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Travel agents field very odd questions
The ranks of travel agents continue to grow in the U.S. despite a swelling array of online travel websites.
The reason could have something to do with the difficult requests travel agencies must tackle on a daily basis — questions that might cause travel websites to short-circuit.
To offer a glimpse at the difficult requests made of travel agents, the American Society of Travel Agents released a list of the 10 strangest requests its 26,000 members have received in the past year.
Among them:
» Can you book two rooms in different parts of the resort — one for me and my wife and the other for my girlfriend?
» Can you please plan a honeymoon for me, my bride and my mother?
» Do they speak English in Britain?
» Does the crew actually sleep onboard the cruise ship?
» Are there toll roads on the way to Hawaii?
» How can I get to Europe without going by air or sea?
» I don’t want a window seat on the plane because I just had my hair done.
Plane has a place for selfies
Virgin Atlantic recently launched its inaugural flight between Los Angeles and London on a 787 Dreamliner. The plane is chock-full of passenger amenities, including windows that dim with the touch of a button, a bar near the upper-class section and a wall of shelves near the middle of the plane that is stocked with free snacks and drinks.
A feature that won’t be found on most other planes is an area in the back of the 787 for shooting selfies.
As a backdrop for the selfie pictures, the airline has mounted on a cabin partition a poster of the airline’s “flying lady,” an image that appears near the nose of each Virgin Atlantic plane.
In the selfie area, passengers can shoot a selfie in front of the poster and upload it to Facebook without having to pay for onboard Wi-Fi. The airline has even promoted a hashtag: skyhighselfie.
Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times
