Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Problem
What are ETA ETD and ON?
Answers
ETA - estimated time of arrival
ETD - estimated time of departure
ON - overnight
(More codes on airport names later in this article. Read on.)
Stories
We looked at our date of departure from London, Heathrow and told our friends in Singapore when to expect us for dinner.
We arrived in Singapore, slept all day and went to our friends in the evening. They were very surprised to see us. They had held a dinner party in our honour the previous day. We had lost a day travelling East.
Coming back west from Singapore to London we had the opposite situation. We set off at mid-day and arrived 13 hours later. Yet it was still the same day.
Tips
1 DATE AND TIME
Moral. On long-haul flights, make sure you check both times and dates of departure and arrival. I missed a press trip to Italy to stay at the world famous Cipriani hotel. I noted a two day gap between a trip to the Isle of Man and my trip to Italy. My trip back from the Isle of Man was the Friday. Then it changed to Saturday. I assumed the flight departed for Italy on the Monday. It didn't. It went on Sunday. I found that out when I arrived at Heathrow on the Monday.
Offered to pay my own fare out to Italy to join the group a day late. The PR lady was furious. She would not allow me to join the group.
She was a judger, on the Myers Briggs personality type. On my next trip from the UK to the USA we had a different type of PR. She phoned everybody the day before to check we were all packed and ready with our passports.
She phoned us all in the morning to see we had got up and weren't caught in traffic. She met us half an hour early at the airport, checked us in, then took us for coffee to get to know her and everybody else on the group.
On a trip around the USA in a bus (coach) our group leader was well organised. She had a cool box with ice and iced water and cans of coffee and chocolate bars and frozen sandwiches and pieces of fruit. She was prepared in case the coach broke down, or the restaurant was shut, or our group included a vegetarian.
When I praised and complimented her foresight at the end of the trip I expected her to say that she was just a born organiser. No. She had learned from experience. She later revealed that her previous trip had been a disaster.
People disappeared and got lost trying to shop for basic necessities. She had learned from the feedback what to do.
The Best Organiser
During the trip she carried sticking plasters and aspirins and paracetamol. She had fly killer, insect repellent and bite relief. She had the usual hotel kits of spare toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, tissues, toilet paper, comb, sticky tape to remove hairs or dandruff from clothes.
She had blank postcards and envelopes and stamps. That way we could write home about our safe arrival to the family and colleagues.
She has a couple of spare batteries. She even had some spare suitcase keys so we could lock our luggage or try to open it if we lost the keys.
She made sure we all had transport back to the airport, and we went back from different airports in different directions. She checked all our tickets for the date and time of departure. She confirmed with the hotel that those staying on after 11 am had a place for their luggage and a bedroom or pass to the gym's shower to freshen up.
She phoned us next day to see that we had reached home safely. She followed up with a reminder of all the places we had visited (which changed from our original it eery sent in advance).
2 DEPARTURE CITY
Also check the city and country of departure and arrival. I always say London, Heathrow, or London, England, because I know there is a London in Canada. There's also a Paris in France and a Paris in Texas. Americans know there's a Washington DC on the East coast and a Washington state on the West coast.
3 STOPS, Stopovers
Also check if your flight is direct and non-stop. If your country lists another in the Middle East or Asia as a no fly zone, where people carrying an American passport or other passport might not be welcome, you don't want the stress of finding you've arrived there on a stopover.
Also check whether you get off the plane at a stop. You might be hoping to get off and shop duty-free in Dubai, but find that people are allowed on but not off (because the time is short and the passengers already on board might not have visas and could get lost).
The opposite might occur. You might be hoping to sleep through. Then the plane arrives at mid-points. The lights go on and off and arrival forms are handed out. You have to upright your seat and open the shades. You have to get off the plane whilst the cleaners go through it. They remove your magazines and newspapers and pen in the pocket. You have to remove your luggage (eg at a border). You might leave your duty free wine and chocolates or your bag of sandwiches in the overhead locker and come back and find they've gone.
London Airport
Check arrival airport. London has London City Airport in the east and Heathrow airport to the west, Gatwick further South. Cheaper airlines also use Stansted and Luton. The time and money on the transfer need to be noted.
If your hotel arranges a transfer, is it free? Is it safer? Does it save you from lost or overcharging? Or is at a pretentious limo and twice the price of the bus?
UK Transfers
On one occasion we were met at Heathrow Airport returning from our honeymoon and were collected by a limousine. My father-in-law had ordered our return car. We assumed he had given it to us as a treat, or the car hire company had sent it as a gesture of goodwill.
