Expensive Disaster #2 AKA I hope it's merely an old wives' tale that bad things come in 3's
Well. Shoot. That was, for lack of a better word, a fuckup. (Sorry SD)
Spooked by being sick, I decided to retreat to Ontario to regroup. I went back to Istanbul, arriving sometime after midnight, and looked for a cheap ticket home. (Cheap being a relative word here and home an odd choice of one given that I don't actually live anywhere.) I found a great (another relative word) set of flights leaving at 5:50 am and going through Frankfurt and Montreal that would have gotten me to Ben’s in time for supper Monday. The price was acceptable and so I hit the buy button, it was about 3 am at this point, copied down my confirmation number and flight locator code, and blithely went to check my bag.
No.
It turned out I also needed an electronic ticket. The poor girl at the check in counter had to call her supervisor and she referred me to another counter. There they could see my reservation on their computer, but without an electronic ticket they wouldn't let me board.
An added inconvenience was that the only free WiFi in the (huge) airport was at the opposite end to the counter where the experts were. I went back, messaged Ben, had him call customer support only to have them first claim I had no need of an electronic ticket and then hang up on him. I went back to the other counter to talk to the experts again and then back to the wifi zone to try and find another resolution. The people at the airport said check in closed at 5 am sharp and that without my e-ticket by then I was screwed. I stood at their desk as the last minutes slipped by and then went to look for a bench to nap on.
When I woke up my e-ticket was in my inbox of course, timed 5:26, and after installing Skype on my phone so I could talk to customer support myself (I travel without a sim card) I was told that I would have to pay the full fare even though I missed my flight. Missed? Missed! What!
So I am not happy. I'm still sick, I'm way overtired, and, apparently, incapable of making coherent decisions. Also I'm going to have to decide how much effort I'm going to put into the - likely fruitless - job of trying to get my money back. AARGH.
Needless to say it has not been a good day.
And - just incase the fates are listening - I really could live without a third disaster tomorrow!
