Buytng Airline Tickets

Except for going into Best Buy without a Cuter by my side, purchasing airline tickets is myleast favorite consumer activity.

The prices change for no apparent reason.  Did something happen to the price of oil overnight to cause the fare to rise 10%?  Did flight attendants' wages suddenly spike, causing a massive overhaul of the cost to fly?  Suddenly, the flights that were about the cost of my first car are now approaching the cost of TBG's first Ferrari.

Did I mention that those discounted tickets include only middle seats?

The discount sites are all linked, which frightens me all over again.  I go through Orbitz, I make my selection.  Then, before I can exit the site, a warning flashes on my screen: Am I sure I don't want to check all the other sites, to see if I can save some big bucks?  Of course I do.  So I click through and now I have half a dozen more open tabs on my monitor.  They all reflect the same thing - there's only 1 seat left at the cheapest price.

One seat on each of the sites?  Really?  Does that mean there are 6 seats?  Can I buy one on one site and one on another?  If I do the first one will the second one disappear?  And what about the airline's site itself?  It lists that same price, with the same availability.

And then there is paying with miles.  Do I have enough? Can I pay for one ticket with miles and another with dollars?  Will we end up sitting together?  And what is my Passenger Number anyway?

What am I missing?  Does it need to be this complicated?  And why did I wait until the very last minute to book these tickets?

That is the real question.

And the real answer is that the planning and buying and angst were more than I chose to deal with.  Ah...... procrastination..... denial..... distraction......   I am paying the price this morning, in more ways than one.