living one note at a time....

I hope you realize you have lost a valuable customer in me and my family members, whom make 2 or 3 annual trips between Vancouver and Taiwan.

Our most recent experience went as such. We had a family emergency and bought 2 last minute round trip "Premium Economy" tickets at $1700 a piece over the counter at YVR. There were no other seats available except for "Premium Economy," so we settled due to the urgency. Unfortunately, the return flight date we wanted was fully booked at the time so the service agent requested 2 seats for us for that day and told us to call EVA Airways to confirm.

A couple days after arriving in Taiwan, we had a chance to look into confirming our return flights. First, we checked online ourselves and we're denied access to change or alter our bookings. Then we asked our travel agent, but he was also unable to do anything because the tickets were issued by EVA Airways. This meant we were at the mercy of the EVA Airways customer service hotline, oh yay...

Our first couple of attempts led to 10 plus minutes of waiting with no answers. So then we decided to go to the EVA Airways Office directly in Taiwan since luckily we lived close by. We were told there were no seats available for the dates we requested except for business class. These tickets would require us to pay the difference which would basically buy a whole other ticket. Not exactly what we wanted to hear, so we decided to put ourselves on the waiting list.

We considered many options, factoring time and cost, choices included:

#1) upgrading to business class seats for basically $3,000 each (big no no)

#2) a "Premium Economy" class seat but with a different pay grade, pay $685 difference (don't know why?)

#3) refund the return flight difference and buy one way tickets with other airlines (too much time spent transferring plus money paid would be about equal)

#4) lastly, the wait and see game, IF there are seats available we would be notified, but still AT A COST!

Long story short, in total, we talked to 10 plus different customer service agents across 2 different continents. Not once were we transfered to a manager and we weren't exactly speaking politely. Every time we got through to an agent we basically had to explain our situation again.

Our end result was we were able to get on the flight requested with 1 ticket at the cost of $685 extra to be upgraded from "Premium Economy" to "Premium Economy." The other ticket was downgraded from "Premium Economy" to economy with no return on the fare difference.

Not only did we spend a lot more money then the average customer on a flight between Vancouver to Taiwan. We also wasted a lot of time and energy calling, talking and agruing with EVA Airways.

Suffice it to say, a difficult and complicated customer service experience and we will most certainly be looking for other options in to the future. Thanks but no thanks EVA Airways.

Well America you’ve officially done it, I now know what it feels like to be a “criminal.”

So, this is my story. Since January 2016, I’ve been working as a Youth Staff for Royal Caribbean International, a cruise ship company with over 26 cruise ships all over the world. Its been a very interesting year and a half. I’ve made some lifelong friends from all over the world and on top of that I’ve been able to travel to so many different countries. Of course, with any job there are its ups and downs. For example, with this job you are away from home for 5 or more months and you live on ship. Good thing I don’t get seasick! Overall, its been a good experience!

That is up until this past May when I began my 3rd contract with the company, based out of Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Florida, basically the birthplace of cruising. I thought everything would be smooth sailing but I forgot about the fact that I will be in America, dealing with Americans!

So, 5 weeks into my contract I had a family emergency back home. So last minute I had to buy my flights and submit a request for a 2 week leave. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t as easy as it all sounds. Firstly, the ship does not disclose the whole process of taking leave and how crew members disembark the ship mid-contract. So this is what happened…..

First, I found out 3 days before I was leaving that the ship won’t even allow me to disembark unless I have the correct flight ticket. The requirements were never disclosed to me until 3 days before. The requirements being; flights must be out of Miami International airport, after 4 pm and it must be a direct flight out of the country. WHY!?!!?!?! This meant I had to buy a whole new ticket, from Miami -> Cancún. I bought it in order to get off the ship thinking that I could catch my original planned flights once I got to the airport.

I was definitely so wrong……as soon as I stepped off the ship I was immediately “safeguarded” or “escorted”. Meaning someone at all times is with me, holding my passport and all related documents. I was sooooo shocked, it literally felt like they were paranoid that I would run away and stay in the US or something. Which made it all that much more ridiculous because I am a Canadian!!! Hello America, ego much! Not everyone wants to stay in “the land of the free.”

From the port, we were escorted to the safeguard offices to wait for our flights. I was lucky enough to an early flight so I only had to wait for about half an hour, then I was escorted again to the airport. From there, I was passed along to an airport safeguard escort. I proceeded to check-in, get through security and to my departure gate all under the watchful eye of my escort Johann. I literally had to get on my flight to Cancún because I couldn’t even hold my passport until I scanned my boarding pass. Which meant I ended up taking a long and unnecessary detour from Miami -> Cancún, Cancún -> LAX, and the finally LAX -> Taipei. It cost me more money, more time, more hassle and not too mention all the unnecessary resources, all in the name of America. You know America, saving the planet one flight at a time. Aaahhhhh so stupid!

Through this whole messy process, the saving grace was the people I met. I want to thank the other crew members who were in the same situation, the immigration officer and my friendly safeguard escort Johann for listening to my story. They all agreed with me that this whole situation was just completely ridiculous.

Suffice it to say, its been an interesting past 6 weeks. I certainly met some pretty interesting characters.

Firstly people, especially those who can afford to travel and visit a tourist attraction, the question is “Where is the washroom?,” not “Is there a washroom?” Unless you’ve somehow teleported to a third world country, the question is always going to be where is the washroom.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask. I love it when guests or customers come up to me and just start talking or shouting at me in Chinese. It really goes a long way if you could just ask first if I speak Chinese. Not only that, just because you might not speak the language of the country you are in, does not mean you should assume everybody else should speak your language.

Lastly, I would say a guest services position is not exactly the best place to practice and perfect your resting-bitch-face. I would probably go with a data entry specialist or a mail sorter. Those jobs will allow the time and space for someone to practice and absolutely nail the resting-bitch-face! — dead eyes √ — I’m-better-than-you lips √ — and the absolutely don’t care brows √