Shelley's Case

My adventures with Northwest/KLM/Delta

Here's the first part of the story.  I purchased a roundtrip ticket to Helsinki, Finland, to attend my brother's wedding.  I thought it was refundable, and I purchased trip insurance on top of that.  Short version: it wasn't refundable, and I ended up with a $1150 "credit" that I "might" be able to use someday on a NWA/KLM flight. 

Second part of the story: my grandmother died yesterday, and I am trying to figure out how to get to the funeral.  (Although the estate will reimburse me for my travel costs, I would like to save the estate money.  Plus, it's already a sunk cost on my end.)

I thought I could use the credit to purchase the three of us tickets to Jacksonville, FL and back.

WRONG! 

It can only be used for my ticket.  So, I thought, I could just pay the $700 for the tickets for Matthew and Peach and I would be able to use the credit to purchase my ticket.

WRONG! 

An international credit can only be used on a domestic flight if that domestic flight is as expensive or more expensive than the original international flight reservation.  The NWA reservation supervisor helpfully told me she would price a coach seat at $1200 for me so that I could use my credit.  Even though the seat was only $300 plus fees. 

How helpful. 

And did I mention I would have to pay a $250 penalty for re-using the credit?  And a $20 fee for making my reservation on the phone?  And that even though I'd be flying from Portland to Jacksonville, if I wanted a meal, I'd have to purchase one?  Oh, and there were no three seats together on any leg of the trip?

Riiiight.  This was not working. 

After much calling other airlines, internet searching, and discussions with Matthew, the plan is thus: I am going to the funeral alone, albeit in first class.  (Matthew should have been a travel agent - he was able to finess the search engines and found NWA flights that perfectly coincided with the Soutwest flight my brother and mother are arriving on.)   I managed to get the $250 penalty waived.   I'll have to drive up from Orlando (not a fun drive under any circumstances) instead of the quick drive from Jacksonville, and I will not have Matthew and Peach with me, but it'll get me there. 

I guess the next thing I need to figure out is what the fee is per checked bag. 

First trip away from Peach

I'm off to Nevada to see my sister, brother-in-law, and new nephew.  Leaving Matthew and Peach?  Was like ripping the heart out of my chest.

Just waiting on the cattle dogs to herd us aboard the Southwest flight now.  Flying on the anniversary?  Probably the safest day in the world to fly, but it does not help my nerves much. 

Matthew vs. Tri-Met

Background: Matthew takes MAX into Portland each morning to work.  (For out-of-towners, MAX is a light rail system in Portland and the burbs, part of the Tri-Met transportation empire, er, government agency.  We're fans, usually.)  The way the ticket thing works on MAX is that you can hop on and off, and you only have to show a ticket if an inspector asks you to while on the train.  If you don't, then there's a ticket for no ticket.  Usually you ride without seeing an inspector for weeks.   

More background: The inspectors aren't always pleasant.  Matthew gets an annual pass gratis from his federal employer, and he has it right behind the federal ID he has to wear to get in and out of his building. 

The morning email from Matthew (in addition to having not fed the dog yet and a smoke alarm was chirping):

They did a ticket check this morning; I refused to show the inspector my identification until he showed me his. He became belligerent and started to point out his jump suit and safety vest. He started to tell me that he wasn't going to show his ID until I produced mine and I explained that unless I was sure that he represented Trimet, that I wasn't going to produce my badge. He finally presented it but complained that it wasn't required.

So, at least I made one person's day.

Actually, I'm guessing that he entertained the entire car.  Good for him!

Beach Blogging

Matthew and I are in a not-quite-undisclosed-location along with our trusty sidekick, Norris, celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary (yesterday).  Today we had some blue skies in the morning and early afternoon, so we took our three-legged-monster to the beach.  (You can't tell from the pictures, but so did everyone else -- there were more dogs than people, it seemed!)

Waking up in Reno

Again. This marks my fourth trip to my "home" state of Nevada this year.*

January 2006: Sarah's engagement party.
February 2006: Mom's 60th birthday.
September 2006: Sarah's wedding.
October 2006: Dad's engagement party.

Lots of time in Reno this year.

*Longest time I've ever lived in one place: 8 years. Nevada. Home until June 2007, when I'll have lived in Oregon just as long. Know how you recognize a native Nevadan? They drive by a three-story image of a woman in bondage gear and don't even notice. (I'm not kidding.)