After a year in the making, we’re departing on a wine & food adventure in France. This long awaited exploration of French cuisine was almost sidelined by some members of the ‘used to be friendly’ skies. Keep in mind Southwest Airlines in my book is still a member of the ‘friendly skies’. In fact, they are the LEADER of the friendly skies…one of the few remaining bright spots among the dark clouds up there. But, sadly, they don’t fly to France!
Because SW was not an option, we used our frequent flyer miles and ended up on Continental which I’ve had great experience with in the past. Let me say that based on this trip, this Continental/United merger seems more like a bad marriage-neither side really communicating with the other. We booked with Continental and ended up on three different airlines on both legs of the trip. So much for simplicity.
On one leg of the trip, United/Continental changed the flight number at some point, and we were bumped to standby with no notice. We found out three days before departure only because we checked. Thankfully, our amazing travel agent, Sue, got it all sorted out– one and half hours with three different United agents in different countries. We had to pay $39 EACH for a seat assignment (on a decades’ old plane) to guarantee we’d have a seat after they dropped our seats we’d booked months ago!!!
After all that, a silver lining to what had turned into a really dark cloud. We were dreading the airport check in after all those hassles but were pleasantly surprised by the most amazing ticket agent ever -Gabe. His bright smile and accommodating manner exceeded our expectations. We were actually smiling and relaxed at the airport (imagine that!)–grateful we’d worked with him.
One person truly can make a difference. Gabe, you brightened our day! We’ll give your airline another shot. We’re now off to a wonderful start…once we get past the airplane food, I’ll be sharing all things French with you guys in the coming days…as in French wine and everything Julia Child would love! Bonjour!
A huge thank you to my AT&T friends…their global networks keeps me in touch with home!!
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