Personal

Never, ever, fly with VolareWeb

Egil Hogholt — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:35:00 GMT

I do not expect a great in flight service by a low cost company like www.VolareWeb.it but I do expect them to fly...

I flew with VolareWeb for my first time this summer when I booked a return flight from Milan to Athens for my summer vacation. They called me on my mobile phone two days before I was supposed to leave to tell me that my outgoing flight was cancelled. I didn't make a lot of fuss when they booked me on a flight the next day as I did not have any reservations in Greece and more than enough to do at work.

After a couple of weeks of some fantastic island hopping it was time to head back. At my last day of vacation, on my way out for dinner, I checked my mail just to prepare for my return back to reality. That "saved my life". I found a mail from VolareWeb that my booking had been updated and told me to call a free number in Italy, that cannot be called from abroad... But all my mails is on Google Apps so it didn't take me long to find the original reservation and a international phone number.

I called VolareWeb just before they closed in the evening. This is an shortened and edited transcript:
Me: I am calling from Athens. I have a flight home to Milan tomorrow morning. My reservation number is xyz.
VolareWeb: Yes. It has been cancelled. You have been booked on a flight in a few days.
Me: Sorry, but I have to be back in Milan tomorrow for several reasons.
1) I have my parents coming tomorrow afternoon to Milan and I have to be there to pick them up.
2) My brother in law just left on vacation so someone has to take care of our animals.
VolareWeb: That is not may fault. Your flight has been cancelled
Me: As I explained, I have to be back some time tomorrow. Can you book me on another flight?
VolareWeb: no.
Me: Will you cover the costs if I book another flight
VolareWeb: no
Me: Will you at last cover my extra expenses (rental car for an additional day, hotel for me, hotel for my parents, etc.)
VolareWeb: no
Me: So…. What can I do
VolareWeb: Nothing. The flight has been cancelled

End of story. A 30 min phone call with Volarweb (with outrageous roaming charges) which refused to cover any costs at all. Serious companies cover meals, hotel etc while you wait for the next flight.

The story had a happy ending though. We had already paid cash for the hotel room (to save time the next morning), but we jumped in the rental car in hunt for a travel agency and a flight home. We found our saving angel in Elena at erasinos Travel & Tours. She found a flight the next morning with Olympic Airlines and reserved it for us at no cost. The online booking system was unable to confirm our flight as it was late at night so she adviced us to drive to Athens airport to by the ticket at the Olympic Airlines counter. A couple of hours later we were back at the hotel with two very hungry and tired kids, but thanks to Elena we had tickets to go back home!

I thought the saga was over when I came home, but no. What really convinced me that VolareWeb is incompetent is the message I found on my answering machine. The day before I should have left I got this message at home: Hi. Your return flight from Athens to Milan has been cancelled. We have booked you on another flight.
Eh? I am in Athens waiting for my return flight to Milan, why are you calling me in at home? You have my mobile number, in fact you have called it before, and now you call me at my home number to tell me that my return flight is cancelled???

VolareWeb, it is official; I will never, ever, fly with you again. Leaving people on the ground without providing alternatives, helping out in any way, or covering any costs at all is bad, very bad...

NEVER underestimate the power of female intuition!

Egil Hogholt — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:05:00 GMT

I have had a countdown status message in my office mail this week:

A female colleague a few thousand km away noticed and could not resist (keep in mind that I have never met her):

...
SuperWoman: BTW, what are you celebrating in 2 days ;)
if i may ask

me: Guess

SuperWoman: wedding aniversary

me: correct !!!!

SuperWoman: congratulations ;)

me: The 10 years have gone very fast. Time flies when you have kids...

SuperWoman: next question...

how many ;)

sorry, I'm curious!

me: Since you are so incredibly good at guessing; lets see if you can guess the number of kids and age

SuperWoman: I'd say 2 kids, aged between 9 and 6??

me: I do NOT believe it.
My oldest daughter is 9
the youngest in 6

Are all women like this or am I that easy to read?

More importantly; what should I do with the aniversary gift? I am sure my wife knows what it is already...

The Tipping Point & Napoli?

Egil Hogholt — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:50:00 GMT

I haven't finished reading The Tipping Point yet but it has been a fascinating read so far. The part concerning crime on the New York underground is food for thought:

Back in the day, New York hired a new subway director named David Gunn who backed the Broken Windows way. "When you looked at the process of rebuilding the organization and morale, you had to win the battle against graffiti," Gunn said in an interview. "Without winning that battle, all the management reforms and physical changes just weren't going to happen." By preventing graffiti and cleaning subway cars after vandals struck, Gunn believed the city could also lessen subway muggings and undermine fare cheats. Transit Authority police chief William Bratton adopted a similar line of thinking. Rather than nailing felons first, Bratton urged coppers to pound fare cheats and public urinators. Such scoundrels were used to running amok underground. Under Bratton, however, they faced an arrest and jail time for minor crimes - a policy which often resulted in the cops finding guns on the criminals and nailing those with outstanding warrants.

