They Really Didn't Want My Money

(This follows a piece of yesterday's post.  Reading that will fill in any gaps.)

All the relevant parties being vaccinated and on vacation and available for hugging, it was time to buy tickets to see our grandchildren.   My excitement was tempered with the overwhelming number of choices and decisions to be made.  Which airline?  Which airport?  Which days?  

I gathered my thoughts and my phone as TBG watched the NFL Draft, hour number nine zillion and twelve, and failed dramatically to purchase round trip airfare on Allegiant.  Yesterday's post was written before I rewarded myself by opening the tabs and choosing flights and dates and seats and once again being rejected.

After the third time the laptop reset itself to the box for my email and refused to accept the reservation, I began to take things personally.  The Live Chat Now told me it was my devices' faults and not their system at all.  Sometimes people have to clear their history and their caches and turn the computer off and then on again......  it was the on again that made me scream out loud.

Plus, the fares were now $400 more expensive than they had been when I started way back on Saturday night.  We began considering our options - wishing that COVID didn't preclude our taking the train from Midway to South Bend.  I decided to enjoy the sunshine and stopped trying.  

This morning, armed with an even more detailed description of my daughter and her family's activities for the foreseeable future, fortified by the hummingbird considering the crepe myrtle outside my window, on my turned off and then on again computer I logged on to my profile, chose flights and seats and used my points and my voucher (amazingly not rejected as it had been a few times during this odyssey) and was, once again, reset to the email box..... over and over and over every time I clicked on Purchase.

I dialed the appropriate phone number even though the Chat person said it was less busy between 9pm and 4am Pacific time,  She must be right.  I just got a busy signal, not even voice mail.

I was seriously pissed.  

Channeling all that energy into my iPad, I went through the very familiar steps, having memorized the voucher's numbers and letters by checking everything to be sure I hadn't made a mistake at every step along the way.  If nothing else, it was excellent mental exercise.

Miraculously, the price was lower than it was yesterday, and - even more miraculously - it stayed that way until I clicked on Purchase.... held my breath.... and was rewarded with a confirmation number and an email and an itinerary that only took five days and $200 to acquire.  

High speed rail is looking real good right now.