I’ll say it right away: This one’s my fault.
First, some background: I’m an American studying on exchange for a year at a Dutch university. I’d managed to arrange my classes such that I could leave the beginning of December and return in March. I’m a Floridian, see, and I decided that this time I was going to be the one who comes down to Florida from up north to spend the winter. Amusingly, it snowed the day after and the day before I arrived, but I have never seen snow in the Netherlands. And that was the goal.
About a month before classes would start, I started looking for a ticket online. I should have done it sooner, but I didn’t. I saw an ad for airfare.com, and a lot of their flights seemed really cheap. I saw that my connection would be in DC and I jumped on what seemed to be a great offer.
Afterwards, they sent me info stating that I’d have to change airports as I would be flying to Reagan National from home, and then from Dulles to Amsterdam. They also sent me an email asking for copies of my credit card and passport. Hell no, I thought. I jumped on Google, like I should have before buying tickets, and saw loads of people complaining about the quality of service – not to mention the more important matter, which is the likelihood of actually getting on a plane and flying somewhere.
I contacted the airlines (one leg was US Airways and one was AA, I think) and talked to both about my tickets, they both confirmed I was in their computer systems. I booked seats no problem. They insisted that because I’d bought the ticket all at once I would not have to pay for my baggage when I went from Reagan to check in again at Dulles. I don’t really know why I believed them.
As weeks went by I periodically worried about my tickets and whether I’d have a seat, so I’d call the airlines here and there to confirm everything was okay. I called airfare.com’s office and they said I was okay. I didn’t mention the creepy form about the credit card specifically, but I did ask whether they had all the information they needed. Guy on the phone said yes.
As the day of the flight approached I felt pretty comfortable. I figured I’d done everything I could about a bad situation.
I was annoyed when I woke up the day of the flight with a terrible sinus headache, my throat on fire, and my nose dripping. I took some DayQuil, blew my nose and got ready for what would be a long day.
The flight was no problem, I got my tickets and everything. Flew into Reagan, got my bag quick – first one out! – and left. I took a cab from Reagan to Dulles, where I was surprised to be told I would have to pay to check my bags in. I tried arguing, a supervisor came over. He told me there was nothing he could do and told me that it was best to take it up with the airline about a refund. Fair enough, so I paid my fifty bucks and checked my bags.
I sat for my 5-hour layover. Eventually I got on the plane. I’d planned to drink a little whiskey and relax, but when I got on I just felt miserable. So I blew my nose and sat quietly, watching the in-flight movies. Eventually I landed, about 24 hours after I’d gotten to my original airport. I went to my apartment and fell asleep first thing.
The flight itself was pretty miserable, and the worry leading up to the flight wasn’t so great either, but as a poor college student I was just doing what I could with my limited financial resources. In spite of the $100 between the taxi and checking my bags in again, I still spent a good bit less than the next cheapest flight I had been able to find online. And really, I’d gotten to where I wanted to go.
Tagged as:
fees,
illness & medical
