Friday, November 04, 2005
Ignorance Must Be Bliss...

As of tonight, TFG and I will have our tickets to Australia. I spent yesterday on the phone trying to get all the information, since TFG already has his ticket and I was scrambling to find a way to get on his flight. Part of it was talking with American Express rewards services.. The phone call went something like this:

Attendant: Hello and thank you for calling Am Ex how can I help you?
Me: Hi, I'm looking to redeem points to get a ticket from LAX to Brisbane Australia.
Attendant: Okay, one moment please.. And where is LAX?
Me: Umm.. Los Angeles?
Attendant: Ah, sorry of course. One moment....... I'm on expedia and I can't seem to get you a ticket to Brisbane, I can get you to Alice Springs, Adelaide, Canberra.

I'm starting to wonder why I'm talking to this woman if all she is going to do is go on expedia and why I could find a ticket there and she couldn't....

Me: Excuse me? You can fly me to Alice Springs but not Brisbane??
Attendant: Is that odd? How do you spell Brisbane?
Me: B-R-I-S-B-A-N-E
Attendant: ah, there we go, okay. You will have to call Virgin Atlantic Airlines, find out how many points it will cost, open an account with them and then call us back and transfer the points. They will then get you a ticket on Air New Zealand.

Seems a little complicated eh? Thats what I thought, so I figured I could ask seeing as she had been doing a bang up job so far...

Me: Is there a way I can get a ticket without transferring the points?
Attendant: (sounding disgusted with me) Well I suppose you could buy the ticket using cash dollars, but I assumed that since you called American Express Point redemption that you would want to use points.
Me: (getting ticked off) Yes, and that is what I expected to do. What I wanted to know was if I could book the ticket, on points, without transferring the points to ANOTHER carrier.
Attendant: OH. Sorry, no, you can't do that.
Me: Okay thanks bye.


5 Comments:

Blogger Ubermilf said...

Arrrgh.... Arrrgh... Arrrrgh...

Blogger Loz said...

that's dumb. alice springs but not brisbane? uh, which one of those two is actually a metropolitan area?!?

i can't defend the stupidity of that person, and the arrogance of the person in choking's story, but there are alot of customer service people who aren't braindead rude bastards, like me, for example.

Blogger Scarlet Hip said...

Yes, and since Alice Springs is smack in the middle of the country and you would be flying right past Brisbane to get there, that would not be a wise choice.

By the way, do not, and I mean DO NOT miss out on an opportunity to spend some time in Sydney - the greatest city on the planet.

Blogger Knitty Kitty said...

The problem was that she didn't spell Brisbane correctly, even after I gave her the airport code.

I really thought about you loz while writing this. I'm sure you are much more competent then that woman.

Blogger Loz said...

ouch, TFG! ouch very much. i'm so pleased now that work stresses me out to the point of numb-handedness. i'm blowing a raspberry at you! NER!

brooke: i wholeheartedly agree. gooooooooooooooooooooo SYDNEY! Also, we have the best football team on the planet.

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