A Tale of Two Airlines - Part 1

Sit down children, this is a good one. This is a tale that involves happy journeys on one airline as well as some scary, frustrating pre-journey ticketing experiences on another. This promises to pique your interest!

Part 1 - "The Hold"

Monday, November 30, 2009:
8 or 9pm, Eastern Standard Time
'Twas the week before my departure from NYC, whilst sitting in the living room, that I realized I had some free moments to purchase my ticket for my residency interviews in January in NYC. I needed a round trip ticket from FAT to NYC, returning from BUF. I have airline miles for a free ticket so I started exploring what options were available. Continental Airlines, an airline I like very much, just joined the Star Alliance, so I looked on their website for award tickets because the US Airways website, where my points actually are, doesn't support the type of search I was trying to do. I found the perfect flights, with one exception - the trip to NYC was a 25,000 point ticket whilst the return trip was 12,500 point ticket. No big deal - I had 34,500 miles total, so I figured I could just buy the 4,000 more miles and still be cheaper than buying the whole ticket.

I called US Airways for the first time ever (the only reason I have points with them at all is because I used to have points with America West - when they joined US Airways, my points transferred, then when I have flown United I transfer the points to my US Airways account (I will give a little hint to the end of the story here: I USED to transfer my other points to the US Airways account - probably not ever again after this experience!)

The phone was answered pretty quickly and the lady sounded like she knew what she was talking about, so I got excited that this would be a good experience! Ha! I was upfront and said that what I needed to do what going to be complicated:

1. Build a round trip awards tickets - I already had the flight numbers I needed, since I searched and had it up on my computer screen; I would do it myself, but the US Airways website wouldn't let me.
2. Put the itinerary on hold so that my account had time for the purchased miles to clear.
3. Purchase 4000 miles to my account

I was put on hold for about 5 minutes so she could check her "resources". That should have put me on alert where this was going. But, I stayed patient. She came back on and now I picked up the accent as she asked me, AGAIN, what my Dividend Account number was. I told her. She put me on hold again. Next, she informed me, AGAIN, how many miles I had available. Thanks, can we get on with this please? HOLD. Now, what my city of origin was (again). I told her Fresno, CA. She put me on hold again. Came back to ask whether it was CHANDLER airport!! I said no, the airport code is FAT. Hold. What is the flight number? Hold. Hold. Hold. Comes back to tell me she can't find that flight number from FAT to NYC. Now, I'm slightly irritated. I point out that the flight goes through Vegas, not straight to NYC. She points out to me that I said I'm going to NYC and now I'm changing my plans. Now I'm REALLY irritated. No, I'm going to NYC, madam, but the flight goes through Vegas. HOLD.

SUCCESS - she found that flight. We are now at around 20 minutes in the conversation. I'm ready to dunk myself in cold water. Her next question - What is your return date? SERIOUSLY?! We haven't finished building the FIRST trip yet. Oh ya. Where are you going again?

NO YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!! This is when I finally say "Madam, you seem very nice, but it has taken almost 25 minutes just to do my FIRST flight and there are 4 more flights. So, please transfer me to a supervisor who can do this quicker." In my opinion, they must get asked this a lot because it was the ONE function she knew how to carry out pretty darn quickly.

Around 930pm: An agent who still has an accent, but understood everything I asked gets on the phone. With her, we build my whole itinerary with the flights I need within about 10 minutes. Great. I tell her I need to purchase 4,000 miles to have the total 37,500 miles needed to complete the reservation, so please put the reservation on hold until the miles that I purchase online clear. HOLD. She comes back and says her supervisor said that is OK, so she goes ahead and holds the reservation until December 3, she says, gives me a confirmation code, wishes me a happy holiday, and we call it a day.

This pre-Christmas tale of craziness could have ended here happily with me pointing out in one line that I called on December 3 to complete the reservation and all went well. But alas, that wouldn't really be a scary Christmas tale, now would it? So, stay tuned for Part 2 where we find out what exactly happens on December 3.

DISCLAIMER 1: Dear US Airways - Part 1 is scary, but what happened next (which I will detail in Part 2) is the truly embarrassing part (for you). And while I don't have a lot of readers on this blog, I do have a thing where I will keep writing letters to whoever needs to read it for things to be made right. So, if any of you read this, please know that I informed your agent in whatever countries I spoke with them (there were a total of 5 agents I had to go through to make this reservation - but the last one will know) that I intended to even write to US Senators until I received my money back that you stole - $80 total.

