A four-member group had to cancel their trip to Malaysia and Singapore as a Delhi-based travel agent failed to procure their Visas after promising to do the same.
They had shelled out Rs.1.68 lakh for the hotel bookings and sight-seeing well in advance of the six-day tour.
Six days before the actual tour, the travel operator sent details of the confirmation of hotel bookings and the sight-seeing at both Malaysia and Singapore.
He also stated that the Visa for both Malaysia and Singapore was under process.
The two couples were dreaming of enjoying their holiday and making all the preparations. They came to know at the eleventh hour that their Visas were not processed and there was nothing they could do except cancelling their trip.
They called the travel operator and pulled him up for his failure.
The operator tried to act smart and attributed the non-processing of Visas as the original passports were not sent to him. Later, after repeated calls, he agreed to postpone the hotel bookings to another date.
Those planning a holiday should check the credibility of the travel operator before hand. It’s better to book through a local operator or from one who has a local office in the city. One can at least visit the local office and take the operator to task, if there was any deficiency on his part.
The inter-city Janmabhoomi Express, which was originally introduced between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, was later extended to Tenali and finally to Secunderabad. The 24-coach train is overcrowded all through the year and passengers travelling short distances, say from Vizag to Vijayawada, complain they are unable to get a seat.
“The objective of an inter-city express is that passengers should be able to get a seat at least in the ‘unreserved compartments’ even if they check-in at the eleventh hour.
Last week, when I went to Eluru to attend some urgent work there and there was hardly any space to stand, leave alone sit in the ‘general coach’,” said a passenger from Gopalapatnam.
Further, as the train does not have berths, passengers travelling all the way from Vizag to Secunderabad have to sit all through the journey.
(Reporting by B. Madhu Gopal)
