Leaving on a Jet Plane

So this post has to do with my recent adventure to Spain! It was a great trip and I think every young (as in 21 or older) person should go to a different country at least once. I think a few of my posts for the next few weeks will involve this trip, as I got SO MUCH out of it, good and bad. I like to get the bad out of the way, so this one was a bad experience that I think a lot of people can learn from and it has to do with booking flights, getting on flights and missing flights. 

My best friend and I booked this trip on Expedia in November of 2010. They had a great deal for airfare and hotel and we could not be more excited! We saved up spending money and counted down the days to my first and her second European adventure. I registered with the consulate there (which I recommend HIGHLY especially with growing global unrest). They get your contact information and inform you of anything that US citizens should be worried about and will even tell you if you need to get out of the country. I also registered with Smart Traveler who does the same type of thing. 

On the day of our flight, we get to the DFW airport almost 3 hours before our first flight. Our itinerary was to fly from DFW to Chicago O’Haire, then to Madrid and finally to Barcelona, our ultimate destination. We try to check our bags in with American Airlines and ran into a problem. Expedia had booked us with only a 30 minute layover in Chicago for an international flight. Now, in November, we had 2 hours and Expedia had changed our flights 3 times between then and the day of the trip. The gate agent said American could not rebook us and Expedia said that they could not rebook us. This is the first in many headaches by booking through a third party. 

I then spoke with a GREAT AA agent, Patty Peppertree, who booked us on a direct flight to Madrid. She tried everything to get us to Barcelona that day, but we decided to take a train (300$) from Madrid to Barcelona.  A small headache and one that I am planning to take up with Expedia. 

Even though we thought our troubles were behind us, the return flights were worse. Expedia had again changed our flight, but had put our itinerary in a format that was very difficult to read (I mean, I am reasonably intelligent and read the time change wrong). We still got to the airport early enough to check in (2 hours for a domestic Spanish flight) and missed check in by 3 minutes. The kiosks were not working and the agents were not helpful. We then had to rebook a direct flight from Barcelona to JFK, take a shuttle to Newark, spend the night at the Newark Airport and fly to DFW the next day. And oh did I mention, this change cost us $900.

Now I don’t mean to displace all the blame. I could have checked more carefully, I could have bought wireless in our hotel to check us in, (there is no 3G data there and it was expensive to obtain), etc. But what I learned out of this entire ordeal is to BOOK DIRECTLY WITH THE AIRLINE. Then you don’t run into falling in between the cracks where neither entity wants to help you. 

For this trip, we ended up going to 5 different airports and never once flew on one of the original booked flights. I did all that I knew how to do at the time; confirm, arrive early, have all of your documents in order, etc., but it still was not enough. If you ever travel internationally (which I will again) just don’t look for the cheapest way, and don’t use anyone other than the airlines themselves. More positive things to come in the next few weeks!