DISCLAIMER 2: Dear Continental Airlines - you came out looking like a beautiful rose in all this. Your ENGLISH speaking agent was extremely kind, understood my dilemma, and did the best she could to help. I will be contacting you about transferring the balance of my miles to a OnePass membership, if anything like that is allowed (which I really, really, REALLY hope it is!) And please know that I intend to do business only with airlines who keep their reservations agents in the USA - because in frustrating moments stuck in an airport or trying to book a complicated ticket, I want to know that the first person who answers the phone will be able to help me.

Flight Itinerary

It's that time again, boys and girls! Time to get back on a jetplane and leave my mark do some exploring elsewhere again. AA once wrote me a letter on pink stationary when I was leaving for med school where she pointed out how I always "sweep in" to places and fly around a lot. I still have that letter at home - it's not often AA compliments, so you gotta keep them as true honorary mementos in the same regard you would keep an Emmy!

Not flying somewhere new this time - coming home to Fresno. My next two rotations are in Fresno and are Pediatric Infectious Disease and Neonatal ICU (Intensive Care). I will in fact be in Fresno from December 5 until the end of January. I look forward to seeing those of you whom I haven't seen in a long time and hopefully meeting some new friends as well on this journey!

Hence, here is my itinerary for my flight. Oh boy, this is exciting!!!

December 5 - Saturday
Depart JFK @ 810am on Delta 33
Arrive LAX @ 1145am

Depart LAX @ 130pm on Delta 7446 (operated by American Eagle 3060)
Arrive FAT @ 230pm

Quickies: I'm Happy, Excited, and Blessed - Oh My!

1. Happy Thanksgiving
I love this season from right after Halloween up through the New Year. It's just so awesome to see people decorating and warming up for the holidays. All the festive red and green and in NYC, the window displays for Christmas - it's just awesome! So I'm happy and wish you all a very happy Christmas season! (and no, I don't do PC - it's Christmas that I am celebrating. I respect if you don't celebrate it, but I will be wishing you a Merry Christmas anyway because that is what I am celebrating - you can wish me a Happy __________ (insert your holiday in blank) and I will be just as happy for you.)

2. Exciting Times
I will be flying back to Fresno on December 5 (this Saturday). Look for another post this week that details all my flight times and itinerary...of course. I know it is more information than anyone cares about when it comes to flying, but YOU all should know by now how much of an airline freak I am - so deal with it.

3. I Feel Blessed
I have to be honest - I almost titled this post as "I'm Cramped, Cranky, and Exhausted. Oh My!" I was going to write about staying in a living room the size of my bathroom back in California (with the caveat, though, that I absolutely adore my friends who I am staying with - but even they will agree that this is a typical NYC sardine can :) And I was going to write about being Cranky at the place I'm doing my rotation because of the lack of teaching, and I was going to throw in "exhausted" because I get about 4 hours of sleep and am constantly on the go. But there is power in positive thinking! I have always been a positive person and a positive thinker - medical school and this profession keep trying to break my spirit and in some ways they have changed me. But, I must fight back. Before med school, I never would have thought to do such a negative title. Therefore, since I recognize some of the ways that med school has indeed effected me, I must fight back.

Therefore, I will say (and absolutely mean) that I'm blessed. I always have been! Where others would have been defeated, I continue to persevere. And where others complain bitterly, I'm going to borrow a couple words from the famous author, William Saroyan, and smile to the infinite delight and mystery of this great world.

I LOVE Camp!!

The last two years I have been able to go to Camp Hye Sierra (Hye=Armenian for the "odars" who read my blog; odar=foreigners=non-Armenians). Camp is awesome - in fact, it is more fun as a staff member than as a camper because you truly appreciate the gift that camp is - 7 days of peace and relaxation and no worrying about any of the pressures that face us "down the hill."

And now we have an awesome video made by MY, our videographer/cinematographer/writer extraordinaire! And I even get to make a cameo appearance in the video.

Enjoy!

Med School Journey Continues - Next Stop: NYC for OB/GYN

I finally will see normal vagina as I do my OB/GYN rotation next, for 6 weeks in NYC. Of course, during the OB part we will most likely see happy mothers-to-be, but during the GYN part we will see all sorts of pathology. Just remember: your vagine should not have a fishy odor or a curdly cheese discharge that smells like cottage cheese - that is bad people, very bad! (But treatable!)

I digress - if any of my readers are airline dorks like me, here is my itinerary:
Delta Flight 78: Depart LAX 730am - Arrive JFK 420pm

I will add Twitter updates during my trip, so check the sidebar on this blog, to the left, for updates about flight status or any delays.

I return to Fresno on December 5. Until then, I will be spending long days delivering babies, examining cervices, and studying for my board exam (Step 2 CK).