Alleged Giant LAX in pumpkin booking fiasco
October was a fun month for Nazy and me. Before leaving for a visit with Darius, Christiane and the beautiful young ladies in Bellingham, Washington, I took Arrow to the local pumpkin patch, an annual event sponsored by the Lane Family farm. Arrow enjoyed looking at the goats, pigs and donkey — preferably looking from afar and while being held well out of reach. He also liked the hayride and the very big pumpkins. The farm also had a display of gourds and..
“… white pumpkins, Arrow,” I explained. “Did someone forget to color those?”
“No, Dan.” Arrow commented.
“Do you think these funny shaped things are pumpkins?” I asked, holding a colorful gourd.
“No Dan!” Arrow exclaimed, clearly unimpressed with my pumplin-ish knowledge.
Later Arrow and I rode a a hayride: a wagon pulled by a tractor with..
“Big wheels in front and in back, Dan.” Arrow noted.
“Yes, usually tractors have big wheels in the back and little wheels in the front,” I explained.
“And the tractor is blue,” Arrow observed.
After the hayride, Arrow picked his own pumpkin to take back to school.
Later that day, we took both boys to ‘The Y’ for their swimming lessons. Tiger is practicing his strokes (crawl, backstroke, butterfly) and diving. Arrow is, as might be expected, a few years behind. (He’s 3; Tiger is 5.) Arrow, however, is very brave and willing to try anything. This week he was able to climb out of the pool without any help.
On the drive to the pool Tiger demonstrated his eclectic interests:
“What is the last exit number on The 101 highway, Dan?”
“The exit numbers start again when the highway goes into a new state, Tiger.”
“Hmm. What’s the last exit number in California?”
“I don’t know, Tiger. But I can find out using the Internet.” Just in case you become a Jeopardy contestant): “What is Exit 734 on US 101 at Trinidad, California?”
The big news this week is our trip to Bellingham. I located a direct flight from (sigh) LAX to Bellingham on Allegiant, an airline with a relentless focus on cost containment. Flaunting tradition, I even booked well in advance of our trip. Then, two days before our departure, wanting to retrieve my reservation number, I checked my email. No confirmation email existed! I checked Nazy’s email. Same story. I logged onto my Allegiant account — and the only trip in the ‘my trips’ section was Nazy’s flight a few months ago. I was baffled…
“Maybe I didn’t push the purchase link,” I thought, absentmindedly.
I checked, to no avail, the credit card history. And so, reluctantly, I booked flights to Bellingham.
Then, two days before departure, I got two reminders from Allegiant. Two reminders with two different reservation numbers, different seats and different prices, but with the same departure time, date and destinations. I …
“… have purchased four uncomfortable seats to and from Bellingham,” I thought painfully.
Miffed, I scoured the Allegiant website in a fruitless search for a way to get a refund. Failing on that score, I looked for a telephone number in order to execute my plan of throwing myself on the mercy of someone at a help desk.
“Help Desk?” Nazy inquired. “You expected help from a Help Desk?”
“I was desparate.”
The Allegiant website had no telephone number for a ‘help desk’. They did however have a Chat Service. Grasping a slender strand of tenuous hope, I clicked. The response was instant:
“Hi! I’m Henry. How can I help?”
“Clever ploy,” I thought. “He’s trying to get me to let down my guard.” Warily,I explained my situation and
“Yes! I can see that you’ve made two reservations for the same flight. I will cancel the most expensive one and give you a full refund.”
While he was typing his response, I was preparing my riposte, but Henry’s chat was so unexpected, I had to make extreme use of the delete key. I considered, briefly, apologizing for my unfounded nasty thoughts. As an aside, it turns out that the reason I couldn’t find payment in my credit card history is that I paid with a debit card — no frequent flyer miles on Allegiant.
Showing consistency, Allegiant scheduled a 6:30AM departure to go with their rock hard seats that are as narrow as the ‘dialog’ on Fox News. Accordingly, Nazy and I booked a hotel near LAX. We planned an early drive to an early dinner in Los Angeles before an early bedtime before our early departure at LAX. Instead, we left Santa late (after a late dinner) and celebrated with a late bedtime — a bedtime that occurred so late that we had to get up to catch the early LAX shuttle before we had time to go to sleep.
Allegiant had said that we had check our luggage no later than 5:15. So, at 4:46AM we left the hotel room. We took the elevator (eleven floors), walked onto a waiting, but about to depart, bus, breezed through the luggage check and dashed through the TSA (PreChek) ‘service’. We found ourselves at the gate at 4:59AM. It ..
“… was a miracle, Nazy!” I exclaimed. “The last time we came to LAX, it took 2.5 hours and the last hour was spent traversing the last mile.”
Note: For the Mathematically inclined, that means that we were traveling at 1MPH for the last mile. For sporty readers: We could have walked faster than we drove. But we had to park the car somewhere other than on the access lane… however, if it had ben a rental car, maybe..
The flight was on-time, smooth and, in spite of the exit row seats, uncomfortable. Darius was waiting when we arrived.
“… like you used to do with your matchbox cars, Darius,” I remarked. “And like Tiger used to do with his cars,” I thought.
Young Auriane celebrated our arrival by turning over for the first time. She is a cheerful little girl who loves to watch her big sister. And Leandra is just as enthusiastic about the new arrival as Tiger was when Arrow arrived. Auriane, unphased, is focused on growing up.
So far, we have visited the preferred pre-school for Leandra (next year), a Pumpkin Patch Festival and Vancouver. More about these trips in next week's letter.
