February 2022: Fabulous and frenzied

Hi all. We haven’t had a monthly topic for a while so after a little experience I had today I thought I’d start one.

Bit of background: Mrs H and I had plans to go to Australia at the end of March. I made bookings for the flights and then set about making hotel bookings. This was complex because once we land in Australia we travel partly together and partly separately to different places. Mrs H also has mobility issues and needs help available at all times. When we are not together she will be with her daughter.

Flights to Australia are heavily booked following the end of major restrictions on entry to the country, so the flights I could get were not ideal, but I decided they would do. British Airways had nothing, and a long phone conversation with the BA Executive Club got me nowhere. Eventually I made bookings through Lufthansa to go London-Munich-Bangkok-Sydney at the end of March and then back in reverse in the second week of April. The connection in Munich was a bit short but Mrs H’s mobility issues are significantly eased by the disability assistance that all decent airlines provide, so I didn’t see that as too much of a problem.(Disability assistance usually enables you to skip the lines, which is even better.)

However, I was disconcerted to receive an email this morning changing our schedule because the original flights between Bangkok and Sydney had been cancelled, so we had been automatically rebooked on another flight a day later. First freak out was because the email had only Mrs H’s name on it as the passenger despite the original booking having been in both our names. I got that resolved by the Lufthansa chatbot (or actually its human helper)—the rebooking really was for both of us. Second freak out: the rebooked flights had us laying over in Bangkok for more than 24 hours, and I was uneasy about the attitude of the Australian authorities to that, in these Covid times. A long and unsuccessful phone call with the London office of Lufthansa didn’t help. But then I had the third freak out: until then I hadn’t noticed that the rebooked return flight from Sydney to Bangkok had us arriving in Bangkok after the flight to Munich (which we were shown as still booked on) had left. I expressed some slight surprise to the Lufthansa agents and was told that the automatic rebooking system doesn’t check whether the rebooked flight connects with the flights that it doesn’t alter. The Lufthansa agents poked around for quite a while without finding any alternatives, even on their Star Alliance partners like Thai Airways.

After some discussion with Mrs H, during which the possibility of abandoning the whole idea got raised and dismissed, I poked around on Kayak.com and found that there seemed to be lots of flights available if I was prepared to consider some alternatives. Finnair looked quite attractive and I’ve flown with them a few times before and enjoyed it. So I looked at Finnair’s own website and got flights on the same dates, at about the same times, going London-Helsinki-Singapore-Sydney and the same in reverse going home. Downside: more expensive. Upside: I don’t have to remake all the hotel bookings. And Finnair, which I like. Even a slightly longer connection in Helsinki, which is an airport I like. Oddly, the Singapore-Sydney stages are on British Airways, which will then only have been flying to Sydney for a day or so after a long suspension due to Covid. I should be able to get a full refund for the Lufthansa booking.

Two morals: first, my longstanding adage that any travel problem is solvable if you throw enough money at it; second, that in these times travel is hard on the nerves. I’m still not totally confident that the wheels won’t fall off this one, but we’ll see.

>1 haydninvienna: Air travel these days is stressful! Northernstar did the heavy lifting of booking all our flights in January (and I REALLY appreciated it) but airlines seem to cancel on a dime. I hope all your flights go ahead smoothly!

I get the whole "Abandon the whole idea" thing. I mean, Australia is a nice place, but there are so many Australians there!

>3 MrAndrew: Not gonna bite. Like the irishman who, when asked on arriving at Sydney Airport whether he had a criminal record, said "I didn't know that was still a requirement".

And my favourite story about Australia being a nice place: There is an Australian actor called Jack Thompson, who has had a reasonably significant international career (look him up). He told the story once of how a mate from the UK was visiting him and they went out to have lunch on Sydney Harbour. Perfect Sydney summer day, water sparkling, blue sky, and they've stuffed themselves full of Australian fish and good Australian wine, and the mate looks around him, heaves a sigh, and says with deep emotion, "Think of it. We used to send you b*****rds over here for punishment!"

Ugh, just got news that the husband of the daughter of one of my late mother's school friends has died. As they attended my mother's funeral, I feel obliged to attend as well. Luckily my manager is going to approve a day's special leave and hopefully I can stay overnight at my sister's to break the journey.

Worryingly, the daughter is in hospital with a brain bleed - this was how her mother died (although Shelagh went instantly)... Hopefully, it won't turn into a double funeral.

Fabulous: the taxman has at last admitted that he owes me a refund (of roughly two months' pension).

Frenzied: The septic tank needs to be pumped out. Mind you, it's the first time in 17 years.

>6 hfglen:
The taxman giveth and the effluent society taketh.

>5 Maddz: So sorry. Hope you are able to go, and it's a single funeral. Could the stress of losing her husband have triggered the bleed?

>4 haydninvienna: Hilarious!

>8 clamairy: I don't know. All I've heard is the bare fact of Malcolm's death and Noella's hospitalisation. For all I know it could have been some accident. I might know more at the weekend if my sister bothers to reply to my email (I really don't want to do a day trip if I can possibly avoid it...)

for those of you who don't follow my personal reading thread (and why aren't you??!!), I am posting this here, too because it's so laugh-out-loud frustrating and stupid.

