Conference 7.286::digital

    Your neice was lucky, Thomas Cook actually responded to her.  
    I got fed up with waiting for them to get back to me so I went
    to another agency and got, what I felt, was a better deal than
    Cook would have given me.  I feel even better about it after
    reading your note.  I am not impressed by Thomas Cook, either
    for personal service or for company travel arrangements.

So far I with TC travel, I have had the following experiences:

	Received a ticket to go to Pittsburgh, even though I had
	to go to Philadelphia.

	Was booked on a flight from Atlanta to San Francisco via
	Chicago, even though there was a direct flight leaving Hartsfield
	a half an hour earlier.  The non-stopper was about 25% full when I
	got on it.

	The agent forgot to make hotel reservations in Sacremento.  
	After spending half the day playing telephone tag with TC, I was 
	able to get a room.  

	
And it seems like everytime I use them, I get put on hold forever, the agents
say that they will call me back, they never do.  I have already made one 
complaint.  I can do better making travel arrangements myself, but I have 
been told that we must use TC.  Seems like Digital is content to use 
incompentent vendors, given our financial situation.  

Paul

   

    You really don't want to get me going on this, do you?
    
    I tried Thomas Cook three different times last year for trips to
    various parts of the states. Each time I was quoted a rate $100 higher
    than I was quoted by the travel agent resident in CX03. The agent in
    CX03 knew about a special discount being offered to travelers in and
    out of Denver - $50 off each way. I brought this to Thomas Cook's
    attention twice and they said they couldn't keep up with all of the
    local discounts. I asked if their local office in Denver knew of the
    discounts and was told yes. The third time their quote came in $100
    higher, I told my manager and explained why I would be using the local
    agent. No problem.
    
    Recently I've been doing some travelling between Denver and Washington,
    D.C. The local agent knew about competition between Mark Air and United 
    and stated that if I could be a little flexible on time and airports
    (using Dulles rather than Baltimore) I could save a significant amount
    on the flight. My round trip tickets were in the $210 range. I just saw
    four folks who had made their reservations through Thomas Cook pay over
    $850 each for essentailly the same trip. They were stunned to hear of
    the competition and stated that Thomas Cook hadn't mentioned anything
    about it to them.
    
    By the way, using the same agent at CX03, I've been able to fly from
    Denver to L.A. and back for $164.10. Didn't bother to see what Thomas
    Cook could do for me...
    
    tim m.

Hasn't this subject already been beaten to death in this conference?  Just look 
at the following topics over recent years:

  1124  CLOSUS::WOODWARD     13-JUN-1990    70  Corporate Travel = Savings??
  1450    KYOA::MIANO        30-APR-1991    61  American Express -> Not saving
  2312  CADCTL::BRAUCHER      6-JAN-1993    11  Travel - Cook in/Amex out
  2690  JULIET::LEZAMA_RO    28-SEP-1993    33  Thomas Cook Travel
  2841   SMAUG::GARROD        5-JAN-1994    37  Digital squanders money on air

-  David

    Basically, my original note was referring to...what TC is suppose
    to offer employees as personal/vacation trips...not very competitive.
    

    Well you may want to change your topic header to reflect your intention. 
    With almost 3000 notes it tough to keep track of them all.
    
    Then again - your "Vacation" complaint easily fits into one of the many
    notyes already established.
    
                                                            
    Jt

    A thousand pardons!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    STOP SHOUTING AT US
    
    I was just trying to help you - now LIGHTEN UP
    
    Jt

>    what TC is suppose to offer employees as personal/vacation trips

I didn't realize they were obligated to offer us anything in particular.
My rule of thumb for the 16+ years I've been with the company is that
you can _ALWAYS_ get a better deal than the corporate agent regardless
of who it is at the moment.

With recent travels, I've done it one better. My sister runs a travel
agency. When I make arrangements with the corporate agent, I let her
know what they are. She finds a better deal, and sends a letter to
Maynard explaining how much they're wasting. The object isn't to garner
favor and get business - just to show travel how stupid they're being.

-Jack

    re: -1
    nice idea... can you share with us the name/address your sister writes
    to?
    
    tony

   TC has little incentive to give Digital the "lowest" fare possible. 
   TC earns a 10% commission on each airline ticket it sells.  Hotel
   commissions range from 5% to 10%.  Other travel products pay a
   commission accordingly.  All Thomas Cook has to do is get a
   reasonably low price to make Digital happy.  Why?  Because Digital
   has signed a contract with TC.  TC gets are business for the term of
   the contract in spite of thier performance.
   
   A personal travel agent on the other hand has to work under a
   different set of rules.  If you don't like what your travel agent is
   doing, then you take a walk.  Your travel agent depends on repeat
   business.  TC is guaranteed your repeat business.
   
   My mother-in-law worked for TC for 25 years; 15 of that as the office
   manager.  My wife worked for them for about 10 years.  My
   mother-in-law quit about 12 years ago to become a plain, ol' travel
   agent again (with a privately owned agency).  It's nice to know that
   the TC that made her quit is still in full-force today.

