{"id":2888,"date":"2013-03-22T19:29:47","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T23:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/?p=2888"},"modified":"2013-03-22T22:15:53","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T02:15:53","slug":"my-biggest-road-warrior-f-up-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/2013\/03\/22\/my-biggest-road-warrior-f-up-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"My Biggest Road Warrior F*&! Up Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you heard that song by Fun, “Some Night?” Well, this is one of those days & nights! \u00a0I am headed to Bangkok from LA on Air China. \u00a0My flights from Charleston to LA were on a\u00a0separate\u00a0reservation and totally different airline. \u00a0I had it in my head that I departed from LA at 1:40. \u00a0So I booked all my other reservations accordingly.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry, I’ve been laughing for several hours now, so you can laugh while you read this too!<\/p>\n

So around 11:30 I get to the airport and it doesn’t seem like Air China’s counter is open, so I have a seat and wait, and wait, and wait….. finally, I went over to Air Canada’s counter (since they’re both Star Alliance) and asked when the counter opened. \u00a0The lady said not until later tonight. \u00a0I was a bit dumbfounded. \u00a0I pulled out my itinerary on my phone and she took a peek. She replied, “Your flight was at 1:40 am, this morning.”<\/p>\n

\"Very

Very Empty Queue<\/p><\/div>\n

OMG! I can’t believe it. \u00a0What a stupid mistake, a rookie mistake, not\u00a0something\u00a0a seasoned road warrior would do. Maybe I was just so excited about the huge interview I conducted with a hospitality giant that I got flustered and lost my head. Maybe my memory is starting to go. \u00a0Maybe I’m just a dummy who didn’t pay enough attention to her itinerary.<\/p>\n

So, what’s a girl to do? \u00a0I jumped on my laptop and started looking for new flight options at the same time calling Air China. \u00a0For the second time in my life I discovered that Air China’s phone center people really aren’t that helpful and don’t really care what’s happened. \u00a0They quoted me $3800 to rebook on tonight’s flight. \u00a0Insane! No way was I going to pay that. \u00a0I asked if I could just keep the return portion of the flight, nope, not an option. \u00a0I bought a semi-flexible ticket, so for $75 USD I could cancel the ticket.<\/p>\n

Now online, I wasn’t finding anything within a reasonable price range to get me into Bangkok by Sunday night. Shoot (that’s not what I really said) this was going to be a nightmare. \u00a0How to find reasonable business class that wouldn’t break the bank (I pay to upgrade to business out of my own pocket.) \u00a0I sat on a bench at LAX for close to 2 hours without any luck. I was even having a hard time finding anything\u00a0reasonable\u00a0in coach. \u00a0Desperate, I called the US Airways Chairman Preferred Desk. \u00a0I got a very kind agent on the first go at it. \u00a0She totally understood my\u00a0predicament. She searched and searched, but no to avial. Then she suggested an award ticket. \u00a0Okay…I was game (I didn’t think she’d find anything though.) \u00a0She was able to find me a ticket from LA to Hong Kong in first class for 120,000 miles. \u00a0That’s not terrible. With a targeted promotion I received from US Airways this week, I could buy 100,000 miles for $1750. \u00a0Deal! \u00a0First class one way from LA to Hong Kong for $1750 plus 20k of my own miles that I wouldn’t replace. \u00a0Next, I had to find a way from Hong Kong to Bangkok on Sunday after 9pm. \u00a0Boy, were the choices limited! \u00a0I ended up finding a flight for $440 on Royal Jordanian. \u00a0At least I can get OneWorld miles which will merge someday into my US Airways account.<\/p>\n

Next, I had to find a way back home. \u00a0I have zero flexibility on the way home because I have a VIP wedding to attend on Saturday April 6th and I’m working through the end of the day in Bangkok on April 4th. \u00a0I used the ITA Matrix search to find an amazing deal! Air China had a one-way business fare from Bangkok to JFK for $2,022 all in.<\/p>\n

So, in the end:<\/p>\n