A Logistical Nightmare
   
   My trip to Worcester, MA was a legistical nightmare where I
   was misinformed by every institution involved and I have
   born an unncessary, $400, out-of-pocket expense.
   
   
   December 3, 1998
   
   1. It all started around December 3, 1998 when I bought
   round-trip tickets from Raleigh-Durham, NC to Worcester, MA.
   I was to leave Raleigh on Thursday, April 15, 1999 and
   return on Saturday, April 17, 1999. A travel agent, Travel
   Agency A, helped me make these arrangements.
   
   
   January 15, 1999
   
   2. A few weeks later a new opportunity presented itself and
   I needed to be in Lansing, MI on Monday, April 19, 1999.
   Instead of returning to Raleigh on Saturday and then flying
   to Lansing on Sunday, I worked with the travel agent so I
   could fly directly from Worcester to Lansing. This way I
   would incur a Saturday night stay and reduce the costs of
   the fare. I recieved my itinerary and necessary tickets on
   January 15.
   
   
   April 14
   
   3. Between 6 and 7 PM on April 14 I pulled out my itinerary
   and tickets. After finding a ticket on Airline A for a trip
   from Raleigh to Worcester via Laguardia, I called Midway to
   confirm my reservation. A man answered the phone. He sounded
   as if English was not his native language. He told me that I
   did not have a reservation on Airline A on April 15 to
   Worcester, but I did have a reservation on April 17 from
   Laguardia to Raleigh. I was puzzled.
   
   4. I looked through my papers and found the itinerary. It
   said I had a confirmed reservation on Airline B from Raleigh
   to Worcester via Laguardia. I called Airline B. A man
   answered the phone and said, "Yes, you do have a
   reservation, but your record looks very strange. I suggest
   you call your travel agent." I asked him whether or not I
   had an eticket. He said yes.
   
   5. I called the travel agent but the bookkeeper answered the
   phone and said the agency was closed and they would not be
   open until 8:30 the next morning, not soon enough to visit
   them, fix a problem, and get to the airport on time.
   
   6. I called Airline B again. This time I got a woman. I
   asked her what was needed to get on a plane if a passenger
   had an eticket. She said a photo ID and a credit card,
   specifically, the credit card that was used to purchase the
   ticket. Incorrectly thinking I had not used my credit card
   to make the reservation, I asked her what I would have to do
   if I didn't have the credit card. She then said I would not
   need a credit card. I then asked her why she initially said
   I needed a credit card and that is when the conversation got
   testy. I could barely get in a word in edgewise to say
   goodbye and hang up the phone.
   
   7. I relaxed just a bit, called Airline B once more,
   confirmed that I had an eticket, and estabolished a frequent
   flyer account.
   
   
   April 15
   
   8. The day of my flight to Worcester I got to the airport in
   at 8:30 for a flight leaving at 10 o'clock. While waiting in
   line at the Airline B baggage check-in, I noticed an
   attendant having a difficult time with a pair of passangers.
   It just so happens that this is the same attendant that
   checked me in. I told him my name, presented my photo ID,
   and he checked my bag. He then have me a boarding pass. I
   did not look at it. I asked him whether or not it would get
   me to Worcester. He said, "Yes."
   
   9. As I was boarding the plane the attendant said I could
   not continue; my boarding pass was for Laguardia to
   Pittsburgh. The rest of the passangers boarded the plane
   while the attendant took me to the counter. He explained
   that I would have to buy a new ticket at the cost of $400.
   Anxious and a bit upset, I bought a ticket and got on the
   plane.
   
   10. On the plane I began to wonder where my bags were going.
   If my boarding pass was for Laguardia/Pittsburgh, then it
   would seem logical that my bag would go to Pittsburgh as
   well. I called the travel agent from the plane in the hopes
   of getting some advice but the agent was busy and I only
   left a message.
   
   11. Upon my arrival in Laguardia, I went to the gate for my
   connecting flight. I was given a boarding pass to Worcester,
   but the attendant said my record was strange.
   
   12. Curious, I called Airline A again. This time they said,
   "Yes, you did have a reservation to fly to Worcester this
   morning. You missed the plane."
   
   13. I called the travel agent, and asked for some advice.
   They suggested I ask the attendant about my bag. In the
   meantime, they would look into my records to see what the
   problem was. I was to call back in thirty minutes.
   
   14. After checking with the attendant, I was assured my bag
   was enroute to Worcester dispite the fact I was originally
   given a boarding pass from Laguardia to Pittsburgh.
   
   15. I called back the travel agent in 30 minutes, but they
   were busy.
   
   16. I finally arrived in Worcester. I spent the next two and
   a half hours on the telephone to the travel agent, Airline
   B, and Airline A. The travel agent said I should get all or
   part of my ticket refunded from Airline A. They also
   suggested I completely document my experience and report it
   to Airline B. Airline B listened very carefully and
   discovered that while my itinerary initially looked like an
   eticket, upon closer examination only part of the itinerary
   was an eticket and I should have been given a flight coupon.
   To explore the possibilities of getting a refund from
   Airline A, I called the appropriate number but I got lost in
   the telephone tree and/or got put on hold. After realizing
   that I was calling after hours I hung up. I called Airline A
   one more time to confirm that I really did have a ticket and
   I had missed my flight. This was confirmed and I was told
   that my record had been annotated.
   
   
   Summary
   
   This comedy of errors has cost me at least $400, a lot of
   confusion, and a heightened feeling of anxiety. Every
   institution involved gave me misinformation. Airline A said
   I did not have a reservation when in fact it did. The travel
   agent gave me a ticket for Airline A, but contradicted it
   with an itinerary based on Airline B. Airline B said I had
   an eticket but that was only partly true. Furthermore,
   Airline B issued me an invalid boarding pass. This caused me
   to buy, essencially, a third ticket to Worcester to get on
   board.
   
   Nobody did any of these thing purposely. The travel agent
   probably made a simple data entry error when I added the
   Lansing leg to my itinerary. The first Airline A attendant
   most likely read his screen incorrectly. The Airline B
   baggage check-in clerk was most likely distressed over his
   previous customers. Finally, pressured for time, the Airline
   B attendant who charged me $400 for the final ticket was
   probably playing it safe for his own sake. Understandable.
   
   I'm not angry, but I am a bit poorer and a bit older. I am
   willing to chalk most of this up to experience, but I feel
   like I have loaned somebody $400 for the convience of making
   these mistakes and I want this debt repaid.
   
   
   Eric Lease Morgan
   April 20, 1999