Can you please give me an example of being waitlisted in a travel agency situation.?

Question

Im stuck on a question in my assignment

Answer 1

Waitlisting is a term used by airlines or hotels or other transportation companies or their travel agents to denote they cannot guarantee your carriage or accommodation on any particular flight or day. The same holds true also for hotel reservations.

Waitlisting is common on high demand airline sectors or routes. In such cases, the airline will usually accept all bookings for a particular flight till their seat capacity is full. In addition, they will book a few more passengers as "buffers". Which means, if a confirmed passenger does not report for the flight ( called 'No Show' in airline parlance) the seat will be passed on to a waitlisted passenger.

The lucky passenger will be the one on top of the waiting list. Airlines resort to this practice to maximize their passenger loads on high-demand flights and ensure that all seats are occupied on that flight.

A waiting list can also be applied to any particular section of the Economy class in a flight, where the fares are lower than regular. If you wish to avail of the cheapest ticket on that route, the travel agent or airline can waitlist you till a slot in that section is available. There is no difference in service in such sub-classes of the Economy class and you'll enjoy the same privileges as a full fare paying passenger.

Hotels waitlist guests usually during the peak tourism season, when rooms are few and demand high. Such hotels take reservations for rooms which have to be guaranteed by an initial payment, usually on a credit card. If the confirmed guest doesnt show up, the waitlisted guest gets the room. In such a case, the guest who was confirmed, loses the initial deposit.

In case the hotel cannot provide accommodation to the waitlisted guest, they'll either offer an alternative hotel or dates of stay. If the guest declines these options, the initial deposit is returned in full, without any deductions.

Answer 2

To the first answer, i would add that being on the waiting list means that you can't get confirmed for whatever you want to book because either plane, accomodation,show, etc... is already fully booked. You'll have to wait for an opening or some cancellation for you to get the dates & places you really want. It also means that if you don't get on a specific flight or don't get your deluxe hotel room they can waitlist you on another flight or in another category (sometimes lower, rarely higher)without any guarantee for the customer, without having to pay some kind of compensation and, especially, without having to deal with any complaints on the customer's part.

It's an "official" way to cover their back in case what you really want is not available anymore.

One thing you can do is remain positive and hope your stand-by situation turns into a confirmation before you start your journey.

Have a nice day!

Hope this added info helps.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

It means they there are no availability for your request but, if someone cancels, you can have that spot. Depending on how long the wait list and where you are on it.

Answer 4

The travel agency cannot give you a confirmation

   - on a flight that you wanted

   - on a hotel accomodation for the dates requested.

   Have a nice day !