Daylight Robbery?

I am going on a golf week to Spain on May 2nd. I booked this about 10 months ago to ensure myself and my mates got the dates we wanted, the tee times we wanted and some reasonable flights. The company we booked through did a fantastic job last year, but this year they came back with an outgoing flight of 16:45, meaning arrival in Spain at 20:00 (local time), which means by the time we have cleared customs, collected our kit and got to the car hire place it would be 21:00 on a good day. Then collecting the car, loading it up and driving the 25 or so miles to the hotel will mean AT BEST we'd be there at around 22:00. A bit shit really! Then checking in and going to the rooms means there hardly likely time for a beer before it's time for bed!

So I asked them for a better outgoing flight, accepting the incoming flight departure time of 18:00 as not being great, but then its on the way home so who cares? They came back with an 08:00 outbound flight, so an early start, but we'd be there early and be able to relax on the first afternoon before our game on the Monday. For this they charged us another £75. We duly paid.

Today they called to say the tickets were in place, but the times had changed. OK, I thought, maybe an hour or so....but no! We are now back on the original flight out, but we are not liable for any refund! Apparently the airlines can do this because it's within a 12 hour window of the original flight so it's not a "major" disruption! So we paid an extra £75 for our original flight and we can't do a fucking thing about it or even get the money back! Start of holiday bollocksed up, no recourse. Wankers. They have effectively picked our pockets in full view of us and we can't do a thing!

The return flight has also been moved to 21:55! Great so now we're back in the UK at fucking midnight! Which means I'm not home until 2 in the poxy morning. Which means the course I'm booked on the next day is now going to have to be canned. Worse than that, we're out of the room at 10, but can't go to the airport until at least 18:00, unless our idea of fun is sitting in Malaga airport watching the fucking planes (actually I wouldn't mind that but the others would never let me forget it!). So what do we do, go to Marbella with our cases packed and our golf stuff in the car. Call me old fashioned, or just plain suspicious but we might as well put a sign on the car saying "Golfers out and about - £5 grands worth of gear in here!"

I was remarkably calm and kept it in for a couple of hours. I told the others (The King, The Major and The Worrier) who weren't happy, but I rang the tour company back and asked them to arrange a room for us to leave our stuff in on the day and to arrange a game for us on our departure date - free of charge. It might just be enough to sooth our collective furrowed brows. Not too much to ask is it?

Lessons learned - book your own flights, buy your own place, don't rely on Jack to make the arrangements without being cursed at some point. Never , ever use Airtours!

Later, Grocerjack