Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Air India, despite its quite recent privatisation, is simply awful in every way. I was at Gatwick for 11 hours , with zero information about what was happening. Apparently the previous two Air India flights to Kochi were cancelled. All very stressful, but no fault of DAF!
There is a great deal of reassurance in knowing that your trip has been arranged by people who really know what they are doing. And that you are not just abandoned to the anonymous machinery of an airline that doesn't really care, in spite of all their rubbish claims about caring! Also that if something goes wrong you can get advice with a telephone call that is actually answered!
Although my baggage was lost from Dubai to London Gatwick I was able to speak to DialAFlight and ask for guidance on how to process the forms to reclaim my baggage. This they did readily which was a comfort at the time. You'll be glad to hear I now have my lost baggage!
Archie was brilliant - sorted everything out. Will definitely be using you guys and recommending to friends
Great service, especially from Ray Taylor.
Zoe Lane is an excellent travel agent.
It's not until something goes wrong with your travel plans that you realise the benefits of booking with them. After sitting on the plane at Gatwick for a couple of hours our flight was cancelled due to a technical issue. At 11pm there aren't that many people in the airport to help. Fortunately a call to DialAFlight's emergency phone line had me talking to Korinna within seconds. She was able to see there were no flights from Gatwick the following morning but there were spaces on the Heathrow flight and she changed our booking to this flight. She also re-arranged our connecting flight for Dubai to Delhi. All this whilst my husband was trying to talk to the airline's customer call centre who were saying they couldn't do anything as the flight hadn't been officially cancelled! A big thanks to Korinna for her help.
Efficient and helpful
No hitches on the way despite the potential for this to happen. Radisson Blue Hotel in Connaught Place excellent service and very convenient for shopping and restaurants.
Always very helpful and a pleasure to book with.
Other than the changes with the flights everything else was great
Amazing customer care
Excellent service
None. Good service
Alfie was very helpful, as usual and ensured all went smoothly
You didn't have to rearrange a flight home for me after a last minute international flight cancellation on this holiday, as you did on the last, but it was so good to know that - far from home - you were there to help me should I find myself stranded. Thank you so much for being there.
Excellent service and they were there for me when I needed assistance. Will definitely use again.
Always had good customer service from Michelle
Flight suggestions worked really well
All perfect!
Everything was handled promptly, professionally and it delivered an experience in India that was everything we hoped for. Great to have a team that were readily available to support us in both the planning and execution! Particular call-out for Brody Letchfield who was our main contact and ensured that, through liaison with Tamarind Global on the ground in India, everything ran smoothly
Connecting flight from Heathrow was delayed because of fog in Delhi, causing us to miss the connection to Goa. Seven hour wait for the next flight.
Great service yet again
Brody once again has provided excellent service and planned our holiday to perfection
Edward Scudder is a star - above and beyond. Quality service
Absolutely seamless holiday to Goa with all the flights booked with Rosie at DialAFlight Thanks again
As always, excellent service especially by Gino. If only BA could learn a thing or two from you about customer service.
Raphael was very helpful throughout the entire process, from initial booking to just before departure
Aiden is great and always most helpful as are all your team!
Thank you for your attentive services
Japan is back with a bang - or should that be an elegant puff of pink - as this spring is the first in years that tourists will be able to experience its famous cherry blossom season.
The short-lived event - known as sakura season - sparks a huge national celebration, and in the build-up to it there's even a dedicated forecast on the TV weather report. Japan Meteorological Corporation has predicted that Tokyo will burst into bloom from about March 22-30, and in Kyoto from March 27 or 28, peaking on April 5.
As the pink buds pop, visitors descend on Japan's most photogenic sights and parks, while locals roll out blue tarpaulins under the trees for convivial hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) parties with friends and family - and a fair amount of sake.
It seems impossible not to be swept up in sakura season. 'This will be our busiest cherry blossom season ever,' says James Mundy of specialist travel agent Inside Japan Tours.
And it is most acute in Kyoto, a city famous for its Unesco world heritage listed ancient structures such as the Daigo-ji Temple and Heian Shrine whose surrounds become draped in weeping blossom.
Kyoto's 60,000 hotel rooms are almost filled, but luxury travel companies are still offering itineraries that include the country's top blossom-viewing spots.
'Kyoto is the trickiest piece in the puzzle,' says Mundy. 'We often put a halt to cherry blossom sales around late February as places across Kyoto fill their rooms. There's still availability now, but time is of the essence.
'Tokyo is also busy, but securing accommodation there is less of a problem. '
Alternatively, consider staying in Osaka, which is just 15 minutes away by bullet train.
Or get the temple backdrop to your cherry blossom photos in the ancient city of Nara, just 35 minutes from Kyoto by train. There you'll find similarly beautiful spots, including Nara Park with its famously inquisitive deer, and a giant Sakura Buddha statue at Tsubosakadera Temple, which becomes enveloped in pink blossoms.
Cruise liners have also returned to Japan, and the ports of Osaka and Kobe are convenient gateways to Kyoto.
Princess Cruises 18-day 'Kyushu, Shikoku and Japan Explorer Spring Flowers' itinerary that departs Tokyo and reaches Osaka at the beginning of April, just in time for the blossom peak in Kyoto.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises' 14-night 'Sushi, Sake and Shimizu' trip calls at Kobe, which is perfect for Kyoto, but also Himeji, whose spectacular White Heron castle will be wrapped in blossom.
But while the main cities will be heaving with visitors, Japan is awash with stunning destinations as the sakura zensen - cherry blossom front - sweeps up the country like a weather system, triggering trees into bloom at different times - from Kyushu in the south in late March to Hokkaido in the north at the end of April. In Kanazawa, on the Sea of Japan coast two and a half hours from Tokyo by bullet train, the cherry blossom arrives after Tokyo and Kyoto, usually around April 1.
And there's always cherry blossom season 2024 and beyond. Book now and you'll have the pick of trips - although be warned that some have a sizeable waiting list of travellers keen to tick off sakura season from their bucket list.
The message is: spring into action now if you want to be among them.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - January 2023
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