I had a ride for 7am this morning. Woke up to my alarm at 6 and easily could have kept sleeping. I stumbled into the washroom to have a shower. *CruNCh* I felt something pop under my feet. I looked down and it was a oversized cockroach with a swarm of ants rapidly devouring it. I shook a few of the ants from my feet. Ugh, it turned my stomach. Still makes me quiver. I thought to myself, hmm… not a good start to the day, I hope this isn’t a fore shadow.
I showered, made a nice breakfast of fresh mango, banana and muesli. Jen, the owner of the house, came down and made us coffee. We sat in the warmth of the morning outside, getting in our last chats before my departure.
The driver arrived as all this was happening. I picked up my phone, “I should call see if I can work it out” I thought. But upon further discussion, my bags were packed, the driver was there and the day was young… it made sense to head straight to the airport and try my luck. Ugh. I feel like I’ve been down this track before. Sometimes I just don’t have the energy for negotiation… and today, was no exception.
And so, we said our goodbyes, I hopped in the car, and we drove away.
The next 3 hour drive I fluctuated between frustration with my negligence, the stress of the battle I knew that was coming (I wasn’t expecting it to be easy) and ongoing attempts to internally reassure myself that either way I would get there… it was just the way I was going to get there that was undefined. I would then try to enjoy the ride for a while. Then the cycle would begin again.
We arrived at the airport and my heart started beating faster. Still semi scarred from my last experience in Toronto trying to come to Indonesia, I was pretty sure I was in for a challenge beyond what I faced at home.
I walked over to one of the airport helpers asking if he could direct me. The language barrier was quite large, on both of our sides, but he managed to understand “Change ticket.” He directed me to an unmarked little office at the other side of the terminal in the corner.
I walked over and waited. Waited. There were only two people in line in front of me, but I swore I waited 20 minutes. I decided to approach the office beside where women were talking… the lights in their office were off, they chatted as if they weren’t working.
I approached and politely interrupted to ask if this is where I could change my flight for Virgin. The girl stood up “We don’t have a Virgin desk here, you’re going to have to call your travel agent or Virgin Australia” she said. I explained that I had no ticket agent, and that it wasn’t easy for me to call. She said I would be out of luck then, because there is nothing they can do. Gulp!
I pointed to the office beside her, the one where people were waiting for what looked like getting their tickets sorted out. “Can they fix my ticket for Virgin?” I asked. “One second” she said, “Let me check.”
She interrupted them and they bantered back and forth in Balinese for a while. Then she turned to me. “I think he can help you” she said. Phew! I started thinking. One of the gentleman walked out. “How can I help you?” he said.
I explained the situation and he told me to follow him to the computer where he would change my ticket.
I waited anxious while watching his eyes twitch across the screen, hoping he’d have some good news. After a few minutes, he explained the situation. “So, you bought your ticket on the internet. It was bought through Singapore Airlines and they booked your Virgin Australia flight. Because it’s not booked directly through Virgin Australia, I can’t help you. I can’t change your flight. You will have to call Virgin.”
Frustration. No wi-fi in the airport, low on credit on my phone, calling Virgin didn’t seem like a promising plan.
I tried seeing if there were more options with him. Was there other ways he could try booking the ticket? Anyone else I could talk to? Etc. I was given the choice of either calling Virgin or waiting until their ticket desk opened in an hour. I decided to wait until the desk opened.
Meandering around to kill time, I noticed the Singapore Airlines desk was open. Hmm.. I thought. “Perhaps, if he said it was booked through Singapore airlines, I should talk to them instead of Virgin” I was thinking. I decided to queue up.
“Ok, thank you so much” I said gratefully, bowed my head and walked over to the other woman. “Finally! Someone from Virgin!” I thought. My hopes were high.
I walked over and explained my situation again. She understood almost instantly and told me to follow her. She was dressed in a tight light pink business suit, it made her glow. I mentioned, as we walked over how nice the pink suit looked on her… in hopes to win her over, but also just to befriend someone in all of this, and she lit up. “I hate pink she said” and let out a good laugh. “Ah, it looks great… most people couldn’t pull it off” I said. She laughed harder and said “It’s valentines day every day!” ha ha. We both laughed together.
It turns out she led me back to the desk where I started, the ticket desk in the corner of the terminal. The man sitting behind the desk got up and took me to explain my situation further. I ended up back where I started, talking with Pram (they guy who first tried to change my flight and told me to talk to the Virgin ticket desk).
He chuckled… “You again” he said, and then continued to explain he’d done everything he can and that I had to try and talk with the actual ticket desk for Virgin when it opened. Look for the woman in red. Sigh. Looks like I had to keep waiting.
I walked over to where I thought the Virgin desk was going to be and upon arrival found a line up of maybe 50-60 people waiting in line. “Seriously?! I don’t want to wait through this” I thought. I decided to talk to the girl monitoring the line.
