So maybe I’m not as stupid as this guy, but I do have a flight home from my Midwest work stint Friday evening that connects in Houston. In hindsight, calling this a unfortunate reservation choice seems like an understatement, but two weeks ago it was a decent option since it allowed me access to the Presidents Club.
Anyone familiar with the airline industry has probably already guessed that I’m flying Continental. Holding a Continental ticket right now for travel Thursday through Monday is particularly risky since Houston is their primary hub and headquarters. The good news is they’ve suspended the penalties for changing your reservation, but the bad news is that it’s damn near impossible to do so. If you can get through on their reservation line your estimated wait times are anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes. Maybe they’re all bugging out too…
At this point I’ve got two choices: 1) Try to get my flight changed to not connect via Houston (a practical impossibility on Continental from a feeder city), or 2) Suck it up and buy a one way ticket on another airline. If I chose the second option I’ll probably get screwed on the Continental ticket.
Choices, choices.
How bad could it be at Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday night at the Presidents Club? They’ve got plenty of peanuts and a fully stocked bar… There are worse places to be stuck…
Update: I was on hold while I wrote this… I finally got through and, long story short, I won’t be riding out the storm in Houston after all. Another person (perhaps) having second thoughts about staying in Houston is TBIFOC’s Laurence Simon.
Try to change your flight to Northwest, Continental’s partner airline. I once had to do the opposite to get home during a blizzard.
Option No. 1
BUT WITH THE FOLLOWING ELABORATION…
Use a speaker phone, dial the Reservations line, and go about your work throughout the hold time…works for me.
Hey I think the guy in the picture playing in the waves was skiping off work from the airlines.
What I always do when I want to get through faster is to not punch in anything so the machine thinks its an old rotary phone and puts you through to an agent
Does not always work but often enough to try it
Like the Blog “Good Reading”
Buying a one way ticket on short notice is a good way to get your junk juggled by airport security. They really frisk you when you have a one way….just sayin’.
On the picture, a quote I read about 30 years ago applies so appropriately,
“Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can’t help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.”
And we will see it again when Rita makes landfall. Sadly. Or maybe it’s just survival of the fitest? Facing reality, maybe some of the stupid people need to be eliminated from our pocketbook? Cruel? Or a fact that so many do not like to think about? I don’t like watching even the stupid die, but I am getting a little tired of having to give and give and give to keep them on the public dole, FOR BEING STUPID. That is not saying I am not generous to people who deserve it. But……
What resources would be committed to saving that jerk in the pic which could be focused on saving some people who really deserve the resources? If the need should arise?
Plans to bug out in place.
Maybe I should leave the wireless cam going, just for sh*ts and g*ggles?
(Why am I putting an asterisk in giggles?)
he is just plan out of his mind why would anyone want to do something this stupid? its like standing in the midst of a battle and trying to stick flowers in the guns on both sides