It’s A Puzzler

Back in April my husband, Kim and I planned a trip to see family. It fell through when Kim got sick and couldn’t travel. Of course we didn’t buy refundable tickets, because who does that? Perhaps “we” should do that! Instead, we took a chance, rolled the dice, and lost. It wasn’t a total loss. We retained most of our money in the form of a credit. Now to look at the calendar and try again. Frontier was only giving me until mid-July to make up my mind.

The clock was ticking and I was searching. Frontier could get us to our destination, but getting back was tricky. Every combination involved an overnight flight. What am I, 20?! No, no, no! None of these would work for me. Our only options was two one-way tickets. Frontier could get us there, and American could get us back on a more civilized flight. Perfect! Or was it?

Our trip was over 4 months away when I received an email from Frontier letting me know they had to made a change to my reservation. They didn’t change it! They cancelled it! What?! They could tell 4 months out that it just wasn’t going to work for them? They said “sorry”. Well, okay then. I took the refund they offered, but now what? I have a return ticket on American, that again isn’t refundable, because somethings you just have to learn over, and over again! United stepped up to the plate, and hit it out of the park. We were good to go!

I bought an upgraded ticket so I could choose my own seat, but was annoyed to find there would be an extra charge depending on just where that seat might be. The seat map looked like anything inside the plane would be extra! Let me explain the only seats you don’t have to pay extra for. The middle seats, and the last row. The middle goes without saying, the last because they don’t recline. The exception being the middle seat in the row that has extra leg room. That’s a preferred seat, and will cost you $18. Let me assure you, the middle seat on any airplane, extra leg room or not, is NOT a preferred seat! I’m not quite 5 feet tall. I don’t need the extra leg room. I want the aisle. And for that privilege I needed to pony up $28. Kim got the middle seat. It was free!

Just what makes a seat “preferred”? Extra leg room? Okay, I get it. Aisle seat anywhere on the plane? A lot of us like that. Makes it easy to get to the lavatory. However, you do have to get up for everyone else in your row who needs to use the facilities, and when someone gets their bag out of the overhead bin, there is a 50/50 chance you’re going to get hit in the head with it. I think that makes it a break even. The window seat might be valid. You can mind your own business, take a nap, or enjoy the scenery, but the exit row? Let’s think about it. If you sit there you are responsible for opening the window exit in the event of an emergency, throwing it out of the way, and hoping that panicked passengers behind don’t stampede you in an effort to get out. It’s a heavy burden. You get little training, except the directions on the emergency card, and suddenly you’re a quasi employee! Shouldn’t they be paying you to sit there? But, here is the real puzzler. The first leg of our trip I had to pay for that “preferred” seat I wanted. On the connecting flight we are seated in the same row, in the same seats, on a different airplane, but the same aircraft type. These seats are now NOT preferred, and free! What? If these are free, why aren’t the others free? I want answers United!

A week later I get an email from American saying that our reservation has changed. What now?! I’m afraid to look! Our once comfortable 1-1/2 hour layover in Charlotte, would now be 4 delightful hours!!! How do they already know they are going to be running late?

I don’t really have a beef with the airline industry. It’s a tough job coordinating flights, scheduling crew members, gate assignments, baggage handling, security, mechanical issues, weather problems, and a dozen other things I have either forgotten or didn’t know. They don’t need the public scrutinizing everything that doesn’t go just right. I don’t complain because of a weather delay. Who wants to be 30,000 feet above the ground in a storm, hoping the dynamics of flight somehow overcomes the laws of gravity? I don’t get upset when there’s a mechanical delay. Think that one through to its logical conclusion. A critical part on your car breaks, and you are suddenly dead in the water. You pull over to the side of the road and call AAA. A critical part breaks on your airplane, and now you’re hoping that guy who paid extra for the exit row, committed those instruction to memory! Four bonus hours in Charlotte? Whatever, we’ll get home eventually.