Flight-booking ordeal for voters abroad

As of Monday, May 18, it was possible to book tickets to Malta for the European Parliament elections. I tried to call straight away and was kept on hold for 90 minutes before my call was answered. I was charged for a 90-minute international call while listening to Moon River over and over again. Great start!

I managed to speak to one of the employees at the Air Malta call centre. I specifically asked whether one could book a flight from Brussels to Malta returning with the chartered Malta-Luxembourg flight on Sunday, June 7. Unfortunately, I was informed that this was not possible. I found this strange since such option was given to us last year when voting in the general elections. I was told that once I left from Brussels I had to get a return flight to Brussels. This was a change in plans so I decided not to book my flight immediately.

Nevertheless, since no other possible solution was available, my colleagues and I decided to opt for the Malta-Brussels return flight and to make a group booking (for three persons) in order to facilitate things for Air Malta. We called that same day, this time round from my colleague's office. To our great misfortune, her call was answered by the same employee I had spoken to earlier. She asked him again my same question, that is whether one can book the outgoing flight from Brussels to Malta and a return flight from Malta to Luxembourg. The answer was once again a negative one. She proceeded to make the booking for three persons with the return flight to Brussels. It took more than 30 minutes for the Air Malta representative to take the details of three persons.

Since no confirmation by e-mail was received within 24 hours, my colleague called again the next day. Upon our request, the e-mail was promptly sent. However, besides "trivial" mistakes such as misspelt surnames, we realised that we had been booked on a wrong flight. Our outgoing flight was Malta-Brussels! Considering that these are special bookings just for purposes of the elections, I fail to understand why we were sent to Brussels rather than to Malta.

We called a third time. Luckily enough, this time round our call was answered by another employee at the Air Malta call centre. The latter informed us that she could no longer book us on the return flight to Brussels on June 7 as by then it was full. We argued that it was only due to the incompetence of the other call centre employee (whose name I am willing to give to Air Malta if asked) that we lost our opportunity to return with that flight. We asked to be booked on the chartered Malta-Luxembourg flight on that same day. To our surprise, we were informed that that wouldn't be a problem and that it was always possible to do so. One can imagine the sheer frustration. We had been kept on hold for hours on end, given wrong information twice, received a wrong booking and then informed on our third phone call that this whole ordeal would have been avoided simply by speaking to the right employee!

One cannot but wonder whether certain Air Malta employees are given any training. Why weren't we given the option to return via the Malta-Luxembourg flight immediately? Why do Maltese nationals working and representing Malta abroad have to pass through such an ordeal to book a simple flight and, moreover, incur extra expenses to be then given such an unacceptable service?