March 05, 2004
Grounded
I can't say that Tarom is the world's worst airline. Everyone who claims this has never flown with Merpati Air. But Tarom is not a great airline and when you're left without alternatives, you end up being frustrated a lot.
I am supposed to be boarding right now. Off to Germany for a weekend sans famille to frolic and shop and, above all, sleep.
I buy the Tarom tickets online. It's fast and quick and the frustrations don't begin until you try to get your hands on your ticket. There is an option on the site to have the tickets delivered to your home but for some reason, this never works. Whenever I tried this, I ended up with a call, an apology (no courier available or some such), and a trip to the next Tarom office.
So three days ago I get a call from Tarom. Our flight on April 1 -- to Frankfurt, then on to my brother's wedding in Spain -- is going to be 15 minutes early. However, it will arrive at the scheduled time. No explanation but my best guess is that Tarom decided to make a quick stop at Cluj. Thanks for the info, anyhow.
It also reminded me that I still needed to pick up my ticket for this Friday. I went to the Tarom office on Victoriei, only to discover that my ticket was at Otopeni (the airport). So, could I go then to Otopeni and pick it up there? No, that was not possible. Why not? The ticket wouldn't be ready until Friday. But if it's not ready yet, surely it must be possible to print out the ticket here in the office? No, it wasn't. Why? Well, it just wasn't. Okay then. When did I need to be at the airport to pick up the ticket? 7 am. Surely you jest. No, Ma'am. 7 am. But the flight isn't leaving until 9:35! Yes, but many people pick up their tickets, so there is always a line, so be there at 7 am.
Grumbling, I got up at 5:30 this morning, had lots of coffee, prepared breakfast for the boys, took the taxi at 6:30 to be there at 7 sharp.
There was no line. Just a lone woman in front of me, and the ticket - lo and behold! - was actually printed and ready, so the whole process didn't take longer than 1 minute. I was very favorably impressed, if a little peeved that it hadn't actually been necessary to be there so early. Now check in the empty suitcases (for the shopping spree, you know) and off to the cafe to sit and drink coffee and read the morning paper. When does the check-in open? Oh, not until 11 am.
Eh.
Just a minute. My flight leaves at 9:35.
No, it doesn't. Today it leaves at 12:30.
Eh? EH!!?? But, but... 12:30?? WHY?
Well. It doesn't leave until 12:30. It says so right here on your reservation. (SFX: printer spits out newly minted reservation -- Visual FX: Tarom agent pouting and apparently thinking it's all my fault because I didn't check my reservation)
But it says right here on my ticket that the flight leaves at 9:35!
Well, yes, but today, it doesn't leave until 12:30.
It's frigging 7 am and I'm tired and I will have to wait 5 hours at the airport because you guys weren't able to call and tell me?
I wouldn't have been so mad had I not received the call about the early flight on April 1st. I would have just grumbled about inefficiency and said some bad things about accession to the EU which I can't possible quote here in public because I don't really mean it.
But it just seems logical to me that when you are able to warn about a flight being 15 minutes early one month ahead, you should also be able to call someone when the flight is going to be very late the next day. No? Mind you, this was not a last minute occurance (last minute changes are not announced until - as the name suggests - the very last minute). This was known yesterday, just not by me. Apparently, Tarom has two planes grounded in London for technical reasons. (Not that this information is reassuring!)
They didn't want to route me through Vienna or any other place. They didn't want to do anything, actually.
So I'm back home now. I'll leave again in two hours and see whether or not the flight will leave. I'm missing out on an afternoon of frolicking in Frankfurt (the Palmengarten was on my list and got scratched out again). I might just be there in time to meet my brother.
Why am I getting all worked up over this? I have no idea. You should think I'd know better.
Oh. One more thing: the applications for the Tarom frequent flyer program which you cannot print out from the web but have to pick up at an office? They are all out. Not to be had. Why? Because.
Posted by claudia at March 5, 2004 09:04 AMUnfortunately this is very sad and very Romania-like; despite what my co-national said, I agree that it's impossible to keep a favourable impression on us - because ultimately that's what Romania is in fact, US - when there is so much shit (yes, SHIT!!!) going on.
Posted by: Tina at March 5, 2004 11:41 AMProblems with airlines customer services are everywhere, not only in Romania. I have dozens of stories to share, but this is not the point, unfortunately you happened to face one of the problems with a Romanian flavour. Strong one. Tarom's rates are still cheap due to State subsidies and hence making them an attractive deal, but they still live out of the communist corporate culture inertia.
As cynically as it sounds I will have to agree with Radu Georgescu (you may have heard about a Romanian software company being sold to Microsoft last year -- he is the CEO) that we'll have to wait until some old folks will get old and die. Sadly enough I doubt anything will be changed in the near future.
Yesterday, March 4th 2004, a Tarom airplane had a small accident on Heathrow airport, while trying to park (stop). It did hit a boarding gate. Most probably this was the cause of the delay today, but they have no excuse for trating like this the customers. I hope somebody from Tarom will see your post and solve the problem. Tarom has very good pilots. Many people told me that. I know some people who spend more time on the airplane than on the ground and they trust Tarom. They fly Tarom every time they come or leave Bucharest.
"AEROPORTUL HEATHROW
Un avion Tarom a lovit poarta de îmbarcare
Un avion de tip Boeing 737 al companiei Tarom, care efectua cursa regulată Bucureşti- Londra şi retur a fost avariat pe aeroportul Heathrow, după ce a atins poarta de îmbarcare. Incidentul s-a produs în momentul în care aeronava se pregătea să parcheze la terminalul de debarcare a pasagerilor.Nici o persoană din cei 69 de pasageri ai aeronavei Tarom nu a fost rănită în urma acestui incident. Aparatul urmează să fie verificat din punct de vedere tehnic înaintea efectuării unui nou zbor, în conformitate cu procedurile în vigoare. Pasagerii care urmau să călătorească cu acest avion spre Bucureşti au fost preluaţi de o altă aeronavă Tarom, care efectua cursa Bruxelles - Bucureşti, după ce zborul a fost dirijat spre Londra. Incidentul este în curs de investigare.
http://www.realitatea.tv/stiri/index.php?baza=461999
"
AND... in Bucharest is snowing .. it is a Christmas atmosphere :)
Have a nice day!
A&M
Hi everyone,
I did make it to Germany, so there's that. It turns out that TAROM did the economically sensible thing and combined two half empty flights -- the ones to Frankfurt and Brussels. Never mind people with agendas. Never mind people with schedules. I shudder to think of those with connecting flights.
Oh, and most of those I spoke with on the plane had been called the evening before. I guess I just lucked out on that one.
As Dragos said, it's international travel. One day I'll tell you the story of the imaginary flights in Indonesia. ;-)
And it's snowing in Germany, too. Blah.
Claudia
Posted by: Claudia at March 6, 2004 10:17 AM