What would you do if you were stuck in Europe due to strikes?
Let me share two stories about clients who had their vacation plans affected by strikes, but were able to recover from these strikes easily with me in their corner:
Two guests traveled on a custom tour for a 50th Birthday celebration from Athens to Mykonos and were to depart for Santorini. Their ferry for Santorini did not show up (they kept me updated via text messages). The tour company tried to blame the delays on weather and then claimed it was an operational delay (what’s that?) and refused to offer compensation for missing the one night in Santorini.
On the bright side, Mykonos is not a bad place to get stuck in…especially the San Marco Hotel. Elena, the great manager at the hotel, checked my guests back into their same room and offered more fruit and water be brought to them. The hotel arranged for two ferries to get them to Santorini the next day, as regular ferries from the mainland were under an alleged longshoreman strike.
RESULTS: My guests had purchased third party travel insurance, which I had recommended. They were qualified for trip delay coverage under this insurance. After their trip, they received a reimbursement check for the missed night in Santorini. NOTE: Had they taken the tour operator’s insurance, they would have received NOTHING!
Strikes in France happened earlier this month. Two friends were on a custom tour to visit Paris, Lake Como, Venice, Florence, and Rome. Go ahead an LOOK at their trip. Air Strikes were announced by French air traffic controllers, so the airlines cancelled their flights . This was right after my guests got to visit the Eiffel tower. How were they going to get to their next hotel in Lake Como, Italy on time? I spent lot and lots of time online and on hold on the phone with Rail Europe. I eventually got them tickets on the TGV train from Paris to Milan, Italy. The only tickets available were first class, so they got to travel in style.
RESULTS: My clients got to Milan and subsequently, Lake Como without altering their itinerary. I will help them file a claim to reimburse their extra expenses for the first class train with their third party travel insurance.
Have your travels been affected by any types of strikes? Please share your experiences!
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