This is why Barnes & Noble is circling the drain -

In a live chat I asked about a $100+ order that I was supposed to get a 20% discount on all preordered books, but for which I was being charged full price. I gave the order number and got this -

I understand that you ordered this with coupon. What coupon code did you used?

Really? You expect me to come up with this? It’s been a couple of months, but I gave my best guess. After about 10 minutes of nothing and then a nudge from me I got this -

Thank you for waiting. As a one-time courtesy, I will process a manual adjustment on the. Please be advised since this is a manual adjustment, there will be no new confirmation email. For the books that have shipped already, you will receive a refund and email confirmation regarding the refund. The adjustment amount is $.

A one time courtesy? Gee, thanks for being so accommodating. I thank the person and ask what went wrong on the original order.

The coupon code was not applied.

I’m a bit incredulous. I say back that I remember it did apply because I had to do it twice to take effect and I’m pretty darn sure my confirmation emails stated the discounted prices. Also said that I would be very hesitant to order again because this was worrying.

I see. However, the coupon code did not apply to the order. Will there be anything else aside from this?

Dismissed. Next case please. Send in another victim of Industrial Disease.

OMFG! No apology. No ‘oh that’s too bad’. Not an ounce of understanding. Just blame me and make me feel so special by giving my one-time only fix. They’ve just lost me as a customer. After it was obvious the deep discounts at Amazon weren’t coming across as often, I decided to shift some of my business to B&N because price-wise things were pretty equal. I felt kinda good about flipping them some business. After this performance, they don’t deserve it. How hard would it have been to send me away happy? Now I’m pissed and telling you all about it. LOL.

>10 Bookmarque: That is truly terrible customer service. Sounds like they don't even care about your business. Have you tried bookshop.org? I've been using their UK site because they support brick and mortar independent bookshops.

>10 Bookmarque:
That is a real, "How Not To" guide for on-line sales.

I haven't Sakerfalcon, but that's a good idea. There's a nice local down in Wausau that I go to occasionally and could tie them to it.

I know, pgmcc, I can't believe it. It reads like comedy in a sad way.

>11 Sakerfalcon: Unfortunately, according to their FAQ, bookshop.org is new books only. Still worth remembering for that though.

>14 haydninvienna: Yes, it is.

This year is shaping up as an interesting? one. In January I had a bad attack of GERD/esophagitis. Had it years ago so I recognized the symptoms and knew how to treat it. The medication worked — some days. Other days I still had a lot of pain. On Feb 12 I used my pulse oximeter and my pulse was in the 30s. Off to the ER.

"We think you have already had a heart attack." (It turns out heart attack and GERD can be very similar, especially in women.) I was admitted and was to go to the cardiac catheterization lab Monday but they saw something they didn't like on Sunday and took me to the cath lab early. They knocked me out without any discussion and when I woke up it was Wednesday morning. They had put in a pacemaker and a stent. I had also been intubated so I couldn't talk at first.

The rest of my stay was fairly uneventful except for the middle of the night when I had ventricular tachycardia (rapid heartbeat). I finally went home on the 22nd and now have lots of meds everyday. Blood thinners are not fun. Visiting nurses are very nice. Very tired even though I am doing next to nothing.

>16 Taphophile13: Yikes! I know, from helping my mom, that blood thinners are indeed not fun. I hope you begin to feel more yourself soon!

Thank you, Marissa_Doyle. They told me that every day in the hospital needs three days of recovery so I hope to feel stronger by mid-March.

>16 Taphophile13: Goodness. I’ve had GERD too, and that can be unpleasant enough. But a freaking heart attack? Please get better quickly!

>19 haydninvienna: Thanks. I hope your travels are smooth and pleasant.

OMG that is so scary even from this far remove. I'm glad you have gotten treatment and are recovering. What an ordeal! Wishing you better days.

>21 Bookmarque: Thank you. It has been scary.

>16 Taphophile13: holy cow! I hope you are recovering well.

>16 Taphophile13: Ouch. That started badly and escalated rapidly. I hope your recovery proceeds smoothly and as rapidly as possible. My best wishes to you.

>16 Taphophile13:
Wishing you a rapid recovery. That was a lot of trauma. Get well soon.

>16 Taphophile13: Yikes, that sounds like a frightening experience. I hope you will recover quickly.

>16 Taphophile13: Yikes! Well I'm glad you're improving, but that must have been terrifying. Hang in there. Hope you've got plenty of reading material on hand. Wishing you a very speedy recovery.

>23 catzteach:, >24 -pilgrim-:, >25 pgmcc:, >26 Sakerfalcon:, >27 clamairy:
Thank you all for your good wishes. They do help cheer me up. I'm still feeling weak so I haven't been able to get much reading done yet.

I am late to the get well wishes, haven't been online much lately and am behind on the threads here, but my wishes for your quick and complete recovery are no less fervent.

>29 MrsLee: Thank you. I appreciate your message.