warmed-over soapboxesclever would be nice

You’re responsible and plan ahead? Fuck you!

§ April 25th, 2009 § Filed under whine § 4 Comments

So, we’re going to Greece. In fact, in less than three weeks, I’ll be in London, and in three weeks and a day I’ll be in Greece, probably somewhere on the road between Athens and Kalampaka. Nothing can daunt my excitement about this, although the airline industry and its minions are doing a pretty good job of trying.

You might recall that I bought tickets a couple months ago; I’d been watching prices for weeks and bought when they started edging up. Since then, prices have dropped approx. eight hundred dollars.

I find this extraordinarily frustrating: that people like me who plan, wait, and watch get totally screwed by last-minute prices. So I called Expedia, which I booked through because it had the lowest prices, to see if I could get some or all of the difference refunded. Nope. You can only get a refund if the price changes within twenty-four hours. (That is such a stupid gimmick.)

So I asked if I could pay the change fee of around three hundred dollars to “change” to the lower price tickets (why not? we’d come out five hundred bucks ahead, and Expedia would make money off it). But the person taking my call did not understand what I was asking, and kept repeating the we-can’t-refund-you-after-twenty-four-hours spiel. *sigh*

I guess I’ll try calling British Airways to see if they can do anything, and then I’ll try Expedia again to see if I can get a different CSR. One who understands that hey, I want some of my money back, and if, in the future, I have to book on Orbitz or the airline’s own site because of a better chance of getting them to refund me the difference if my flight changes, then so be it.

This is all just to say that it sucks to be a responsible, plan-ahead type of passenger when people who wait till the last minute end up with better deals. I hate getting financially screwed, but especially at times like this.

Nonetheless…three weeks till Greece!