Murray says that when someone has a compliant at Snow Valley, it usually isn’t just one thing; it is a number of things that lead up to the complaint. This theory also applies to why we missed our flight from Bangkok to Tokyo.
- When we booked flights and hotels for this trip, our heads were still in Africa. Our usual double check may not have occurred.
- When we were packing, our usual double check may not have occurred.
- Too many pre-arranged, fully taken care of tours lately.
- Not enough traveling on our own.
- Confusing the dates on the flight itinerary (How the itinerary is laid out with the dates.) – Nov. 13 @ 11.55pm; not twigging to the fact this is about Nov 13 and not about Nov 14.
- Not double checking the flight date and time a few days prior to the actual date.
- Getting old.
We wake at the usual time this morning, Nov 14 and are talking about what time and day it will be in Japan and Vancouver when we are there and the times are not adding up. I check our flight itinerary and realize our flight left at midnight last night. SHIT!!!! Okay, I know, this is totally ALL our fault. Not an airlines fault this time.
Between packing up in a hurry, I check available flights through Air Canada and we decide to head to the airport to see if we can change flights and still make the Tokyo to Edmonton legs.
While trying to maintain “travel mode”, here is where the frustration starts. Thai Airways cannot change any flights even though they code share the first flight and are Star Alliance members. The fellow says we have to phone Air Canada. Before we left Edmonton, we found out that Air Canada could not help us and we have to go through our travel agent. Now we have to phone Canada and the travel agent we went through and it is night time in Edmonton.
Find a phone place, buy a card, phone the travel agent and she tells us she cannot get through to Air Canada because THEY ARE CLOSED!!! AC runs a global service, yet their ticket office is closed for the night. The reservation office is open but they cannot help with changing the tickets already purchased. GRRRR! The travel agent will phone them as soon as they are open and get us re-routed, leaving Nov 15 from Bangkok, through Tokyo and Vancouver then home. We have to phone her at midnight our time to confirm all this.
We go to the Plai Gardens Hotel, where we stayed on first arrival in Bangkok, before Myanmar. I get on the web and the AC site and find an earlier flight through AC and now we do not know why the travel agent did not put us on that one. It is all so confusing.
So we are in limbo until midnight, or later.
Things we learned:
- Do not book through travel agents again.
- Do not use Air Canada.
- Do not rush booking the next trip too close to coming down from a previous trip.
- When booking flights and hotels, both of us need to be involved and double checking everything.
- Re-review flight days and times a couple of days before the flight. (DUH!) Scrutinize itinerary, especially when traversing the international date line.
- This is definitely the last time we travel without a cell phone.
- Don’t get old!
Post Script:
The time difference is killing us. Our ticket lady had to wait until morning in Canada to confirm and pay for the flights to get us home. She is scheduled to send us an email at midnight our time. We have been staying up late here but not till midnight and the television is only so exciting……we are having trouble staying awake.
12:08 and we receive the email we are waiting for. We are on the flights we had discussed and will be jetting home tomorrow. Time to sleep. All in a day’s punishment for being stupid.
Post Post Script:
This bit of stupidity could have cost us $2,200 or $2,600 if we had to book completely new flights. We may have gotten home earlier if we had chosen this route. Instead, by waiting essentially 2 days, we are paying $860 (plus the cost of a cheap hotel and meals) to get home. So we saved a few bucks by delaying our return, after all, we are retired and have all the time in the world.
Let’s try this again….See you on the other side.