Flight Fiasco: Part One

If you read any of the earlier blogs you'll know that I got quite the deal on airfare out of Seattle to Lusaka, but I still needed to get to Seattle. Well, Mom had been watching sales on Alaska Air until, finally, one popped up. It was the same price it would have been if I hadn't messed up the tickets the first time around so I went ahead and purchased them.

I was pleased to see that my favorite seat, 15E, was available to and from Seattle. Yes. I have a favorite seat. I always fly in 15E...or 7E...though 15 E is preferable. I double-checked times: Outbound departure at 11:20 am and Inbound departure at 7:30 pm. And click, last piece of the airfare puzzle in place--or so I thought.




About a week later I was going through my email inbox and saw that I'd never opened my confirmation email from Alaska Air--frankly, though, that's not unusual. A niggling voice in my head, however, said, "Why don't you just check, Stephanie?"

I opened it up--had the right seats, right departure and arrival times, all on...April 9. That's right, I had scheduled my departure and return for the same date. DOH!

Well, heart pounding, I sent a prayer heavenward and picked up the phone to see what could be done.

I gave her my reservation number.

"I see you're flying into Seattle and then departing that same day at 7:30 pm."
"See, that's the problem--I'm actually going to be on a plane to Lusaka--"
"Well," she interrupted, "let's fix that!"

By the time I had finished rambling about how thankful I was, she had me re-booked--with no change fee!

"Okay, departure time is the same, but I now have you coming back on August 6. Does 19A work for you?"
"That's perfect--wait, actually, is 15E available?"
"Sure!"

And that was that. No change fee, same price on the ticket, and my favorite seat! It was all taken care of...or so I thought until "Flight Fiasco: Part Two."