Optimism was going up again this time. He was looking at flights. Had my passport, ticket, etc. Then looked up and said “You were supposed to fly out at 1am this morning, arrive in Sydney… etc.” He ran through the whole itinerary I had on my print out like it would be news to me. Patience waning. I explained, that I knew I’d missed my flight and was trying to change it. In response, he got up, told me to hold on and walked over to talk to his supervisor.
He came back 5 minutes later. “I can’t do anything for you” he said. He explained that I had to buy a new ticket, they couldn’t change it. He told me to go to the Ticket Office (that little office in the corner of the terminal). I explained I had already been there. He told me to hold on while he went to talk with his supervisor again.
He returned and asked me to follow him. He said he wanted to know what was going on. I tried to explain what Pram had said, but language barriers made it nearly impossible. So I followed him back to that same corner of the airport, where a whole group of people discussed my situation in Balinese (or Indonesian – can’t tell at this point). A new guy came out and wanted to try changing my flight again but I had to insist and try to explain the situation more. I was essentially buying time until Pram returned again. And so he did. We met yet again.
He explained the situation to the guy from the Virgin desk and then told me they couldn’t do anything. I reminded him that he said I could talk to the “representative” of Virgin but wasn’t able to find her. He said I could talk to her. I explained that I’d tried but ended up with the current guy that brought me over there. “Please Pram, can you just come with me and introduce me to her?” I asked. He led the way.
We got to the Virgin desk again and “Finally!” I thought, “I will be able to change it and be done with it!” We walked over to her, again bypassing the entire line, and he started speaking with her. She then turned to me and in a British accent said I would have to call my agent. I explained I bought it online and didn’t have an agent. She started to look on the computer. She spent a while. I was hopeful. She finally spoke “I cannot change your booking… because it’s booked with Singapore Air” she said. “This ticket, at this point, is useless. You’re going to have to buy a new one.” She continued “A new flight is $660 USD plus taxes, etc.”
At this point I was starting, ever so slightly, to get emotional. I explained I couldn’t afford to buy another ticket. That I had to get there tomorrow. I pleaded, to see if there was anything she could do. Her and Pram talked some more, she looked on the computer more… I was hoping the more time I spent with them, the more likely the chance of us finding a middle ground. She responded “There is another flight you could by to Brisbane, but the flight is full so you’ll have to leave tomorrow. That flight is $650” she said. Man, this flight was getting really expensive… I was started to question whether I could justify it or not. I asked if I had other options.. “Should I call Virgin and see if they can help?” I asked. “If we can’t help you, they can’t help you.” “Should I talk to Singapore Airlines then? Since we can’t change the ticket because they did the booking?” I proposed. “I don’t think they will be able to help you” she said. She subsequently told me I could check the neighboring airline for the cost of their flight but reminded me the cost of the Virgin flight she was trying to sell me could go up anytime.
I was determined – I had to be able to better than that!
So I went downstairs and bought some credit. I phone Virgin Australia (in Australia) while waiting in line to determine the cost of the flight from a different airline. Just before the front of the queue, Virgin picked up. I explained the situation. She understood. Unfortunately, however, the Virgin rep was right – they couldn’t help me. Mainly because of the fact the flight was booked through Singapore Airlines. Gah! Damn internet booking. Damn Tripsta (the site I booked with). I tried calling them to see if they could help, and either couldn’t get through on some numbers or got no answer at others. ☹
I decided to call Singapore airlines next, but when the phone picked up the message explained they were closed on Sunday. Man oh man… things just kept going wrong!
I was starting to resign to the fact I’d have to buy another ticket. I felt too far in at this point i.e. had already bought a $1200 flight, have a place booked, meetings planned, I was going even if it cost more. So I started looking online at flights. I wanted to see if I could find a flight better than Virgin. And I did! $100 cheaper, and it got me there earlier than the one Virgin was trying to sell me.
I started queuing up on my phone how I would buy it… when I decided, to try one more avenue, to return to the Singapore airlines desk and try and talk with someone more senior.
I picked an empty desk and explained the situation again. The woman I was speaking with took me over to another woman who took my passport and agreed to try and help. I handed it over and asked her if she could look me up in the system. She was the first person all day to demonstrate any empathy to my mishap.
She searched on the computer for a while, then got up to leave. She pointed to her colleague “He will help you from this point forward” she explained and walked away.
Agung sat down and asked me to explain further. He was also the first to ask why I had missed the flight. When I explained, we both had a good chuckle and he kept at it. I kept looking at flights in the meantime for purchase. He spent a lot of time on the phone.
About 10 minutes later, he got off the phone and asked me to wait 5 to 10 minutes while his contact looked to see if they could change my ticket! “yeah! Progress! Hope!” I was thinking. Maybe this time there is a chance.
I went to sit down. I was starving at this point as I’d been at it for the past 4 hours.
He came over a few minutes later with a piece of paper. “So” he said. “My contact on the phone said we can change your ticket for the same flight you had today but for tomorrow. We will have to charge you… “ and he pointed to the paper. “130USD” it said. “THANK GOD!” I thought to myself. Now that is MUCH better. I assured him that wouldn’t be a problem.
