Woe Is Me

 Definitely a first world problem, but a problem nonetheless.  

Honey Bunny is celebrating the anniversary of her birth.  TBG and I, her grandparental units, would love to join the festivities.  

Flying makes more sense than driving.  United has a pleasing schedule and a basic fare that feels generally reasonable.  Seat assignments are buried at the end of the reservation section, after you've entered all that information, checking the long numbers more than once.  Deciding to pay for something they have to give me anyway seems absurd.  We don't need more than a carry on, and ours fit under the seat if need be.  It shouldn't be as hard as it is.

Did I want Basic Economy or Economy?  Would I be able to pay to secure a seat assignment, should TBG need me by his side?  I had to go all through the process to find out.  There's a fare breakdown on the side of the page, but seats and baggage costs are buried.  Somehow, that didn't seem right.  

And the more I thought about it, the less sense it made to me.  If, as it was in the past, they let me assign myself a seat when I book the ticket, there is one less piece of the process requiring the gate attendants' attention.  I don't have to stand in line.  The agent doesn't have to deal with me.  Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

It wasn't broke, so they fixed it. 

I moaned and groaned and figured it out and entered the credit card and scrolled past the agreements and clicked BUY NOW and the page flew to the very top and sat there.  No little ball rolling or dots dotting, no indication that the transaction had occurred.  I scrolled down, clicked again, and was sent to the top once again.

Okay, maybe try another credit card.  Nope, that didn't work.  I was afraid to refresh the page; what if I lost it all and had to reenter it again? I moaned some more, then came here and began this post.  Two paragraphs ago I decided to close random tabs as I cogitated where to take this post.  In doing so, I found two identical tabs.  I went back one page on one of those tabs, clicked BUY NOW just for kicks, and wonder of wonders miracle of miracles there was an arrow slowly making its way around and around.

So, it all worked out.  I have a complaint to send to Secretary Pete's transparency team.  I'm going to see some of my family and I have plans to see the rest of them once we have Show Choir's spring performance date.  I'm paying a lot more for a lot less to get to do all this travel. 

Like I said:  First World Problem