We queried it. Was it for us? They assured us it was booked to collect us.
Then we got a huge bill. It turned out that the car hire company had asked if the booking person wanted a larger car, without revealing the considerably higher price. We had an alarmingly large bill and it took a lot of negotiating to get the company to waive the extra cost.
Car Hire Prices and Upgrades
On the plus side, on other occasions, I think in Malta, we have ordered a small car to save money. The hire car company has run out of the popular small size. They asked us if we would like to pay for an upgrade. We declined. We were very worried as it looked like they had a monopoly and the rival car hire company was shut. they said we would have to wait for a small car to be returned. Twenty minutes went by. I had a coffee and browsed the shops and tourist office to books some trips and plan tours. The rival car hire company had opened. I asked my husband if we were committed to the first hire car company.
My husband said that we were not, because we had ordered a small car at a particular price and they were unable to supply it. Any money he had paid in advance on a credit card would be refunded by the credit card company, even if they car hire company was unwilling to make a refund.
I found the other car hire company could offer us the smaller car at the lower price. At this point the sales person at the first car hire company did not want to lose our business and said we could have a free upgrade to the larger car for the price of the smaller one. (The larger car would use more or more expensive petrol (American - gasoline?/gas) but we would travel in greater comfort.
Cambodia Transfer
In Cambodia we expected a taxi to meet us. We were met by a tuk-tuk. That's a motorcycle with seating behind for four midgets, canopy and open sides at the back. It's noisy and bounces along over potholes and swerves. My hat started blowing off in the breeze. Hilarious. I had hysterics. Local. I loved it.
The ordinary international style taxi on return was a higher price. Also a dull disappointment.
On the other hand, you might be able to get a stopover flight, see a new country, get a free or heavily discounted overnight stay. If you arrive at Singapore's Changi airport in daylight hours, you can take a free tour of the city. (You need at least and hour or two - no chance of a mistake - they won't even let you board unless you have a minimum time.)
Changi airport has a butterfly enclosure on two levels in one of the terminals and a train between terminals. This year they had a rubbing table area, like brass rubbing but not brass. Like coin rubbing. (See my previous posts on Changi and butterflies.)
Check if you need visas. You might be able to get visas at the border or on arrival. That sounds like a good idea because it saves time and means money is not paid out if you have to cancel your trip. However, you could find you have to pay a bribe (updates may be noted in Wikitravel or TripAdvisor or according to Lonely Planet - as well as the embassy websites and by going to the visa department and other guides. In some border points or airports in countries such as Cambodia).
Even if you don't have to pay a bribe, half an hour wait on arrival is a nuisance if the office granting visas is closed, there is a queue, and your friends and family or hotel driver are waiting.
Afterthought
I missed two other trips. Another one to Italy. We drove from our au pair girl's family in France to Italy but could not go into Italy. I had left my passport slung over the back of a chair in the bedroom. Another trip to France.
That's why your taxi to the Heathrow airport in the UK often asks, "Have you got your ticket? And your passport? Please get your passport out and show me you have it."
We responded, "Yes - here are the passports."
I am curious. I asked, "Why do you ask? Do you ask everybody - or it it because we dashed back for something?"
He replied, "I'm asking everybody from now on. Last week we were half way to the airport when my passengers, a large family, discovered they had forgotten one of their passports. So we dashed back. Then it was a very stressful ride to the airport, short of time. I got them there. But it was very stressful for all of them - and for me!"
Make sure you don't miss the entire trip, like I missed my trips to Italy and France.
To sum up, check your visas, money, dates, transfers, tickets, times and translate those mystery letters in advance.
Tips
Airport Codes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_by_IATA_code:_A
Pages of airport letters. Here are a few popular ones: LHR is Heathrow, London, England. LAX is Los Angeles, California, USA.
What's IATA?
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world's airlines.
Acronyms
PS Letter formed from initials technical term is initialism. For example, LHR, FBI, CIA.
Letters formed from initials making a word such as B A S I C are ACRONYMS. Wikipedia says:
An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial components in a phrase or a word, usually individual letters (as in NATO or laser) and sometimes syllables (as in Benelux).
Unfortunately, the letters are arranged alphabetically by codes. You can check back the code from your ticket. However, to find the IATA code for an airpot or country you have to type the country and airpot name into Google. By doing this I found that Singapore's Changi airpot's letters are SIN. That is an acronym. I am surprised that SIN got past the censors. Number plates are censored in most countries. Apparently not so airport names!
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.
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