By Anne Southern

“Did you enjoy your holiday?”

“Yes, but getting back was a nightmare.”

HOW many times have you heard this recently? I’ve said it twice in the last two months, and my stories are always capped by someone who has had an even worse time than me. Cancelled boats and planes are now part of the common travel experience. Is it nature’s way of telling us to stay at home? I fear the need to visit friends and loved ones, not to mention seeing a bit more of the world, will keep us attempting to get off the rock for a bit longer. But for many older people the stress is compounded by technology having overtaken human contact in the process.

After an early departure from the beautiful island of Ischia recently, involving a delightful ferry trip to Naples for our flight, with helpful human beings facilitating every stage of our journey, we came back to earth with a bump when collecting our bags in a chilly Gatwick Airport. My phone pinged with the dreaded email – flight to Jersey cancelled.

My first thought was of a help desk where our options could be explained, but no, “conveniently” it was all on the Easyjet app. We could transfer to a suitable BA flight. So far so good. We dragged ourselves over to the South Terminal where we tried to get our boarding passes from a machine – only to learn that this flight too was cancelled.

We eventually found a help desk with decidedly unhelpful staff – they were just the agents – all the BA staff were at Heathrow. I did manage to find a kind woman who told us to wait while she sorted out accommodation for us. Meanwhile, I received a text from BA to say we were travelling to Jersey in two days’ time – with no further details – or if there were, I lost them. Panic. We needed to be back by the next day.

Back to the easyJet app, and with shaky fingers and the worry of my phone battery running out, I managed to book flights for the next morning, the only mishap being that I inadvertently left my husband off the booking. I did another booking for him, inadvertently adding an extra bag. But we did get home, where I was rather patronisingly told that I had done well.

Then came the really hard bit – making a claim. Having answered a robot’s questions, I eventually got through to a human being at BA, who said that yes, I was entitled to a refund for the unused tickets but as easyJet was the agent, they would have to claim it.

Unfortunately I have so far found it impossible to speak to a human being at easyJet. After half an hour I got through to a “live” chat, though “live” is not something I would apply to the person responding. I clearly explained my problem, and it took a further half an hour before he actually understood what I wanted, each text exchange taking a full five minutes. “So this is what you want?” “Yes.” “We won’t do that.” I typed something that expressed my frustration – not obscene I hope.

As I’ve said before, technology is great when it works. I suppose getting a phone notification of a cancellation and being able to book tickets on an app saved a lot of legwork and queuing – but in an unusual situation, caught between two airlines, you really need a sympathetic human being to help. And I know many intelligent people of my age who just can’t use apps and haven’t even got smart phones or email. Can they travel at all?

We really need to be able to go to a real person to help – much like at the automated bag drop, which I used to hate till I realised how they speeded up the queues and where there are helpful people around to guide the confused or deal with problems.

It’s mainly an ageist issue. When trying to claim from my travel insurance for extra expenses getting back from Guernsey when the ferry was cancelled (a stressful end to an otherwise restful short break) I had to email four bits of information, three in the form of emails and one on paper. I eventually, by a no doubt complicated route, managed to save three of them, but the last one wouldn’t play ball, and everything, including the email from the insurance company just disappeared. I had to start all over again – thankfully successfully this time. Younger people may know how to get things back, but for all I know important stuff representing hours of work can just vanish.

People of my age grew up in an analogue world, and transferring to a digital world is often stressful. We prefer to deal with human beings, so companies, especially easyJet, take note – if you want the grey pound, this option should always be available.

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