Flight Delays & Other Traveling Problems.
So, I had to wait to write about this topic till I could be sedated with a glass of wine.
My favorite airline in the whole world didn't fail to disappoint me on my trip back from Toronto yesterday.
Now, my husband and I booked flight to Toronto back at the beginning of June. About a week after I booked the flights, I was asked to go speak at a search marketing conference the same days I was supposed to be traveling to Toronto.
Now, I am not one to turn down a great opportunity. So, I booked a flight to Seattle. Then from Seattle, I was going to fly to Toronto. My company would cover the costs for the tickets to Seattle and to Toronto. And I would just catch my original return flight from Toronto back to Boston.
Now, I tried to cancel my original flight to Toronto. But because I booked the tickets through an online travel agency, I either had to cancel the whole itinerary (Husband's ticket included) or just eat the cost of my ticket to Toronto. We decided to just eat the cost. Because if I wasn't going to Seattle, we would still be paying for the ticket to Toronto.
(Following me still.)
Well, my husband did as he was instructed. When he checked in for the flight to Toronto, he let the desk attendant know that I would not be on that flight, and that they could open up my seat for that flight. He made it clear that I would in fact be on the return flight from Toronto.
Well, flash forward to Sunday afternoon at Pearson airport in Toronto. We go to check-in, and the machines can't find my itinerary anywhere. They find my husband's no problem. the desk agent there tells us we have to go to the "Ticketing" counter. We show her our itinerary from the online travel agency.
"Uh oh," she says. "You can never trust those things. They mean nothing to us."
Yes, that sounded ominous to us too.
So we go to the ticketing counter. And this is where I am instructed that because I wasn't on the flight from Boston to Toronto, my ticket value was put at $0.
"You have no reservation."
Apparently it didn't matter that my husband informed them that I wouldn't be flying on that flight. I was told I had to buy a new ticket.
A NEW EFF-ING TICKET, AT LAST MINUTE PRICES.
"That will be $694," the ticketing agent said.
Now, I am not one to start an argument in a foreign country; prior to going through security and customs. So I purchased the ticket and reasoned, "Well, if I had stayed for the full conference at SES, I would have spent another $600 in hotel, food and cabs. So it all evens out. I can expense it."
After this, we got through customs surprisingly easy. Normally, The Husband gets a hard time. But we had no problems. We were home free!
Until...
There we are sitting at our gate (which they had changed on us without announcing.) We see our plane. We have seen all the baggage go on. It is 20 minutes till the flight is to be airborn. We are waiting to board. That's when the announcement comes over the loud speaker...
"It you are on Boston flight XXXXXX, we are sorry to announce that we have no crew to fly your plane."
Yes, that's right. There was no pilot, co-pilot or flight attendant for the flight.
"We are trying to find a crew to fly the plane. But the original crew was due to come in from JFK. And because of bad weather, that flight has been delayed. We will keep you posted if we can take off."
The woman making the announcement was French-Canadian. She spoke broken English. So we were sure she meant "...WHEN we can take off."
Well, about an hour and a half after we were scheduled to leave, the crew finally arrived from JFK. We were airborne and on our way home.
Point is though, this airline blows. I hate using them. And the next time I use an online travel agency, I am going to avoid their logo like good men avoid Paris Hilton during a Herpes outbreak.
They're just not worth a second chance.
My favorite airline in the whole world didn't fail to disappoint me on my trip back from Toronto yesterday.
Now, my husband and I booked flight to Toronto back at the beginning of June. About a week after I booked the flights, I was asked to go speak at a search marketing conference the same days I was supposed to be traveling to Toronto.
Now, I am not one to turn down a great opportunity. So, I booked a flight to Seattle. Then from Seattle, I was going to fly to Toronto. My company would cover the costs for the tickets to Seattle and to Toronto. And I would just catch my original return flight from Toronto back to Boston.
Now, I tried to cancel my original flight to Toronto. But because I booked the tickets through an online travel agency, I either had to cancel the whole itinerary (Husband's ticket included) or just eat the cost of my ticket to Toronto. We decided to just eat the cost. Because if I wasn't going to Seattle, we would still be paying for the ticket to Toronto.
(Following me still.)
Well, my husband did as he was instructed. When he checked in for the flight to Toronto, he let the desk attendant know that I would not be on that flight, and that they could open up my seat for that flight. He made it clear that I would in fact be on the return flight from Toronto.
Well, flash forward to Sunday afternoon at Pearson airport in Toronto. We go to check-in, and the machines can't find my itinerary anywhere. They find my husband's no problem. the desk agent there tells us we have to go to the "Ticketing" counter. We show her our itinerary from the online travel agency.
"Uh oh," she says. "You can never trust those things. They mean nothing to us."
Yes, that sounded ominous to us too.
So we go to the ticketing counter. And this is where I am instructed that because I wasn't on the flight from Boston to Toronto, my ticket value was put at $0.
"You have no reservation."
Apparently it didn't matter that my husband informed them that I wouldn't be flying on that flight. I was told I had to buy a new ticket.
A NEW EFF-ING TICKET, AT LAST MINUTE PRICES.
"That will be $694," the ticketing agent said.
Now, I am not one to start an argument in a foreign country; prior to going through security and customs. So I purchased the ticket and reasoned, "Well, if I had stayed for the full conference at SES, I would have spent another $600 in hotel, food and cabs. So it all evens out. I can expense it."
After this, we got through customs surprisingly easy. Normally, The Husband gets a hard time. But we had no problems. We were home free!
Until...
There we are sitting at our gate (which they had changed on us without announcing.) We see our plane. We have seen all the baggage go on. It is 20 minutes till the flight is to be airborn. We are waiting to board. That's when the announcement comes over the loud speaker...
"It you are on Boston flight XXXXXX, we are sorry to announce that we have no crew to fly your plane."
Yes, that's right. There was no pilot, co-pilot or flight attendant for the flight.
"We are trying to find a crew to fly the plane. But the original crew was due to come in from JFK. And because of bad weather, that flight has been delayed. We will keep you posted if we can take off."
The woman making the announcement was French-Canadian. She spoke broken English. So we were sure she meant "...WHEN we can take off."
Well, about an hour and a half after we were scheduled to leave, the crew finally arrived from JFK. We were airborne and on our way home.
Point is though, this airline blows. I hate using them. And the next time I use an online travel agency, I am going to avoid their logo like good men avoid Paris Hilton during a Herpes outbreak.
They're just not worth a second chance.
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