and neuroses. Perhaps for that reason it is one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
Merran Loewenthal, Vienna, Austria
Follow the leader
It seems Virgin Australia is following suit with Qantas and treating their customers with disregard. Recently booked on a flight from Sydney to Ballina, NSW, at 10.50am. I drove an hour to the train, spent three hours travelling on the train and arrived at the airport an hour before my flight. Ten minutes before we were meant to board, the flight was cancelled. All I was offered was a flight two days later. The reason? No air traffic controllers at Ballina airport. Why, then, were other flights on their way to Ballina? I had to repeat my travel home with no compensation. I am disgusted with air travel.
Sue Harrison, Narrawallee, NSW
Name gamed
I feel your pain Jenny Smith (Traveller Letters, November 11) with your son having to pay $200 for an error in his name. The same mistake some time ago cost me much more for my son-in-law’s Christian name when making a family booking with Jetstar to Bali. Knowing him for 10 years as “Jem” I had to pay $700 (in tears) when I discovered it was “Jeremy”.
Angela Forgan, Docklands, Vic
Parlance for the course
The Orkneys are just Orkney, thanks.Credit: iStock
Referring to Lee Tulloch’s interesting column on tracing her forebears (Traveller, November 14), I feel I should point that the locals in Orkney will be quick to tell you that it is a no-no to describe their archipelago as “The Orkneys”; it is simply “Orkney”. I discovered this important local cultural point by chatting to locals on my three visits there over the last 20 years. Please visit Orkney to track down the forebears – it is a fascinating place, and the locals are charming once you get to know their dialect, with Europe’s best-preserved and most numerous Neolithic villages and monuments, gorgeous windswept landscapes and two distilleries. Be sure to visit the delightful Orkney Hotel in Kirkwall. This 17th century establishment has over 1000 whiskies to choose from at the bar.
Ian Pickles, Mullumbimby, NSW
Pass marks
A note to say thank you, Traveller for a tip you published a few years ago: The America The Beautiful pass saved us a significant amount of money on our recent trip to western US which included 15 national parks and monuments. Amusingly I had to post my credit card details to the National Parks Service to apply for it but the card turned up in the mail reasonably promptly, as promised.
Jenny Spicer, Surrey Hills, Vic
Rooms for improvement
Thanks to John Lane for warning readers about a major security breach at booking.com (Traveller Letters, November 18). I have also recently received the same sort of scam email through booking.com’s official communication system and thankfully, like John, we spotted it as fake. But it gets worse. The credit card we use exclusively for overseas travel was hacked after making bookings with booking.com, our first use of the card since 2020. We initially thought the security breach was from one of the hotels we booked with booking.com, now the scam emails on the booking.com system suggests the security breach comes from their system. When we sent a copy of the scam email to booking.com we got no response.
Jason Wheatley, Annandale, NSW
Take a peak
Watching the sun slowly rise behind the Matterhorn would have to be my most cherished travel moment this year (Traveller, November 18). As the sun rose the mountain glowed as if liquid gold was being poured over it. I was on a bridge in the city of Zermatt with only a handful of tourists witnessing this breathtaking spectacle. To me this was Mother Nature at her finest.
Pauline Harvey, Bathurst, 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
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