Originally Posted by
WHBM
The Sydney blunder has happened several times, particularly since the arrival of self-booking on the web.
Part of the problem is that, in the list of destination cities, there is usually no mention of country, while US-based websites tend to show the abbreviation for state, province, etc. Sydney Nova Scotia is shown as Sydney NS, and Sydney New South Wales is shown as Sydney NSW. See the scope for error when they are next to each other ?
It's not helped by Air Canada serving both, and by websites selecting nowadays from a vast array of carriers. The couple from the UK who booked from London (another city name where Air Canada serve two, and must get mistakes as well) to Sydney, and actually arrived in Sydney NS before discovering their problem were asked if they didn't think Air Canada was an unusual airline for a trip to Australia ? "Last time we went with Korean Air, as they were cheapest, through Seoul, that was even stranger" was their reply.
I saw this (sort of) first hand two weeks ago...
An older couple (in their mid 60s) walked up to my counter saying they had a flight departing at 11:50AM (we only have flights at 11:00 + 12:00 to YVR and 11:35 to YYC). I couldn't find them on any of those flights, so I asked to see their paperwork. The first thing I see is that they were supposed to depart Sydney, NS (YQY), on the other side of Canada! The couple were staying in Sidney, BC (a smallish town where Victoria's airport (YYJ) is actually located), but they didn't know that you normally book out of Victoria.
I ended up rebooking them without penalty, but they did have to spend the night in ORD to get to their final destination (in the US).