Olympic Air and Expedia - BLACKLIST

A couple of companies have just made it to my blacklist again. Following the recent volcanic ash fiasco over Europe, many travel companies are getting the hit from flight/accommodation rebooking and cancellations.

We had our share of travel problems especially with my family coming up to London to visit us. The original flight booked with SIA for my parents was cancelled and changed for them to fly into Athens. Despite an obvious rush for seats on flights coming into Europe, SIA was able to accommodate my sister to be on the same flight with them. So kudos to SIA! Day four into our Europe trip and we are on the beautiful Greek island of Mykonos, struggling to amend our flight back to Athens. We were supposed to depart tomorrow night with Olympic Air at 1135pm. Seeing the late hour, I managed to find some cheaper earlier flights on Expedia (our original travel agent and another entrant to the blacklist). I spent a good 3-4 hours on paid calls to Expedia (10p per min!) without any success. However I was able to get through to their Sales within a minute and each time was told that they couldn't help me and Customer Service, which is the only department that can help, is not able to assist me. This came despite commitment on their website to reply within 24 hours. I have not even received a reply on my first email sent 21 April.

With Expedia not helping, I turned directly to Olympic Air. And that showed me a significant difference between a major airline - SIA - and a floundering one. I was told that my tickets were the "cheap" tickets and not allowed for changes. My only option is to buy another new set priced at EUR100 per person. This is despite my original flight priced higher than the earlier flight - see below.



On any given day, I would have screamed at that Oly Air lady on the other side of the call who could only say - "Sorry I cannot help you", "You have bought cheaper tickets". In this age, shouldn't we be more concerned about customer service and advertising by word-of-mouth? At our last destination in Santorini, we stayed at Oia Sunset Villa partly due to strong recommendation by friends from Singapore (and we would strongly recommend it too). In the cut-throat world of air travel, it is ever so important for recommendation for airlines that are hardly differentiated from the rest.

So I add another two firms to my blacklist - you have earned your last dollar from me.

Tea @ Ritz

In Singapore, we are all too familiar with high tea - a term that suggests a session more than just hot water and tea leaves. In the UK, we have something similar (or its original) known simply as afternoon tea. Unlike the Singapore version which is more of a gastronomical feast, afternoon tea in the UK is a time-honoured tradition treated with much more reverence.



Despite being here for close to 5 years, we have not had the chance to take in such indulgence. Since we are moving home soon, Xueyan suggested afternoon tea and no less than Ritz. It normally takes about two months to get a place at Ritz and, being such an esteemed institution here in London, we would have thought of missing the chance. However, all thanks to Mrs Ong's savviness, we were able to get a place for four with just a month's notice.

Interestingly we HAD to "dress up" for the occasion. For man, at least a tie and jacket. I don't even wear a tie at work! Nonetheless, such attire makes the event more special.



The tea came out well and we really enjoyed the clotted cream and jam with scones. We were initially given three plates (as in the photos) of sandwiches, scones and cakes. Greedy me was thinking of asking for a refill once I make it through half of them but after two hours, we easily had a plate left to finish!

Connoisseurs Cyril and Grace, our tea buddies for the day, gave a 2/10 for the food and suggested a visit to Fortnum and Mason. Me and Xueyan were however duly impressed by the decor and the "seriousness" that we can't really fault our first visit to a proper afternoon tea place. Guess we will try to squeeze in one more trip when our parents are here!

Crossing Le Pond

Four days of holiday breezed by, faster than the cold winter chill. We are supposed to be in Spring now but it looks like the season has arrived earlier than the weather. It has been three full months since we visited New York and the Lees, and with the English channel soon becoming a history item, we thought it would be good to make one last hurrah across the waters.



The search for warmer sunshine took us to Isle of Wight (IOW), a small island (or so I thought) off Portsmouth. Two days I reckon would be good enough to rest the minds and bodies before the month-end hammering starts.



To get to IOW, we would have to drive down to Portsmouth, get the ferry across to IOW and then drive south towards Ventnor. IOW is very scenic and comes in many small, cute medieval villages. Being an island off the English Channel, seafood comes in abundance. We managed to exercise some restraint both in diet and shopping! We zipped around the island and it was not long before I ended up on the M3 towards London.