I don't know if it really lowered the crime rates in New York but it certainly feels right. I also explains why people drop trash everywhere in Italy but hesitate before throwing a chewing gum on the road once they have crossed the border to Switzerland.

I wonder if the principle could be applied to Napoli. Instead of trying to beat crime “top down” by going after the mafia, why not start with the day to day stuff that makes people comfortable with breaking the law: many people driving on the same scooter without helmet, driving without seat belt and generally breaking every law there is…

It just gets worse every day. The news today reported that doctors in Napoli have introduced a sign saying; pay 1 euro at the door. These are doctors that are paid by the public health system so the service is free (at least in the civilised parts of the country). 1 euro doesn't sound like much but the each doctor pull in tens of thousands of euros tax free a year and it hurts everyone, in particular the poor, old and sick.

My first (and last?) trip with EasyJet

Egil Hogholt — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:38:00 GMT

I am going to London for a week and decided to fly EasyJet. I have used RyanAir several times in the past and I have been very satisfied with them. Cheap tickets and flights that leave and arrive on time.

I have, eh... had, to arrive "early" this morning so I opted to take EasyJet as they have early flights from Malpensa. I decided to pay a bit extra for the Speedy Boarding Service which according to the web site has a dedicated check-in so I could arrive at the airport a bit later. That turned out to be false. As the picture shows I was stuck for 20 minutes in the Slow Boarding Service with everybody else. What a waste of money and time.

Not that it made any difference as my 7:30 flight is (at least) 3 1/2 hours delayed.

Looks like it will be a loooong week.

Bill says goodbye with style

Egil Hogholt — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:18:00 GMT

What can I say. Bill's goodbye note is better than mine.

My sabbatical

Egil Hogholt — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:16:00 GMT

My one month sabbatical has gone fast, too fast. I was expecting to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, but I have hardly written a mail. That caught me by surprise. I have a lot of cool hobby projects going and the sabbatical would have been the perfect time to work on them.

Instead I have spent as much time as possible with my family doing the things I usually do not have time for. This week has been especially good for recharging the batteries as the kids are still home from school and it is snowing :-)

I start my new job next week but it will take a week or two before I am back to my normal blogging and development schedule. I guess this blog will be less Microsoft centric but I will continue to develop for the Pocket PC on my spare time.

Scroogled: what if Google was evil

Egil Hogholt — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:05:00 GMT

I really enjoy the writings of Cory Doctorow and I own several autographed books. Scroogled: what if Google was evil is a short story that I found particularly fascinating as I am going to work for Scroogled soon...

How to say this?

Egil Hogholt — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:38:00 GMT

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

It has been an incredible adventure and a great experience…

Hm…
There is no easy or soft way to say this, so let me make a long story short. After almost 12 years working for ~~Iris Technologies~~, ~~IrisCube~~, ~~IrisCube Reply~~, Sytel Reply I am leaving the company to learn something new.

I cannot wait to get started in my new job as I have a lot to learn at 10¹⁰⁰

To my colleagues that read this:

I have one wish for a personal goodbye gift from you. I would really love it if you can send me your Outlook Contact card with your picture/avatar and whatever other info you want to share like phone number, messenger alias, web site etc.

I will continue to work in the Milano area so I am sure we will meet again soon. Please drop by my office for a chat and coffee before my last day at work 6/12.

I will miss you all…

Notte di fiaba - Riva del Garda 23/8-26/8

Egil Hogholt — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:36:00 GMT

Notte di Fiaba takes place in Riva del Garda 23/8-26/8. This years theme is "Pippi Calzelunghe". I cannot attend as I will be working this weekend so please let me know what you think of it if you go.

This picture is from 2005 when the theme was “The wizard of Oz“:

It starts today and continues until Sunday. You can find the program here.

Leatherman Squirt S4

Egil Hogholt — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:26:00 GMT

I just got this in the mail:

Cool Or What? It is the tiny Leatherman Squirt S4. Tiny, but “great” when you unfold it:

The Squirt S4 is tiny but it has a lot of useful features that I have missed in the past. In particular:

Scissors
Straight Knife
Tweezers
Extra-small and medium Screwdriver
Small flat Phillips Screwdriver

My only worry is that I will forget to remove it the next time I go by plane…

I chose the S4 as it has scissors but Leatherman offers two similar models that may suit you better depending on your needs:

Squirt E4 with wire strippers
Squirt P4 with pliers

P.S. Reminder to myself:

Egil, you have to learn from your lessons and stop buying stuff from the USA. The price is great with the current Euro-USD exchange rate but you pay, and you pay, and you pay again. This time you had to pay 5 euro in VAT, plus another 3.50 euro in postal and another 3 in custom expenses, basically doubling the cost. Very, very bad for the WAF.