The following are actual stories told by travel agents (and you wonder why
US citizens generally score less than the rest of the world on geography)...
I had someone who wanted to stay at the Bob Newhart Inn in Connecticut.
When I explained that the inn was fictional, the customer became very irate
and insisted, "I know it is real, I see people check in every week!
Also, I really did have someone ask for an aisle seat so that their hair
wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all
the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then
take the train to Hawaii?
I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain
the length of the flight and the passport information when she interrupted
me with, "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in
Massachusetts." Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly
explained, "Capecod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa." Her
response....click.
A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked, "What was
wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said, "He was expecting an
ocean-view room." I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando
is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the
map and Florida is a very thin state."
I got a call from a man who asked, "Is it possible to see England from
Canada?" I said, "No." He said "But they look so close on the map.
A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her
flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried
to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not
understand the concept of time zones. Finally I told her the plane went
very fast, and she bought that!
A woman called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your
bag so they know who's luggage belongs to who? I said, "No, why do you
ask?" She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a
tag on my luggage that said FAT, and I'm overweight. Is there any
connection?" After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it,
(I was actually laughing), I came back and explained the city code for
Fresno is FAT, and that the airline was just putting a destination tag on
her luggage.
A woman called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-cola on one of those
computer planes." I asked if she meant to fly to Pensacola on a commuter
plane. She said,"Yea, whatever."
A woman called to make reservations,"I want to go from Chicago to
Hippopotamus, New York" The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the
agent: "Are you sure that's the name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do
you have?" replied the customer. After some searching, the agent came back
with,"I'm sorry, ma'am. I've looked up every airport code in the country
and can't find a Hippopotamus anywhere." The customer retorted,"Oh don't
be silly. Everyone knows where it is. Check your map! The agent scoured a
map of the state of New York and finally offered, "You don't mean Buffalo,
do you?" "That's it! I knew it was a big animal!"