Monday, April 14, 2008

Travel arrangements are going to make me age prematurely

Yeah so here's the saga:

I booked my tickets to India on Expedia. Their itinerary showed me arriving in Delhi at 8:15pm on Wed. April 23rd and departing Delhi to Bangalore on Th April 24th at 6:30am- so 10.5 hour layover. Perfect.

A day or so later,I looked at Continental to confirm my tickets were booked and it showed me arriving in Delhi at 8:15pm on Tuesday April 22nd, which I thought was a bit odd, because of the time change, but hey, I'm used to traveling to Moscow, not India, so I trust the airlines (hahaha), I must have looked at the Expedia stuff wrong and missed the "+2 days". So I reserve a hotel in Delhi for two nights and think, okay, well I just make a trip to the Taj Mahal on my extra day there (the 23rd).

So I am getting ready to confirm the hotel reservations and the paranoid flight controller side of me says "you know, you should probably check those arrival times one more time, since you already screwed it up once". Well I check Expedia and sure enough, it definitely says arrival on Wed April 23rd. So I call Expedia, just to point out the mistake so other travelers don't get walloped with a 36 hour layover. They thanked me for my advice. So then, I call Continental (I'm telling you- paranoid). Here's our conversation:

Continetal guy (CG): "you arrive in Delhi on April 23rd at 8:15pm".
Me: "I'm looking at my itinerary on your website and it says I arrive at 8:15pm on April 22nd".
CG: "If you leave Newark, NJ on April 22nd at 8:30pm you couldn't arrive in Delhi India at 8:15 pm on the same day".
Me: "Yes, I agree, so why does my itinerary say I arrive on April 22nd at 8:15pm instead of the 23rd"
CG: "Well, we have to put the 22nd down so people will know that they are departing Newark on the 22nd. If we put the 23rd down for your arrival in Delhi, people would think that they would depart Newark on the 23rd, instead of the 22nd"
Me: "Uh no, since it clearly states "Depart Newark on April 22nd at 8:30pm, I don't see how someone could think that. Maybe I am thinking too smart, but since I know there is a time change when I fly around the world, I expect to arrive on a different day, so its pretty confusing to me when you put the wrong day down for my arrival"
(I was thinking a whole lot of other stuff, but it wasn't very nice)
CG: "I'm sorry ma'am that's just how we do things"
Me: "So, can you confirm that I do arrival in Delhi on Wednesday April 23rd and not on the 22nd like my itinerary says"
CG: Yes ma'am I can confirm that you arrive on the 23rd"
Me: Thank you.

Let me just say that
1) its a good thing I didn't pay for my hotel and train tickets in Delhi yet
2) None of my Moscow itineraries- which are very similar to my India departure times, have ever said "Hey you leave Atlanta on August 8th at 4pm and arrive in Moscow on August 8th at noon...it would say "arrival on August 9th".
3) After all of that, I wouldn't be surprised if I do land in Delhi and its the 22nd

Am I missing something here?

4 comments:

Stasha said...

They're crazy!

So you weren't as blonde as you thought.

Todd said...

You won't even end up in India...
Good luck!

Have fun!

Mike said...

As I recall, for the flights to Europe, it says something like next day to emphasize that it's not the same day on which you are leaving... but it at least has the correct date! Good luck!

Heather said...

That's totally awesome! Eric would have had a hay day with that :)