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Detailed travelogue on Australia and New Zealand

Detailed Travelogue on Australia and New Zealand

Larry
2006-05-27 03:23:16

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ticket. The lady
who answered the phone said "sorry, the Australia desk closes at 5:00pm" (it
was after 8:00pm at the time). I assumed this was similar to the U.S.,
where domestic airlines have 24hr telephone sales, but their international
desks (and many international airlines) often close in the evening. This
made sense, so I asked a very simple question: if the Australia desk here in
New Zealand was already closed, could I please have the direct number for
the Ansett Australia office in Sydney, where they'd be able to help me with
Australian reservations, and would be open 24hrs. I could just call them
direct and pay for the call myself. The lady said "Oh, it won't do any good
sir. This is still considered a holiday period, so all their calls are
routed here to New Zealand, and that desk is closed." This made absolutely
no sense. I repeated my request again, because it sounded like she didn't
understand. "No," I said, "I don't need Ansett New Zealand. I need to
change an Ansett AUSTRALIA flight that's a few days from now." "They're
closed now, sir. They close at 5:00pm." "Yes, I understand that," I
replied. "I understand that the Australian desk here in New Zealand is
closed. But I'm asking for the direct number of your office in Sydney,
where they'll be open 24hrs, and can help me with Australian reservations.
I'll just call them direct over there in Australia." "Sir," the lady
repeated, "I just told you, they're closed. All their calls get routed here
to the Australia desk, and they're closed now." She still didn't
understand -- or was she just stupid? What she was claiming was that
anytime someone IN AUSTRALIA picked up the phone to call their local Ansett
Australia number, the call would get routed to New Zealand (where of course,
they close at 5:00pm everyday). I knew ...

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