Google Data

Thinking this was no big deal, I dialed the airline and smiled to myself when the operator answered the phone with a cheerful "Bula!" I politely explained my situation, and was horrified to hear that, because my flight was set to depart less than three days from today, the minimum fee to replace the ticket would be over $1000 USD. Wait, I thought the man said, 'Bula,' not 'Moola'!

I then called the booking agency since I have (or had!) a multi-carrier ticket, and was given more bad news:

Travel Agent: "Ms. Lane, we're sorry, but you'll have to buy a whole new ticket."
Me: not worth repeating :o)
Travel Agent: "Yes, we understand that you have a confirmation number and itinerary, but..."

Try telling someone that works for a tech company that a new ticket is necessary, when the whole transaction took place online! How could this be? And then the tears came. Lots of them. Spending an additional $1K+ is a big price to pay for such a little mistake.

I held the phone line, blotting mascara from my eyes with a Kleenex, and waiting for the travel agent to return so we could book another ticket. I signed in to Google Talk to see if anyone was online to help me curse the travel gods! And then my other line began to ring. I wasn't able to answer since I was still on hold. Then it rang again. Finally, my computer started ringing – it was my mom on Google Talk. My mom! She'd found my tickets, and couldn't get through on the phone to tell me!!! Thank goodness for Google Talk – without it, I might have had two seats to Fiji!

Heather Lane
Editor