They say when you first get off your duff and post, it usually is about something that get's under your skin. Well finally something got under mine... Here is the story...
Looking forward to a late mother's day present from my son...a plane ticket for my granddaughter Samantha to come down from Utah to visit us for a couple of weeks. She is the light of my life and loves to visit her Nana and Bumpa in AZ at least 2 times per year - always the best thing in the WORLD my son could ever give me for a present ;-).
As usual, my husband and I went up to Expedia and suggested a flight for my son to send her down on. Usually the least expensive flight happens to be on US Airways, but always the flight that allows us the most time together wins out.
This was a special trip because Sammy had earned coming down here by wonderful grades in school (she is 10 and got straight A's - smart little thing!), so this was extra, EXTRA special. So we found the right flight and purchased the ticket.
Well that is all I can say about the "good stuff". Now the bad stuff started to happen. First of all, Expedia contacted my son to get approval for sending a minor unaccompanied on the flight. Although this was unusual, we did not think anything about it until they started asking for his credit card number (the person on the phone did not have a good command of the English language - neither to understand what he was saying nor to answer our questions regarding the extra fee). The only thing he knew was to let us know that he could not do anything about it and to call US Airways to get more details.
On we go to US Airways where we are told there would be an additional $200.00 charge for an "unaccompanied minor". We were used to the extra $50.00 we usually had to pay but this was outrageous! Ready to cancel, we were told that we could not cancel even though we were within an hour of paying for the ticket. My son explained we had been loyal clients of both Expedia and US Airways and had purchase tickets at least 2 times per year and never been charged more than $50.00. US Airways explained they had just implemented this extra charge on May 5th (this was May 9th) and, no they could not, would not waive the fee. They would not even waive it when he explained that they have lost a customer and we would make sure plenty of other people would be informed regarding their policies and practices.
Lesson learned. But I do need to pass this on. If you ever consider sending a minor on a flight and they are not accompanied by a parent or guardian, DO NOT USE Expedia nor US Airways | America West Airlines, but instead use SouthWest Airlines and call them direct - they will beat any price online and will not add any extra charges on you either!
Okay now, back to work and no more ranting...
and next post will be something you can REALLY use!
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