Saturday, November 25, 2006

The Incompetence of Man

transnational flights... soaring at about 300,000feet and 600kmph (i think) is the ultimate dread for altophobic people. im a little altophobic myself, but thats not the main reason i hate flying.

what absolutely ticks me off, is the admin one has to go through in order to board a flight. lets have a quick view of what a century of flight civilization has brought us..

First, there is the booking of the flight. this can be done in various ways... you can step into their office, take a number and wait in line till they call your number... or you can do it by phone where they can put you up on hold for up to 4 hours while playing the same, pre-recorded advertising tune over the phone for that whole duration. its so absurd it feels like brainwashing. no really, believe me ive tried. or you can call a friend, or some relatives who work in the airline company and they can do the aforementioned ways of booking, leaving you clear of all the hassles and wait times.

I am fortunate enough to have a relative who works in this line, therefore the 3rd tactic was the one i employed.

Second, there is the reconfirmation of the flight booking you just made. again there are several ways to do it, which is quite similar to the first step (step in, or via the phone). they put me on hold for nearly an hour, therefore, Rick and i stepped down to Colling St in Melbourne to do what the second step of this whole phase requires us to do. Rick got off without a hitch but me on the other hand, ran into some troubles. troubles that can be fixed at the drop of a hat if the world runs in the way I would run it.

to confirm a flight, you actually need a physical plane ticket. i didnt have one, but what i have with me, is my booking number. so i went ahead and told the receptionist my booking number, he punched it into his computer with 2 fore-fingers and told me my name.. i didnt even tell him my name and yet he knows my name!! is he a genius? can he read my mind or is he some psychic?

no.

its because my flight details are in that screen hes looking at. so my flight, is in their network database. all they had to do, is key in a 6 digit key, and its up even before you can say "microsoft".

so thats it, all i had to do, really, is tell them my number and they have my details. and i can prove that I, am Me via my passport, ID Card and other cards bearing my name and my lovely photo. right?

wrong.

I just came back from the airport. i was denied my flight because my "ticket" has been "tampered with". heck i even had the receipt that bears MY name saying I have PAID for the goddamn sodding ticket. yet, i was denied.

they told me i had to go down to the city, lovely Collin St, to "reconfirm" my flight. and maybe rearrange another flight. i cant do it today because its saturday, and definately not sunday because even the almighty god sleeps that day. thats right you criminals out there, you can go kill someone on sundays, because the cops and judges are offwork. you can do my a favour by stabbing god too when hes sleeping. make sure hes dead k thx.

this is the part where i really dont get.

humans have went to space, even lived there. cloned humans and other sodding animals. built cities and wired every single one of them with electricity, and an infrastructure so sophisticated even most adults wont get it even if you tried to teach them. the internet, global networks where a single piece of information can be fished out from an ocean of data in a matter of seconds, these are only a few of countless technological milestones the human race has achieved.

but yet, they denied me my flight because my ticket has been "tampered" with.

it wasnt even my fault the ticket was not in the way THEY wanted it. id bet you my soul, no wait thats worthless aye? since it doesnt exist in the first place, i bet you 20$! that during my flight from home to Melbourne, some idiot jackass flight checkpoint attendant mustve ripped more than what he/she shouldve ripped, and took out the "return" part of my ticket..

but thats no biggie, my flight details is IN THE FUCKING GODDAMN SYSTEM. check it! i told them, and check it they did. and YES! ITS THERE! but no.... cant get in without a physical ticket.

here, is where man fail as a species.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

roy! i'm going to kl with my friends! 8th-11th. come online!

2:34 AM  

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