One day early, One year late
I am in Brewer, Maine right now, visiting. About a month ago, I had reserved this trip through one of the many flight websites which I can't seem to separate from each other. There are Travelocity, Expedia, Orbtiz, CheapFlights, to name a few. I made the reservation from work, and the dates were January 20th through the 26th. I didn't, however, ever receive a travel confirmation email from the website. So I forgot about it and went about daily tasks, figuring U.S. Airways would eventually email me the itinerary. They didn't.
A few days before I was about to leave, I decided it would be good to print out the itinerary so I would have the details about when/where/with which airline I was traveling. Using the Gmail in-box search function I typed "portland airplane trip" and it came up with one search result, from Expedia. I looked at it, and it said "San Francisco to Portland ME January 21; flight time: 11:46am; United" and I thought quickly, 'oh this is it' and forwarded the email to my mom and aunt so they would have the details. Well, Thursday comes around and I have my bags packed, I'm ready to go. I take the BART to the airport, enjoying the view of the bay, water, and houses that whiz by. I get to the United Airlines Kiosk and try to get my boarding passes printed out on those computer screens. However, the airline computers couldn't recognize my card. So I talked to a United Representative who was standing around. She looked at my printout and said "Ah.. this is for January 21st; you're a day early!" And I thought "Darnit! How could this have happened?" I made the necessary phone calls to let people who were expecting me to arrive that night know that I wouldn't be arriving til 10pm tomorrow night.
I took the BART back to Oakland and enjoyed a day of sunshine and relaxation. I tended to a couple unseen loose strings I'd left hanging at work, and prepared my mind come nighttime of another x-country flight set to begin in the AM. Friday, January 21st rolls around. I hopped on the BART and viewed the expanse of the bay area through glass windows thinking "I'll be seeing these hills again, but not for another week. Goodbye hills! Goodbye beautiful blue Pacific! Goodbye cluttered houses of South San Francisco!"and I arrived at the airport, mind set to travel.
Well, I arrived to the United kiosk again and tried to print the boarding passes from the computer stand. To my confusion, it didn't recognize my card again and refused to print me a boarding pass. I called over the same lady who helped me the day before and explained the problem. She searched for my name on her computer and nothing came up. Then I called Expedia and asked if my name could be found. They couldn't find it. I then looked again at my itinerary print out and, to my horror, it said "1/21/10" That's 2010. I was a year late!
Last year, when I reserved a trip through Expedia to Portland Maine it was around the same date as I was traveling this year. I confused the two flights because of the similarity of date (20th, 21st). So, in the back of my mind, I remembered I had reserved the flight through (I think) U.S. Airways. I called U.S. Airways. The representative who I spoke to on the phone said "Ah, yes, you did have a flight reserved through us. But the flight left yesterday." I was so embarrassed, and still am. I told her I never received an itinerary and all the confusion that occured, the reason why I missed the flight, etc. She apologized on behalf of the company and informed me that the next flight was leaving that day, Friday, but not until 10 pm. She said I could hop on board for only a dollar. It was great. At this point, it was 11:30. So I took off for an afternoon in the Mission District of San Francisco where I got some Mexican food and some refreshments. And, when the sun started going down, I finally, for the third time, passed through South San Francisco on the BART, said 'goodbye' to the view out my window, and deep down knew that this time, I would make it on the plane. I know it's not always true, but that saying 'third time's the charm' was truly applicable in this whole ordeal.
A few days before I was about to leave, I decided it would be good to print out the itinerary so I would have the details about when/where/with which airline I was traveling. Using the Gmail in-box search function I typed "portland airplane trip" and it came up with one search result, from Expedia. I looked at it, and it said "San Francisco to Portland ME January 21; flight time: 11:46am; United" and I thought quickly, 'oh this is it' and forwarded the email to my mom and aunt so they would have the details. Well, Thursday comes around and I have my bags packed, I'm ready to go. I take the BART to the airport, enjoying the view of the bay, water, and houses that whiz by. I get to the United Airlines Kiosk and try to get my boarding passes printed out on those computer screens. However, the airline computers couldn't recognize my card. So I talked to a United Representative who was standing around. She looked at my printout and said "Ah.. this is for January 21st; you're a day early!" And I thought "Darnit! How could this have happened?" I made the necessary phone calls to let people who were expecting me to arrive that night know that I wouldn't be arriving til 10pm tomorrow night.
I took the BART back to Oakland and enjoyed a day of sunshine and relaxation. I tended to a couple unseen loose strings I'd left hanging at work, and prepared my mind come nighttime of another x-country flight set to begin in the AM. Friday, January 21st rolls around. I hopped on the BART and viewed the expanse of the bay area through glass windows thinking "I'll be seeing these hills again, but not for another week. Goodbye hills! Goodbye beautiful blue Pacific! Goodbye cluttered houses of South San Francisco!"and I arrived at the airport, mind set to travel.
Well, I arrived to the United kiosk again and tried to print the boarding passes from the computer stand. To my confusion, it didn't recognize my card again and refused to print me a boarding pass. I called over the same lady who helped me the day before and explained the problem. She searched for my name on her computer and nothing came up. Then I called Expedia and asked if my name could be found. They couldn't find it. I then looked again at my itinerary print out and, to my horror, it said "1/21/10" That's 2010. I was a year late!
Last year, when I reserved a trip through Expedia to Portland Maine it was around the same date as I was traveling this year. I confused the two flights because of the similarity of date (20th, 21st). So, in the back of my mind, I remembered I had reserved the flight through (I think) U.S. Airways. I called U.S. Airways. The representative who I spoke to on the phone said "Ah, yes, you did have a flight reserved through us. But the flight left yesterday." I was so embarrassed, and still am. I told her I never received an itinerary and all the confusion that occured, the reason why I missed the flight, etc. She apologized on behalf of the company and informed me that the next flight was leaving that day, Friday, but not until 10 pm. She said I could hop on board for only a dollar. It was great. At this point, it was 11:30. So I took off for an afternoon in the Mission District of San Francisco where I got some Mexican food and some refreshments. And, when the sun started going down, I finally, for the third time, passed through South San Francisco on the BART, said 'goodbye' to the view out my window, and deep down knew that this time, I would make it on the plane. I know it's not always true, but that saying 'third time's the charm' was truly applicable in this whole ordeal.
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| Going to the airport, get it right, if you wanna catch my flight |
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