Succeeding in booking a Perth return flight in the current climate is very challenging if not impossible – Debra’s successive attempts in returning to Perth were unsuccessful. After numerous flight cancellations, Debra was under pressure to say goodbye to her beloved sister, Carolyn suffering from a terminal brain cancer which with a short life expectancy.
After viewing several of World Travel Connections reviews with successful outcomes and video on a Facebook group, Debra searched the web to make sure World Travel Connections was real. Encouraged by reading a number of interviews on the ABC News and the Age Magazine, she decided to take her chance and contact the Agency.
Debra has now successfully landed in Perth and does not regret her decision to book her flight with World Travel Connections. The omnipresent support provided Before, During and After the journey exceeded the booking costs. Today she explains her step by step recommendations to make sure any travel agent is real before making any booking.
Where are you at the moment and why?
I am in Perth in the intercontinental hotel, I have been trying to come back to Perth for many months because I have a sister, named Carolyn who is really ill in Perth. Carolyn has a brain tumour which is non-curable. We found out in April. I currently live in Orlando in Florida in the United States of America. I started to make plan in April, however, I could not travel because I was not vaccinated and the handling of Covid-19 was a mess in the US and everywhere else. So by the time August came, I started to make plans to travel. Sadly she will probably pass away, first half of next year. All my other 5 sisters have been coming to visit her. I have one sister who is living in NSW and as you well know, she is forbidden from coming to WA so it really sucks. So I am kind of grateful I can be here. But I will not do it again. I cannot do this again, it costs a lot of money and that’s a lot of time, and all I want is to spend time with my sister. I am here until the end of December.
What difficulties were you facing in going to WA?
I have started to try to book flights since August and we are now in November. So I tried to book flights wherever I could: Singapore airline and Cathay-Pacific. Two of them were cancelled and failed a week before I was supposed to flight. I have pretty disappointed.
In which condition where you welcomed for your Perth return flight?
It is kind of extreme. Perth airport is absolutely dead, because there is no businesses open. There is nothing except the border control people, the military and the police. You get on the bus, and there is a police escort behind you. We got off the bus, there were little cones everywhere, and one military guy on the footpath, another one in the back on the bus, all of this just to make sure none of us run away… Was it or not all necessary, that’s a good question? I am fully vaccinated, I wear a mask everywhere, I knew I would have to do the 2-weeks quarantine, I am not going to pass judgement of what I think of that… Luckily it did not come to much as a surprise as I watched another sister who came to visit Carolyn and got into a repatriation flight from England, so I knew what I was going to get myself into. I had months to prepare so I brought plenty of work to do, I even borrowed a cello so I can teach cello lessons from here.
What challenges did you face trying to find a flight on your own? Did you try to contact other agencies?
I did not contact any other travel agent, because I have always done my own travel. I felt I know more about how to travel to Australia than a lot of travel agents. So I did not, right. But I tried looking online, I tried calling my credit card company, to see if they could help get me on flights, and they were not really able to.
I also found out and maybe you have heard this before, and a lot of published flights online that you can book and pay for, there are fake availability. And I got into that trouble with one airline and I had to fight them through my credit card company to get my money back. And then I book through a second airline and then I thought it looks like it was happening but no. I guess it is all the getting to Perth that is the major problem, especially now I can fly from LA to Sydney, no trouble right now, mid-November, I can do that but it is the Perth situation that is a major problem.
How did you find out about World Travel Connections? How much fees did you end up paying for your return flight for your Perth return flight?
My other sister who lives in England, had previously done the repatriation DFAT flight from London to Perth. While she was actually in Australia in quarantine she joined the “Quarantine in Australia” Facebook group. On that group, she had actually seen a video interview of Nicolas who discussed on how to bring people home. My sister sent me the interview, I watched it and I reached out to Nicolas at that point. I was actually pretty desperate. I have always organised my own travel, always booked it myself, I reached the point where I realised that I would not probably be able to get back to Australia by myself, so I reached out to Nicolas. But you know I was actually terrified. I was not sure he was for real. My friends who also watched the video had some doubt he was real, and let me tell you I am so glad I did not listen to my friends, because I would still be waiting. You see the problem is that when I reached out to Nicolas, he got right back to me, and I could not work out where he was in the world. I could not work out whether he was in Australia or in Europe. I just could not. Then he gave us a WhatsApp number and my husband could not get it to work, but that was fault onto my husband side. First I thought what’s going here?
But Nicolas was persistent, he came back to us, and said “I can help you, I can get your flights, when do you want to leave?” and I ended up had to pay a $750 down payment, and I thought if he is trying to scam me because the world is full of scammers, right, then I have lost $750 and I guess I can live with that. But he was true to what he said he was doing, every step of the way, and I guess it was because I was very emotional. It was a very emotional trip, and I had not been able to do anything on my own. And then I get this person saying to me: “Yes I can get you home, no problem, yes quick, but we have got to move now” So I wonder if a lot of people are not sure if he is real.
