BY KYLA SERGEJEW
IN FOCUS REPORTER
Hafize Artan, third-year ECE student at Guelph-Humber, knows all about the complications of travelling in a foreign country.
“My mom and I have the same name – on our ticket it showed a Mrs. Artan and a Miss Artan,” she said. “We took a plane from Toronto to Munich and from there we were taking a connecting flight to Turkey.
Because our names are the same they wouldn’t let us take the flight.”
Artan said her travel agent now has to send their tickets individually to avoid this confusion.
“It was really hard in Germany, because their accents were so thick we had trouble understanding them and they didn’t understand us,” said Artan.
Artan’s is only one example of problems people can encounter when on vacation.
When a company called Conquest Tours went out of business, a lot of people unknowingly continued to book online through that company, said Pina Zanelli, Sears travel agent.
Some travellers were stranded, others had trips cancelled with no promise of a refund.
“They came to Sears Travel in hopes of getting their money back,” she said, “but we couldn’t help them because they didn’t book with us.”
Zanelli said agents are a smarter booking choice.
“The thing about the internet is it’s not very reliable,” said Zanelli. “You could book the wrong dates or something may be happening at the hotel that you didn’t expect.”
Zanelli said agents can tell if there is construction or a problem at the hotel or resort they are looking at. Agents also have access to reports detailing facilities written by consultants.
Using a travel agency provides added security, said Zanelli. “It’s all about having a name to stand behind when things go wrong.”
Zanelli also encourages purchasing travel insurance.
“OHIP will only cover what the cost would be in Ontario,” said a representative at OHIP. “If you were to break your leg in the United States and it costs $300 and in Ontario it costs $100, OHIP would only reimburse $100 and the rest you would have to pay for.”
The cost of insurance is dependent on age and destination and it applies anywhere out of the country.