“… white pumpkins, Arrow,” I explained. “Did someone forget to color those?”
“No, Dan.” Arrow commented.
“Do you think these funny shaped things are pumpkins?” I asked, holding a colorful gourd.
“No Dan!” Arrow exclaimed, clearly unimpressed with my pumplin-ish knowledge.
Later Arrow and I rode a a hayride: a wagon pulled by a tractor with..
“Big wheels in front and in back, Dan.” Arrow noted.
“Yes, usually tractors have big wheels in the back and little wheels in the front,” I explained.
“And the tractor is blue,” Arrow observed.
After the hayride, Arrow picked his own pumpkin to take back to school.
Later that day, we took both boys to ‘The Y’ for their swimming lessons. Tiger is practicing his strokes (crawl, backstroke, butterfly) and diving. Arrow is, as might be expected, a few years behind. (He’s 3; Tiger is 5.) Arrow, however, is very brave and willing to try anything. This week he was able to climb out of the pool without any help.
On the drive to the pool Tiger demonstrated his eclectic interests:
“What is the last exit number on The 101 highway, Dan?”
“The exit numbers start again when the highway goes into a new state, Tiger.”
“Hmm. What’s the last exit number in California?”
“I don’t know, Tiger. But I can find out using the Internet.” Just in case you become a Jeopardy contestant): “What is Exit 734 on US 101 at Trinidad, California?”
The big news this week is our trip to Bellingham. I located a direct flight from (sigh) LAX to Bellingham on Allegiant, an airline with a relentless focus on cost containment. Flaunting tradition, I even booked well in advance of our trip. Then, two days before our departure, wanting to retrieve my reservation number, I checked my email. No confirmation email existed! I checked Nazy’s email. Same story. I logged onto my Allegiant account — and the only trip in the ‘my trips’ section was Nazy’s flight a few months ago. I was baffled…
“Maybe I didn’t push the purchase link,” I thought, absentmindedly.
I checked, to no avail, the credit card history. And so, reluctantly, I booked flights to Bellingham.
Then, two days before departure, I got two reminders from Allegiant. Two reminders with two different reservation numbers, different seats and different prices, but with the same departure time, date and destinations. I …
“… have purchased four uncomfortable seats to and from Bellingham,” I thought painfully.
Miffed, I scoured the Allegiant website in a fruitless search for a way to get a refund. Failing on that score, I looked for a telephone number in order to execute my plan of throwing myself on the mercy of someone at a help desk.
“Help Desk?” Nazy inquired. “You expected help from a Help Desk?”
“I was desparate.”
The Allegiant website had no telephone number for a ‘help desk’. They did however have a Chat Service. Grasping a slender strand of tenuous hope, I clicked. The response was instant:
“Hi! I’m Henry. How can I help?”
“Clever ploy,” I thought. “He’s trying to get me to let down my guard.” Warily,I explained my situation and
“Yes! I can see that you’ve made two reservations for the same flight. I will cancel the most expensive one and give you a full refund.”
While he was typing his response, I was preparing my riposte, but Henry’s chat was so unexpected, I had to make extreme use of the delete key. I considered, briefly, apologizing for my unfounded nasty thoughts. As an aside, it turns out that the reason I couldn’t find payment in my credit card history is that I paid with a debit card — no frequent flyer miles on Allegiant.
Showing consistency, Allegiant scheduled a 6:30AM departure to go with their rock hard seats that are as narrow as the ‘dialog’ on Fox News. Accordingly, Nazy and I booked a hotel near LAX. We planned an early drive to an early dinner in Los Angeles before an early bedtime before our early departure at LAX. Instead, we left Santa late (after a late dinner) and celebrated with a late bedtime — a bedtime that occurred so late that we had to get up to catch the early LAX shuttle before we had time to go to sleep.
Allegiant had said that we had check our luggage no later than 5:15. So, at 4:46AM we left the hotel room. We took the elevator (eleven floors), walked onto a waiting, but about to depart, bus, breezed through the luggage check and dashed through the TSA (PreChek) ‘service’. We found ourselves at the gate at 4:59AM. It ..
“… was a miracle, Nazy!” I exclaimed. “The last time we came to LAX, it took 2.5 hours and the last hour was spent traversing the last mile.”
Note: For the Mathematically inclined, that means that we were traveling at 1MPH for the last mile. For sporty readers: We could have walked faster than we drove. But we had to park the car somewhere other than on the access lane… however, if it had ben a rental car, maybe..
The flight was on-time, smooth and, in spite of the exit row seats, uncomfortable. Darius was waiting when we arrived.
We went to Dar and Christiane’s lovely home on Trickle Creek Blvd. where we saw (the lovely) Leandra and (the astounding) Auriane. Nazy had bought a American Girl Doll (named Samantha) for Leandra. She also found matching PJs for Sammy and Leandra. Leandra is a very, very articulate and chatty two-year old. She loves to position her dolls or other toys in straight lines. It is just..
“… like you used to do with your matchbox cars, Darius,” I remarked. “And like Tiger used to do with his cars,” I thought.
Young Auriane celebrated our arrival by turning over for the first time. She is a cheerful little girl who loves to watch her big sister. And Leandra is just as enthusiastic about the new arrival as Tiger was when Arrow arrived. Auriane, unphased, is focused on growing up.
So far, we have visited the preferred pre-school for Leandra (next year), a Pumpkin Patch Festival and Vancouver. More about these trips in next week's letter.
For last week's letter, please click here
blog comments powered by Disqus