photo © 2005 Lauren Powell-Smothers | more info (via: Wylio)
Consider this a PSA.

We have some wonderful electricians who flew up from Indiana to do work for us.  Great! 

They had reservations through Travelocity and were able to get here a week ago.  Great!

They were scheduled to leave today, but because there was still work to be done, they wanted to stay until Monday.  So, we tried to change the flight.  It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

First, one of the electricians tried to change the flight.  He was quoted $600 per person or $1200 total.

That seemed unreasonably high.  So, I called Travelocity and I could see very clearly that there was another flight on Monday with a price of $334 per person if we just paid the full fare.   Couldn't Travelocity at least match that?

I tend to be a pretty rational person and calm and I can be saccharine sweet and kind even when I'm stewing inside (it's a gift).  The call was handled in India and, while I don't really have a problem with that, the various persons I talked to were occasionally hard to understand and required some repetition from both parties.  The first person I talked to took all of the information.  Then I was transferred.  Then that person took all the information.  And then she had to get on the phone with Continental Airlines for 40 minutes to see if they'd honor the price I was finding online.  I have no idea what it was that was really going on, but it took FOREVER.  And she came back saying it looked like it would not be much more than $150 per person.

There was great rejoicing on my part.

Then...

The phone...

Accidentally hung up...

There was great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  (Although one person did laugh wholehearted at my misfortune and, I'm sure, to blow off some of the pent up anxiety and frustration at the whole ordeal.)

I called back, fearing that I'd be on for another hour as the whole process would be repeated.  It took a shorter time.  The flight was confirmed.  It was just going to be $154 per person.  Great!  (It took a long time to get to that next "Great!")  Credit card information was given.  E-mail addresses were confirmed.  "Thank yous" were said and we all went to bed.

However, in the middle of the night, an e-mail was sent saying they couldn't process the flight.  WHAT!!!!

So, our electrician got back on the phone with Travelocity for another hour, all the time saying he had a confirmation number and could show (on another travel site) the flight he wanted and the price that was there and couldn't figure out why the good folks at the Travelocity service center couldn't just get them on the flight they said they WOULD and apparently HAD DONE not 6 hours earlier. 

An hour later it seems to have been resolved.

There is no "long story short" here.  It's a "long story long."

I'm sure there are many people who have had good Travelocity experience.  I am not one of them. I will never use Travelocity again.

So there!