TPD
the poor dad
Spent the last 2 days trying to book air travel on JetBlue. Got a JB FF# so log on to their website yesterday. Been watching certain flights for last 2 weeks for price fluctuations - yesterday was one of the lower days. Go through the motions of booking - names, address, email address, emergency contact, TSA#, seat picking, etc. Get to the payment screen - decline insurance and rental car, enter CC#, exp date, zip code, etc - hit SUBMIT. Comes back - "Oops! Errors! Correct Below!". I look over the page but nothing highlighted in red indicating a problem.
OK, I can do this - I don't need my teenager's help to book a flight. Besides I am still sober (unlike last time when I couldn't get it right and my daughter had to book the flight for me). So I re-enter the CC# thinking the auto-fill thing did something wonky. Nope - still an OOPSIE. Ok different CC since this one has my business address. Nope - still OOPSIE. Ok - unclick travel insurance. OOPS! Clear all cookies and rebook again. OOPS! Try Windows web browser instead of Safari. Sorry - still OOPS! After more than an our, I throw in the towel and surrender. But my daughter is no where near to do this for me.
Ok, today is a new day - 24 hours later. Log on to JetBlue - pick my flight, start the booking process again. SOB FML - flights are $20 more expensive today. Screw it - I've already spent too much time with this - just gotta get it done regardless what it costs. Payment screen, CC#, etc - "Oops! There seems to be some errors below. Please correct them." Nothing in red. Same routine as yesterday - clear cookies, different CC. Still OOPS. Ah yes - the JB App is on my phone! Everyone uses the app these days so should be a simple process. Open the app and wouldn't you know - needs updating! Do the update, go through the process of booking the flights (surprisingly, the seats I am trying to book are available each time so I know none of my attempts have been successful), but this time I get a timeout error before I even get to the payment screen. Crap - they've probably flagged my account for suspicious activity for booking 14 different seats on the same flight. 2 people don't need 14 seats. Unless you are a sumo wrestler.
I can do this - I know I can. I have to - my daughter is at work today. So I notice that little chat box keeps popping up on the website of JB. I never use the chat box- just ducking annoying to me the way it keeps popping up - but I have heard people that do it all the time and like it. So back to the website - click on the chat box - "Oops - sorry we are not available right now - try again later". Ok time to call my travel agent which I should have done yesterday - would have been worth the $20 booking fee she charges - 10 minutes and it would have been complete. But before I do that - one more go with the chat - finally get a message through explaining my problem. Takes 4 minutes to get a response. The response is "I will pass your concern to our IT department. In the meantime call 1-800-JetBlue to book your flight - we will waive the booking fee today."
I call the 800# - 25 minute wait!!!
I wait 25 minutes for a nice woman to come on the line. Tell her my issues and that the booking fee is supposed to be waived. She agrees. We go through the booking process - I have my flight numbers and seat numbers (still available) memorized along with my TSA#. Give her my CC#. All is good. But at some point in the conversation she does say that the problem with booking is on their end - an issue they are trying to resolve. Thank goodness it wasn't me! But still frustrating - why couldn't the message on the website be something to that effect rather than leading me to believe it was something I was doing wrong!
So after more than 3 hours of actual trying, my wife and I will finally be flying off into the sunset! I despise technology on days like this!
OK, I can do this - I don't need my teenager's help to book a flight. Besides I am still sober (unlike last time when I couldn't get it right and my daughter had to book the flight for me). So I re-enter the CC# thinking the auto-fill thing did something wonky. Nope - still an OOPSIE. Ok different CC since this one has my business address. Nope - still OOPSIE. Ok - unclick travel insurance. OOPS! Clear all cookies and rebook again. OOPS! Try Windows web browser instead of Safari. Sorry - still OOPS! After more than an our, I throw in the towel and surrender. But my daughter is no where near to do this for me.
Ok, today is a new day - 24 hours later. Log on to JetBlue - pick my flight, start the booking process again. SOB FML - flights are $20 more expensive today. Screw it - I've already spent too much time with this - just gotta get it done regardless what it costs. Payment screen, CC#, etc - "Oops! There seems to be some errors below. Please correct them." Nothing in red. Same routine as yesterday - clear cookies, different CC. Still OOPS. Ah yes - the JB App is on my phone! Everyone uses the app these days so should be a simple process. Open the app and wouldn't you know - needs updating! Do the update, go through the process of booking the flights (surprisingly, the seats I am trying to book are available each time so I know none of my attempts have been successful), but this time I get a timeout error before I even get to the payment screen. Crap - they've probably flagged my account for suspicious activity for booking 14 different seats on the same flight. 2 people don't need 14 seats. Unless you are a sumo wrestler.
I can do this - I know I can. I have to - my daughter is at work today. So I notice that little chat box keeps popping up on the website of JB. I never use the chat box- just ducking annoying to me the way it keeps popping up - but I have heard people that do it all the time and like it. So back to the website - click on the chat box - "Oops - sorry we are not available right now - try again later". Ok time to call my travel agent which I should have done yesterday - would have been worth the $20 booking fee she charges - 10 minutes and it would have been complete. But before I do that - one more go with the chat - finally get a message through explaining my problem. Takes 4 minutes to get a response. The response is "I will pass your concern to our IT department. In the meantime call 1-800-JetBlue to book your flight - we will waive the booking fee today."
I call the 800# - 25 minute wait!!!
I wait 25 minutes for a nice woman to come on the line. Tell her my issues and that the booking fee is supposed to be waived. She agrees. We go through the booking process - I have my flight numbers and seat numbers (still available) memorized along with my TSA#. Give her my CC#. All is good. But at some point in the conversation she does say that the problem with booking is on their end - an issue they are trying to resolve. Thank goodness it wasn't me! But still frustrating - why couldn't the message on the website be something to that effect rather than leading me to believe it was something I was doing wrong!
So after more than 3 hours of actual trying, my wife and I will finally be flying off into the sunset! I despise technology on days like this!