    I am very sorry...i do not use notes, but on a couple of
    occasions and i certainly did not mean to "shout" at anyone.
    mistakes do get made...and unfortunately i made one.
    

    My opinion only so please don'e flame---
    
    First things first: Thomas Cook (and others like them) are primarily
    directed to provide *service*. I have receive good service from them
    including a desputed $740 bill that that was put on my AMEX. A whole
    nother story and not relevant to this.
    
    COST: I recently worked on arranging a trip for myself to join some
    friends in Florida late this month for a fishing trip..
    
    	-- Using USair flyer's certificate, there were no available seats.
    	--Using TC, they were able to find me flights that cost $200 more
          on the same flights as my friends
    	--Using my friend's "friend" at the airline enabled me to obtain
    tickets at less than $200 total cost and the same amount cheaper than
    TC could get me tickets for. Two weeks later I might add.
    
    So, TC may not be the problem particularly where discounts are at
    issue. It's the airlines themselves who decide who to dish out the
    economy fares.

    Some may say that this topic has been "beaten to death",
    but having had terrible service from COOK this week and still
    seeing no improvement, even on the issue of being on hold
    endlessly, I hope we continue to beat it until there is
    some improvement.  I called a superviser there this week, was
    put on hold forever, then got her voicemail and she called back
    two days later.  Some service.

    I booked thru TC for my vacation.  4 RT seats to Orlando with a compact
    car for $875.00 - this is a charter.
    
    -sandy
    

    I just used them to get a flight and a car for personal travel.  I
    called them after I failed due to 'sold out'.  They got me the flight
    and a car for less than I had even anticipated.
    
    Maybe we're seeing regional differences here and all you people having
    problems call to those who aren't having problems?
    
    Chuck

RE:  <<< Note 2941.14 by ICS::GOLDSTEIN >>>
              -< Service Quality >-

Have you tried to call Marty Mott at (508) 897-3622 x9275? He is supposedly 
working the service issues Digital has with Thomas Cook.

Regards,

Jim

Re: .15

    I booked 4 RT seats to Ft.Fauderdale on Continental for $820.
    Two Penuts Fares + two free Companion Tickets.
    The tickets have no restrictions and are fully reschedulable 
    and refundable (even if not used).

    PS: Same rate for Orlando.

    - Phil

    In December I had booked two RT non-stop tickets to Ft Lauderdale from
    Boston for a February trip.  Travelling on "mid-week", the cost was
    $186 plus tax per seat.  Booked through Glennon Travel in Maynard. 
    I've always gotten very good prices going through them.
    
    Jim

    Well... I have nothing but praise for TC.
    
    They have ALWAYS delivered what they were supposed to, in a timely,
    friendly fashion to me.  I have ALWAYS had GREAT support from them. 
    Their Reps are courteous, friendly, and helpful.
    
    Tony

    I just left the local (Acton, MA) TC office.  Talked to the
    receptionist there.  She mentioned there are about 160+ people in
    several offices around the country who do nothing but Digital travel. 
    She also mentioned that there has been a LOT of travel lately (in the
    last few weeks) and there was NO SIGN of any slowdown in Digital's
    travel habits.  
    
    Makes one wonder how effective the "ban on travel" has been?
    
    tony

    Don't have time to read through all of these replies, but here's a
    suggestion.
    
    When we first started using TC, I had problems similar to the ones
    listed here.  I talked to the supervisor and asked him to give me the
    names of his two most experienced agents.  I use one of these (the
    other for a backup) all the time and I have never had a problem since.
    
    Suggest y'all try the same approach.

    
    >>> I use one of these (the other for a backup) all the time and I
    >>> have never had a problem since.
       
    	So one or two people get overloaded whilst the rest sit back and
    let them do everything!  I hope that they have a good manager - with all
    that implies!
    				Malcolm.

    I'm steamed at TC, last Wednesday I purchased two tickes to the UK 
    at $500 a piece.  On Sunday I see a TC add that has tickets to Uk at
    $389.  I asked for the lowest fare, twice, once when I booked them and
    again before I handed over the check.  
    
    I NEVER had that problem with American Express, they even gave me free
    passport photos.

    Between Wednesday and Sunday BA announced special price deals.

    .24
    
    I can think of plenty of reasons, but I am still ticked off just the
    same.  BTW, that special still isn't being listed for Digital
    employees.  I guess if you want A REAL DEAL, look in the Sunday
    paper.

As it happens, I am flying to the UK on business in May.  I called multiple
airlines to get their best fares.  Then I called Thomas Cook.  When I
complained that the fare they were quoting me was higher than what I had
read in BA's newspaper ad (this was a month or two ago), they pointed out
that the ad fare was good only for travel Monday-Thursday and since I was
flying Friday (no choice), the fare was higher.  I confirmed with the airline
that it was the correct rate.  I was also told by TC that Digital gets a
10% rebate from BA (not deducted from the fare; not sure which cost center
gets it) for travel on that airline.

I've had bad experiences with TC in the past, but make sure you have your
facts straight before pointing fingers.  The newspaper ads are often
deceptive.

				Steve