Remember that fabulous Costa Rica honeymoon I have been bragging about? Well, AT&T, Expedia and US Airways tried to ruin it for me. Oh how they tried.
First I need to blame Expedia. Amanda and I have both received several voicemails over the last few weeks about how our flight itineraries had changed. Thing was, nothing had changed. We kept receiving follow-up emails confirming the exact itinerary we had originally scheduled! I called Expedia to investigate and the representative I spoke with had no additional information about why we had originally received the calls.
I thought we were in the clear.
Wrong.
Amanda received another voicemail while we were on our way up to Seattle on Sunday to meet the caterer and see the Lake Forest Park reception venue again with Mom and Courtney. Shame on us for having a good time blaring music on the way up!
I called Expedia back immediately. After waiting 15 minutes on hold to speak to someone at Expedia, I spent another half hour or so waiting on hold while the Expedia guy talked to the US Airways. Our return flight had been cancelled and there was no other way to get us back on the day we had originally planned. ANNOYING. Thanks, US Airways! I'm sure the "Happiest Place on Earth" has a tough time attracting enough tourists to fill your planes.
For the record, I think Expedia and like airline aggregates are great. They have a place in the travel industry because they connect the dots between airline itineraries and find the lowest rates. Great. What I hate about them is that they really just are a hurdle when it comes to customer service. I didn't call the Expedia guy just to be put on hold while he calls US Airways! I'd much rather had just called US Airways myself and saved the initial Expedia hold time dammit.
By this time we were at the caterer location, Husky Deli, in West Seattle. I was pacing around the wine section (a comfort zone) while waiting for the Expedia guy to confirm my flight changes with US Airways. This is where the AT&T blame comes in.
I DROPPED THE CALL. I dropped the call after nearly an hour on the phone -- 95 percent of it hold time. AT&T, I need you to keep a line when I am in the middle of West Seattle surrounded by no tall buildings or mountains. I can understand if I was on the slopes skiing or in the basement of UW building, BUT I WASN'T. Shortly thereafter I received an email from Expedia confirming my flight from Costa Rica to Charlotte WITH NO RETURN FLIGHT TO SEATTLE. After all that time trying to figure out ways to get back to Seattle, Expedia leaves us in Charlotte. WTF WTF WTF!
I was done with customer service and dropped calls and all-up errors that day. It was Sunday and I was supposed to be having a good time with Amanda, Mom and Courtney wedding planning. We did. I dropped the stress like an AT&T call to focus on the rest of the day.
I picked up where I left off on Monday morning by calling Expedia again to get a flight from Charlotte to Seattle. I went through the hoops with Expedia again and again dropped the call before I could get confirmation about the changes. That was another half hour lost. I called back. I got a hold of an Expedia agent right away but the hold times for him to call US Airways were extremely long -- 25 minutes at one point. I had the hold music permanently branded into my brain by this point. I had to skip a work meeting just to stay on the line as I would have lost the connection if I had stepped in the elevator. I based out of Tully's for the first half hour of my work day just to wait for the Expedia agent to get back on the phone and confirm the new itinerary, now spending the night in Los Angeles and returning to Seattle a day late. No comp for the hotel either. Subtract that from any wedding money earned.
At least I had resolution. Two hours and 30 minutes later I had resolution. We are getting to Costa Rica and we are coming back and we are going to have a great honeymoon, so help me God.