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