A reader writes that friends flying to New Plymouth boarded an Air NZ plane only to discover someone sitting in their allotted seats. On checking their tickets they discovered they were on the wrong flight and were heading to Blenheim. They hurriedly left that planeand reached the correct flight in time for departure. "That left us laughing until this morning when news reached us of two intelligent young people boarding a plane in Christchurch bound for Wellington. They too discovered someone else in their seats and when checking their tickets found they were on a flight to Invercargill. They also hurriedly left that flight and reached the plane for Wellington in time for departure. They then discovered the man in the seat alongside them thought he was off to Invercargill ... " Hmmm. Is anyone - including the airline - checking the tickets?
Could be worse!
Mind you, the situation for the people above could have been worse. nzherald.co.nz this week published a Daily Mail report: "Under-fire United Airlines was forced to admit a 'horrible failure' in which a woman was allowed to get on the wrong flight in a 28-hour 5000km wrong-way ordeal. Lucie Bahetoukilae, who speaks no English, thought she was getting on a flight to Paris from Newark. She was horrified when she ended up in San Francisco. She reportedly even showed her boarding pass to a crew member after finding someone in the seat she thought was hers. Instead of spotting the error and helping Bahetoukilae find the correct aircraft, the crew member directed her to another seat. She was unaware United had changed the gate number, and she said no announcements were made in French, and she was not emailed, ABC reported. The airline has now settled a confidential lawsuit."
On a trip to Mumbai, Peter Voss was fascinated by the requirement for joggers and walkers in a local park. Photo / Peter Voss
Another from the folder of "memorable" news articles: a Sideswipe reader sent this cracker from a Bay Chronicle police report of a few years back. "Police were called to a takeaway outlet in Kerikeri after a customer refused to pay for a hamburger, complaining there wasn't enough meat in it. The hamburger was thrown at the wall. No charges were laid."
