Monday morning
I came out of arrivals at Istanbul at about 7am and went straight up to departures where I was met with some good news. Two flights to Milan were scheduled to depart!
Maybe I could save two days of train travel by flying to Italy? Plan F!
"Fully booked" said the ticket sales man from Turkish Airlines.
“Everything is fully booked. The volcano.”
“What about the 1630 flight to Rome?” I asked, moving onto Plan G.
“One ticket left. €250” I was told.
It was more than I wanted to pay ideally, but if I could save days then I would save money. As I was about to say “OK” there was a shout from the man in the queue behind me.
“€350” he yelped. “I’ll pay €350 for the flight to Rome.”
I turned back to the ticket sales fellow and said I would go ahead with the purchase. He tapped his computer and guess what?
Computer said “No”.
“There are 5 ticket desks in the airport. It must have been sold at another ticket desk”. He said keeping a poker face.
“Not to worry” I said as I worried that perhaps I was not cut out for this e-bay approach to international aviation. I walked away. I did not look back to see him sell the ticket to the guy behind me and pocket the difference. I wanted to be able to think that he didn’t.
I came out of arrivals at Istanbul at about 7am and went straight up to departures where I was met with some good news. Two flights to Milan were scheduled to depart!
Maybe I could save two days of train travel by flying to Italy? Plan F!
"Fully booked" said the ticket sales man from Turkish Airlines.
“Everything is fully booked. The volcano.”
“What about the 1630 flight to Rome?” I asked, moving onto Plan G.
“One ticket left. €250” I was told.
It was more than I wanted to pay ideally, but if I could save days then I would save money. As I was about to say “OK” there was a shout from the man in the queue behind me.
“€350” he yelped. “I’ll pay €350 for the flight to Rome.”
I turned back to the ticket sales fellow and said I would go ahead with the purchase. He tapped his computer and guess what?
Computer said “No”.
“There are 5 ticket desks in the airport. It must have been sold at another ticket desk”. He said keeping a poker face.
“Not to worry” I said as I worried that perhaps I was not cut out for this e-bay approach to international aviation. I walked away. I did not look back to see him sell the ticket to the guy behind me and pocket the difference. I wanted to be able to think that he didn’t.
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