OVERBOOKED !
From the reports given by senior passengers when they arrived at the "Village" at Tofamamao in Apia early this morning, it would seem that the flight from Nadi last night was overbooked by up to 19 seats. Apparently this is common practise on code-share services. The policy is used to cover the eventuality of the code-share partner not filling all its quota of seats.
CONSEQUENCES !
The consequence is that the Kiribati team still has four members stuck in Fiji. Ticketing was not to blame, but the puzzle is to know what criteria were used to decide who should fly and who should stay ? It should never be on a "first come, first served" basis when a huge international flight is concerned. There should also be a passenger list plus maybe a list of those "wait-listed". This did not seem to be the case at Nadi last night.
MISSED COMPETITION.
Apart from any other consideration, for two of our athletes who are in the Oceania Grand Prix, Beteru and Tanroo, they cannot take part in the third Grand Prix meeting, due to be held in Apia this evening.
The latest information suggests that the missing people will arrive early tomorrow morning.
GOOD FROM EVIL.
Not all the effects are bad. With a view to the Pacific Games in Samoa next August, this is useful experience and we need to plan to try to avoid the pitfalls and obstacles. On arrival, there are expectations from the organisers that a "Room for four" which has two double beds will create no problems. But in some cultures this in fact IS a problem. We hope that eventually we will have a team (of 15 !) together in Samoa !
Last Modified on 13/12/2006 07:59