They say that all superheroes have a superpower, a special ability that allows them to accomplish feats that no mere mortal could ever have the hope of achieving.
This week on Travel Agent to the Rescue we meet a Mobile Travel Agent from MTA Travel whose superpower is sheer tenacity.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, tenacity is defined as thus:
tenacity (noun) – The quality or fact of being very determined; determination: you have to admire the tenacity of these two guys.
But if it were up to us, we’d scrap that definition and just insert this picture of Julia Campbell.
As this rescue story demonstrates, Julia from MTA Travel demonstrates this special quality par excellance.
Are you ready to learn what real tenacity is?
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A few years ago, I had a client travelling to the United States on a business trip. He was flying to Austin, Texas with Qantas and American Airlines from Sydney, so he had a change of planes after clearing immigration in Los Angeles.
Upon arrival at his hotel in Austin, he realized that he no longer had his passport with him. The passport was in his suit-jacket pocket, which he had left on the plane as the flight attendant had stored it for him and he did not retrieve it at the end of the flight.
I received a call from my very worried client in which he told me what had happened. I advised him not to worry and that I would look into tracking down his passport and organise alternative options for him.
I immediately started my investigation. After calling the Australian Consulate, I was advised that if I was unable to locate the missing passport, my client would be able to visit the Australian Consulate in Los Angeles to have a temporary passport issued for him, which would allow him to leave the States and return home. Although this was not the ideal solution, at least we now had a backup plan.
Whilst keeping my client updated every step of the way, I continued making calls to American Airlines and both the Los Angeles and Austin airports’ lost and found departments over the next few days.
Three days after my search began, SUCCESS!
An American Airlines employee called me to advise that they had located the suit-jacket and hence the passport on the same aircraft that my client had travelled on from Los Angeles to Austin. I was then advised that American Airlines would personally deliver the jacket and passport to my client at his hotel in Austin.
I was ecstatic that my tenacity had resulted in the best possible outcome and that my industry colleagues at American Airlines were so willing to go the extra mile for me.
My client was extremely relieved to have his passport back which enabled to him to complete the remainder of his business trip without incident.
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Awesome work Julia!
Your tenacity saved the day for your client, and for that you should be super proud of yourself!
Check out some of our other Travel Agent to the Rescue stories, here, here and here.