Overall, it was good to see Nicolas in real on a video and there was also this interview on the Age and the one on the ABC News which also lends more credibility. You know when we live in this world, where people do get scammed every day and you are working with somebody who do not know who it is, it is a little bit terrifying, right, and there is emotions involved, as well.
In the end, I am so grateful I did not listen to my friend, he told me to wait several days and see what happens. I said no, otherwise I would still be in Orlando now.
What do you think of World Travel Connections’ work for this Perth return flight?
Well, it is been many, many years, like over 20 years, since I last work with a travel agent, so I do not know what a travel agent do anymore. Because I know the airline industry do not make much money for booking flights anymore. But let me tell you, do you know that my luggage got lost?
Not only, Nicolas was great during the flight, he was checking “How are you doing?” and “You can talk to me if you need to”, like really kind, right, very personal. And then when my luggage got lost he also step right up to the plate. I guess I was expecting him sort of to, but I did not really expecting to… And he was on the phone with the airline, trying to find the luggage. I even wrote him a review on World Travel Connections page.
What I said in the review, is that he really thought about out of the box ideas and solutions to try to find my luggage. One thought which I would never even have thought to do, is that he suggested that my husband go to the Orlando airport, where I first checked in, with all the bits and pieces of information, and hassle them. That action alone was a complete game changer in finding my bag. The airline was able to retrace the bag’s journey right from its origin and identify where the bag was at the time and when the bag was scheduled to arrive in Perth.
In Orlando airport, it was a whole screw up, I did not have proper bag tags, she did not tag it properly.
Did you take any advantage of World Travel Connections’ 24/7 support availability or after sale support services on your Perth return flight?
Oh my goodness! I don’t know how if Nicolas factors the amount of time that he and I spent, and he factors how much money he made. I bet he did not make any money. We talked a bunch. He would reach out to me just randomly saying “How are you going?”, “How was the flights”, “How is everything going?” and that was very good. His customers service is excellent. It really does and I this the guy really cares about his clients. That’s how he makes you feel anyway.
How fast is the response speed time of WTC agency for your Perth return flight?
Knowing now Nicolas, if I text message him now, I would expect he would respond in 10-15-20min. He is really fast. Even in the middle of his night, he was always responding, when I was in the middle of flying or transit…
Would you have found the luggage without WTC support on your Perth return flight?
I don’t know what was the original problem with the luggage. But I knew it was a problem as soon as I landed LA. The girl checked it through to Singapore, and I did not know I could take it in Singapore. And I did not really catch that before end because I was so stressed getting out of the door in Orlando.
Nicolas was proactively telling me go find it, go talk to the gate agent, go see what they have done with it. Well I tried to do all of this.
In the end, I know he rang Singapore airline many times, and he tried working with them and he had my Husband working with Delta airlines. I choose to think that all his help chasing it down, help it show up. I arrived last Saturday and the luggage arrived on Wednesday night.
Why do you think it is useful to have the support of a travel agent nowadays?
I think right now it is a very different world. And trying to get into Perth particularly, is a disaster. People like me, even though I am old and I travelled backwards and forwards between the US and Australia many times, and I think I know what I am doing. It is a different world now, and you need someone like Nicolas who understands all the laws and the rules and how to get on flights to get into Perth. Now eventually you may think it may go away, I don’t know, right, who knows?
But in the end, I could not have done that on my own, I could not. And I already have one sister, the one in England who said she may come back early next year and she said I think I may see if Nicolas would help?
What is your 2s message you would like to leave for Australians who need support overseas?
I would tell them, if you are trying to get back and you are struggling, just not be afraid and go through Nicolas. Because he is true to his word and he will get you back.
Anything else you would like to touch on for your Perth return flight?
You know I am a very sceptical person. I am very afraid of being scammed. People get scammed all the time in the States. With Covid it is the perfect time to scam somebody so it makes it extra hard for Nicolas. I tell you what we did with my sister in England, we search the web for bad reviews, for complains on Nicolas and found not even one. Now if it was fake you would usually find something. If someone ripped people off and was not real, you would find something. But also I was really crazy busy at the time, and I had to make decisions quickly, and that what is scary but that is the nature of how it is, right now trying to getting back with this Covid, it is very difficult.
Notes from World Travel Connections
We hope the above article gives readers an insight of the level of care and attention and dedication given to each and everyone of our repatriated guest. Knowledge, Reliability and Expertise are key players in our actions. We hope you and your family are safe and in good health. Please feel free to reach out should you require assistance. Nicolas Delacharlerie – Chief Executive Officer
