Travel Advisors Dish on Their Craziest Client Requests

Train or bus tickets to Hawaii. Ocean-view rooms in land-locked locales. Tours to exotic destinations for less than $1,000. Reservations for the spouse and paramour? Travel advisors have to deal with lots of laughable demands. But some requests leave even the most seasoned travel advisors scratching their heads.

Travel Market Report reached out to our readers to find out what’s the craziest client requests you’ve ever received.

Here are some of the standout requests.

Catering by McDonald’s
“I worked with a gentleman many years ago. He wanted to go on a tour of China and he wanted me to have McDonald’s cater a group meal in Shiyan, China. I’m like, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen but I had to go through the motions to at least attempt it before I found out, at that point, that there was no McDonald’s in China.”
– Stephen Lincoln, Lincoln Travel

Pets Are Travelers, Too
“A CEO of a Defense Company wanted to use his Frequent Flier miles to fly his Saint Bernard 1st Class from San Diego to Switzerland for Christmas!  The saint Bernard was their only 'child' and his ex-wife lived in Switzerland, and it was her turn to have the dog for the holidays!”
– Trudy Kelly, Travel By Design

“Can you get a plane ticket to Europe for my deceased pet so I can bury him where my ancestors lived?”
– Sandy Johnson, AAA Alabama

There’s No Turbulence in First Class, Right?
“Back in the day, many moons ago, I had clients that flew from Vancouver to Honolulu.  Apparently there was quite a bit of turbulence so when they arrived they immediately called me to upgrade to First Class (yes in those days) so they would not experience the turbulence again while sitting in First class.”
– Carol Attrell, The Travel Agent Next Door

Those Cruise Dates Don’t Work. Change Them.
“I had a cruise client that asked me if I would call a cruise line and have them change the dates of a four-night cruise so it would leave a day earlier and come back a day sooner so it would fit into their schedule.”
– Enrico Saltarelli, Salty Breeze Cruise Planners

Arriving In Style
“Client wanted to paraglide into the resort (Six Senses Zighy Bay) and it was arranged.  Tandem paraglide with an instructor!”
– Leona Assie, The Travel Agent Next Door

“Horse and carriage pick up from airport.”
– Tamara Rushdan-Ferguson, Travelers Come Forth

Pepperidge Farm Cookies or Bust
“We had clients who insisted on having us load Pepperidge Farm cookies (to be purchased in a grocery store on one of the Out Islands in The Bahamas) in THEIR private jet.  We suggested to one of their assistants that they supply their corporate aircraft with their cookies of choice from the States since it could not be guaranteed that we would be able to locate Pepperidge Farm cookies on Eleuthera.”
– Lori Gédon CTC, Coyaba Travel