Spring Break
The Daily OrangeThe answer to all travel problems: prank phone calls
By Seamus O'Connor
Posted: 10/10/06, 11:57 PM EST Section: Feature
STA: Uh, yeah, no, I don't know that movie?
SO: It's based on the H.G. Wells book.
STA: Oh, H.G. Wells. Sorry, really early in the morning for me.
SO: Ah.
On my next try, I got Mike (not his real name. His real name is Matt.). Mike, like his Italian coworker, was absolutely dead-set against booking me a vacation. I guess STA stands for "Stop Traveling, A-hole."
SO: Hello! I have a great idea for a travel tour and I would like to be your first customer.
You fly people out to the Great Barrier Reef and give them a guided snorkeling tour. Then they have to find the stingray that killed Steve Irwin. If they bring it back dead or alive, they get the whole trip for free.
STA: (Long pause) Great.
SO: Well can you do it?
STA: Nope. Is there a point to this?
SO: Yes, I want a flight! Can you help me book the snorkeling trip?
STA: Those are individually based. You could book those online.
SO: But no dice on the stingray thing, huh?
STA: Is that supposed to be a joke? It's kind of a bad-humor joke.
Bad humor? More like billion-dollar idea that you just passed up on, Matt. I mean Mike.
The moral is, I'm never using STA Travel again and neither should you. Thanks to their terrible customer service, I have no flight to Chicago and Steve Irwin's killer is still at large.
Seamus O'Connor is the author of "'Everyone is Special' and Other Dangerous Childhood Myths." Email him at sroconno@syr.edu.
SO: It's based on the H.G. Wells book.
STA: Oh, H.G. Wells. Sorry, really early in the morning for me.
SO: Ah.
On my next try, I got Mike (not his real name. His real name is Matt.). Mike, like his Italian coworker, was absolutely dead-set against booking me a vacation. I guess STA stands for "Stop Traveling, A-hole."
SO: Hello! I have a great idea for a travel tour and I would like to be your first customer.
You fly people out to the Great Barrier Reef and give them a guided snorkeling tour. Then they have to find the stingray that killed Steve Irwin. If they bring it back dead or alive, they get the whole trip for free.
STA: (Long pause) Great.
SO: Well can you do it?
STA: Nope. Is there a point to this?
SO: Yes, I want a flight! Can you help me book the snorkeling trip?
STA: Those are individually based. You could book those online.
SO: But no dice on the stingray thing, huh?
STA: Is that supposed to be a joke? It's kind of a bad-humor joke.
Bad humor? More like billion-dollar idea that you just passed up on, Matt. I mean Mike.
The moral is, I'm never using STA Travel again and neither should you. Thanks to their terrible customer service, I have no flight to Chicago and Steve Irwin's killer is still at large.
Seamus O'Connor is the author of "'Everyone is Special' and Other Dangerous Childhood Myths." Email him at sroconno@syr.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
Christi
posted 10/12/06 @ 1:34 PM EST
Hey Seamus,
Sorry you had a dissapointing experience, at least you had some fun with it. We hope you enjoy your free ticket to Chicago courtesy of STA Travel. (Continued…)
Christi
posted 10/13/06 @ 3:46 PM EST
Hey Seamus,
Sorry you had a dissapointing experience, at least you had some fun with it. We hope you enjoy your free ticket to Chicago courtesy of STA Travel. (Continued…)
caracarp
cara
posted 10/13/06 @ 3:58 PM EST
I feel your pain. I had the same experience with sta - tried to book online, always get errors, and when I called I got brushed off by multiple agents. (Continued…)
Manee
posted 12/20/07 @ 11:00 AM EST
I had some experience with STA tooo.
I booked the flight online and I called one of their staff .... Believe it or not .... they asked more money for fixing the problem . (Continued…)
Anya
posted 12/31/07 @ 2:49 PM EST
My husband is from tajikistan and the only way he knows to fly there and back is to book a flight to Moscow, and when you're there book a flight to Dushanbe, TJ. (Continued…)
Amelia Bryan
posted 8/03/09 @ 12:04 AM EST
Hi my experience with sta travel has been infuriating and expensive. i bought a 3060 dollar ticket to Mexico planning to return back to australia in July. (Continued…)
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