Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# cancelling my trip to tonga. Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
carolena 13:51 UTC 25 Dec 2007 | I am supposed to leave today for a trip to tonga. I had everything lined up to go to Ha apia then last week I get an email from teta tours saying confirm my reservation or my tickets would be cancelled. I emailed everyone I could think of with no reply. Are they partying to hard to reply? Are there to many visiting Tongans and they gave away my ticket to their cousin? I will probably cancel my flight today on New Zealand air. I do not think I will be traveling during Christmas for awhile. |
raro 18:28 UTC 26 Dec 2007 | Don't know for sure, but you may be on the right track about relatives etc. I was there over Christmas one year, all the flights to Haapai and Vavau were way overbooked. But I'm surprised Teta Tours would do that, they actually seemed fairly good, at least for Tonga. | 1
ozziegiraffe 11:10 UTC 27 Dec 2007 | I'm not sure about Tonga, but I do know Solomon Airlines expect travellers to confirm flights 72 hours before travelling. I think it is because they often overbook at peak periods. It seems ot be an island thng - no longer practised in Australia or NZ. | 2
carolena 14:51 UTC 27 Dec 2007 | So for a week I tried to confirm my flight through email mostly and then fax at the last minute. Now I am getting back all emails as not delivered. This only happens when 1-mailbox is full 2-they all changed there email? The thing is they emailed me saying they were cancelling my flight if I did not confirm. Don't know, have to try again at a later date. Carolena | 3
ozziegiraffe 01:01 UTC 28 Dec 2007 | I would have tried a local travel agent or the Air New Zealand office, as they provide the connecting flight, or a phone call. Email and faxes are not always reliable in the islands. Generally they want you to reconfirm in person or by phone. | 4
hardnosethehighway 04:24 UTC 28 Dec 2007 | Teta Tours means well but the chaotic state of the transportation industry in Tonga means travellers are often treated quite poorly or disregarded altogether. Sad to say but it's fact. | 5
island_dreemer 08:22 UTC 29 Jan 2008 | Hi Everyone, I must say it so much fun reading about Tetatours. I gave myself a present this Christmas and it was to never allow myself to book through Tetatours Tongatapu again. I cant recommend this branch of the business anyway as I had booked and paid them 2 months before my intended travels. One week out from flying to Tonga I dropped an email to Tetatours EVERY DAY for 7 days with no response. I had a friend whom lives in Tonga go into the office and no one knew what was going on. I arrived in Tonga and sitting face to face with Tetatours I realised that they STILL didnt know what was going on. I was asked to come back the next day and werent faces red when I said "I'm supposed to be flying tomorrow at 6:50am. I decided to ask politely one more time if there were in fact tickets for me. 'No' was the answer I received. I left unhappy to say the least and then got a phone call at the hotel I was staying at that night stating that tickets were being held for me at the airport. I got the tickets and I was on my way. However the sour taste in my mouth has remained and I now book tickets in person or with the Vava'u branch of Tetatours. Perhaps a management course for the owners is needed! Dont give up on travelling to Tonga! | 6