He nodded with a smile and left back to his desk to confirm a few things. “Could this really be it?” I thought. “Could I actually be able to change my ticket for that? And the flight is perfect!” Finally! It was feeling close to over. I was still holding my breath though – I didn’t feel totally in the clear.
He came back a few minutes later. He sat down beside me and asked for my card so we could make the change. I handed it to him and he started to read it out… but stopped. A pause. He then turned to me “So the flight from Denpasar to Sydney is good but the flight from Sydney to Christchurch is booked. You’ll have to leave the next night” he said. Ugh. I had a feeling something would go wrong.
I recalled from the flights I’d been looking at that they had a stop over in Sydney and Brisbane. I asked if he could check that flight. “We can’t change the flight route” in this booking he said. Sigh. More brainstorming. Perhaps I’d just have to go later… which I was really hoping wouldn’t be the case.
“Oh, wait a second” he said. “My colleague just found a flight from Denpasar to Melbourne leaving today at 10:30! You would arrive tomorrow in Christchurch mid afternoon if you can fly standby or midnight if you take the later flight” PERFECT! I thought!! Never been to Melbourne… thought having a stopover there, if a long one, would be great. Yay! This might work out well! I agreed.
Still credit card in hand, he gave the rest of the numbers on my card over the phone and then hung up. He explained I would get an e-ticket shortly. Sigh. What a relief! I still get to leave today… earlier than the other flight… for less cash to change the flight… through a city I’d like to explore if there is time. It’s all good! What a great outcome!!
Just to be sure, I asked him what to do if the email didn’t come through. He wrote down his name and his colleagues… and said to just mention our discussion when I came back later that day. No problems. Phew… was feeling so relieved.
I got back to the car where the driver had been patiently waiting. I explained the situation, he couldn’t believe it. I called Jen, and explained how things went. The driver decided to stay with me for the afternoon and drive me into town for sushi. Finally things were looking up! We pulled out of the parking spot and started to pull out of the garage… I kept checking my phone for the eticket.
An email suddenly popped up! “Yaaaaay” I said to the driver, and showed him the email as proof we’d made it. I scanned through, my departure info looked great.. and… “Wait a second… my return date… it says 13 March 2014….. really?!” I looked in more detail at the ticket. Seriously… they had changed the ticket but! They had actually changed my return date back to Denpasar to March 2014! Really?! REALLY?! Ugh. I couldn’t believe after all of that, another hurdle.
I showed the driver, we turned around, and parked again. I entered the airport again and searched for Agung again. With no luck I approach some other ladies just chatting on the bench that I had previously spoken with through all of this. One woman told me to sit down and she tried to start helping with the situation. She asked when I wanted to return. At this point I though, maybe this is a silver lining… instead of paying to extend my ticket, this mishap will lead me to a ticket extension for free! So I asked if we could just make it a day later. She asked on the phone and then told me to wait.
Wait. Wait. Wait. I sat there with the three ticket desk ladies as they chatted in the waiting area chairs… trying to strike up conversation as a means to make light of the situation. Wait. Wait. By this point I’d created quite a little posse of people I’d been dealing with.
Agung came over, we both explained, and he got on his phone. He returned a few minutes later asking for my phone number. “Our colleague is trying to change it and will let me know when it’s changed. I will call you when the change is done” he said. Very hesitant given the morning to trust this final stage to be completed with a phone call, I agreed with hope he’d follow through.
Two hours later, post trip into town, post sushi, en route back to airport where I’m now waiting for the next 5 hours (unable to check in until the ticket desk opens) I still had received no phone call. Man. Exhausted.
We get to the airport, I unload this time, thank the driver for his patience. He was truly great. I load up a cart and walk into the airport to try and finalize the last part of my ticket.
I walked up to the Singapore desk and asked for Agung or his colleague. She said they’d already left. I tried explaining the situation and, again, she said I had to talk to Virgin. I explained further.. in detail… showing her the email with the wrong date… showing the details of the previous booking.. the entire story. She turned to her supervisor and after some back and forth, he got up and told me to follow him.
Where did we go?! The ticket counter, again, in the corner of the terminal. Upon walking there, it seemed as though most of the people I’d had to deal with to date were all gathered chatting. The lady in pink, Pram, another guy that had helped later on… I almost wanted to hang my head in shame for how much of a headache I must have seemed.
The man walked up to them, explained the situation… then he dispersed. No word. Pram came out of nowhere with a piece of paper… “You might want this” he said. It was a crumpled printout from a dot matric printer. It had my name written on the top, with the old return dates but my new flight route. “That’s what you’re looking for?” he said. And yes, that was what I needed. Ahhh, the other flight had been changed. At this point, as I took the paper, I was done. The flight was now changed and I was going to New Zealand! Wow. What an adventure.
It’s been a tough venture getting to and leaving Indonesia… I hope the next stages are a little easier. I will, for sure, check my flight information 3-4 times from now one every time before I fly!
Off to New Zealand in a few hours. Wish me luck and stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment