Dennis' story

Dennis writes like he is filling out a police report:


"My grandson, Jacob, was going to be baptized in Logan, UT on New Year’s Eve morning at 10 AM.  About 4 weeks ahead time, I purchased a round-trip ticket from Fresno to Salt Lake City. My flight there was set for 12/29 with the return on New Year’s Eve late in the afternoon.  For some strange reason, I thought New Year’s Eve was on Saturday so I kept telling everyone that I would leave on Thursday and return on Saturday. 

On Wednesday morning, I was doing some work on my computer and needed to look at the date.  The date in the corner of the screen said “12/29.”  I thought that the computer must be wrong because I was leaving on Thursday and that was supposed to be the 29^th.  I then started getting this sick feeling.  I realized that I made a mistake and was supposed to be on a flight that had already left.

I immediately called Travelocity.com (where I purchased the original round-trip ticket) and told them I had missed my flight and asked if I would I be able to get a flight for later that day.  No seats were available until the next day.  They would also not let me buy just a new ticket for the “To” trip and keep the “Return” flight.  They said that, because I missed the first flight, that the second flight was canceled.  The agent said that the only thing they could do would be to give me a credit on a new round-trip ticket.  This would entail a $180 penalty plus the cost of a new ticket.  The final figure was $848 on top of what I originally paid (about $470).  I told him that I could see on the website that there was a round-trip ticket leaving the next day for $577.  But he said that in order for me to get the credit, I had to fly on the exact same airlines as the original ticket.  Both of the original flights had 1 stop plus a change in airlines.  I told him I would have to think about it.

 I then went back to the Travelocity website and found two separate one-way tickets for $232 each, which I ended up buying.  The flight to SLC was on Thursday morning.  The flight back was on New Year’s Day late in the afternoon.  My dear wife was very understanding at me for being away on New Year’s Eve.

The lesson for me is to pay greater attention to the details and to not purchase a round-trip ticket until I first look at the cost of two one-way tickets. This way, if you miss one flight, the other one is not canceled. A round-trip is not always the cheaper way to go.  However you look at it, it was a very expensive lesson."

Thank you Den!