The Travelocity Crisis

Here follows a thorough description of my problem with Travelocity, which as of this writing remains unresolved.

As documented by an email received from Travelocity on August 30, the company sold me the following tickets:

United 203 from MCI to ORD on January 6, 2020 seat 25A
Air India 126 from ORD to DEL on January 6 - 7 seat 52A
Air India 191 from DEL to BOM to EWR on January 16 - 17 seat 52A
United 2075 from EWR to ORD to MCI on January 17 no seat specified

According to the email, the price was:
Flight $750
Taxes and fees: $789.73
Travelocity Booking Fee: $7.50
Flight Protection Plan: $100
for a total of $1647.23

On August 30, my bank (Bank of Labor) paid $1539.73 (the combined flight, taxes and fees), $7.50 and $100 in three separate transactions. Funds were deducted from my account accordingly. Transactions have been re-verified via a phone call with my bank on December 17.

On September 13 and 14 and October 18 I received text messages from Travelocity indicating that changes had been made to the United flights. The message on Sept. 13 referenced flight 203, and the other two messages referenced flight 2075.

All three messages said “Please check your email for the full details.” Travelocity sent no emails accompanying these messages. Absence of emails verified via inspection of inbox,  junk and deleted items folders in my Hotmail account.

The messages concluded “It is not necessary to call to reconfirm your flight.”

Despite Travelocity’s assurance that there was no need to reconfirm my flights, I checked my itinerary online on these occasions and found nothing apparently amiss.

On December 16 I began the process of preparing a comprehensive itinerary of my trip including information from Travelocity and other companies. When I re-checked my online itinerary for flight numbers and times, I found that the United flights had disappeared from the list. The Air India flights were still present.

I contacted Travelocity customer support via Facebook message. After delays, Travelocity’s representative informed me that United cancelled my flight due to a “major schedule change.”

No such change exists. According to United’s web site, both flights are currently available (verified on Dec. 18) at nearly identical scheduled departure and arrival times.

Travelocity’s representative indicated that United would contact me directly by phone within 24 hours. United did not call me.

Later in the evening I received an email from Travelocity indicating that the airline “had not acknowledged the flight and/or fare” and thus the reservation could not be ticketed.

The next day (Dec. 17) I received an email from Travelocity indicating that my entire itinerary had been cancelled. The email falsely stated that the company made multiple attempts to contact me and received no response.

I called Travelocity. Its representative said the itinerary had been cancelled and offered me a $200 refund (a sum greater than the amount initially paid to Travelocity for expenses other than the tickets, taxes and fees but of course far less than the total paid for the trip).

Declining the offer, I suspended further action in the matter until I had the chance to cool down a little.

After breakfast on December 18, I recontacted Travelocity via Facebook message. I explained the situation. After a wait of more than an hour, the representative asked for my phone number so they could call me. He (or she or it) offered no explanation for why the matter couldn’t be resolved via message.

During the subsequent phone call, I was informed that Air India had “never confirmed the reservation” and that therefore no tickets existed. Although I had long since given up on the idea that Travelocity would honor its obligation to provide me with the United tickets, I still held out hope that Air India might be saved. Apparently not.

Travelocity’s representative assured me that I will receive refunds for all the money I paid, though it will take three to five business days to get it done. Which of course means that it’s highly unlikely to happen before Christmas. She also told me to contact my bank and dispute the charge, which of course makes no sense if it’s simply going to be refunded.

As a matter of due diligence, I contacted the bank. Of course the charge is now far too old to dispute (not that it should have needed disputing in any event).

As things stand now (December 18 at noon), I have no tickets. Because I need to re-book my flights (directly with the airlines this time, fool me once shame on you …) as quickly as possible, I’ve been reduced to asking my mother to lend me the money for the tickets. In addition to the embarrassment of dragging Mom into it, there’s the additional problem that she will probably refuse to let me pay her back.

I now regret ever having attempted this trip, and if I hadn’t already sunk so much money, time and effort into it I’d probably cancel the whole thing.

First (serious) flight

I’m legal. The drone is legal. Time to fly.

As I don’t yet have my permanent certificate number, I can’t use the FAA’s app to request clearance to go above 200 feet. Outside of regulated airspace, it wouldn’t be an issue. But I live just a little too close to the downtown airport. No big deal. The 200 foot ceiling is plenty.

I lucked into some excellent light, too. Uneven clouds were blowing through, leaving puddles of brightness all over the landscape.

Felicette

In addition to getting certified myself, I also had to register the drone itself.

One of the blanks on the form asked for the drone’s name (and it couldn’t be left blank). I’m assuming that they’re expecting something like “Bob’s Aerial Imaging Drone #4.” But as I just have the one drone – and my name isn’t Bob – I decided to get a little creative with it.

The first cat that ever went into space was named Felicette, or Felix for short. She was launched into temporary orbit by the French and was quite the celebrity for awhile. So in her honor my drone now bears her name.

Certified

Today I received my temporary unmanned aircraft pilot’s certificate. The permanent one (complete with card I can keep in my wallet) should arrive in a few weeks. In the meantime, this is good enough to print and keep with me while I’m flying.

Passing the test

Today I took the drone pilot exam. Wow.

The exam was administered by a local company with offices next to one of the small airports in Johnson County. It was a comfortable enough location, even back in the stuffy little office where the test-taking computer was located.

The FAA supplies a study guide for this test. It outlines various rules and regulations and flying tips and so on. I assumed the exam would focus on a range of topics, probably emphasizing when and where drones can and can’t be flown.

Well, kinda. The bulk of the exam tested my ability to read sectional charts, maps that show the areas where airspace is regulated. This is actually a fairly useless skill, as the FAA and associated companies have at least two phone apps that will tell an aspiring pilot exactly how restricted the air is in his general vicinity. Further, the apps provide information about restrictions that aren’t on the maps (such as military testing flights that occur only intermittently) and allow a pilot who wants to fly in regulated space to apply for permission to do so.

So what’s the map for? In case I’m out somewhere and don’t have my phone and yet do have my exact location so I can find it on a map that I of course have with me? And on top of all that, the charts are complex and hard to read.

Which I suppose makes them an easy thing to test over, something picky that lends itself to computer-graded, multiple choice questions. The experience also came across as a hazing activity, something needlessly complex to make people endure before they become part of an initiated group.

In any event, I passed by the skin of my teeth. I was grateful that the machine was able to give me my score immediately and print out the document I needed to submit to the government as part of my license application. So now I sit and wait for confirmation that I’m officially approved.

Sea change

Here we come to one of those moments in life.

I’ve decided to stop writing. As with any decision this big, a lot of factors were involved. However, the main impetus for the change was a desire to quit living inside my own head all the time. If nothing else, I need this for my therapy to progress.

And of course it’s difficult if not impossible to write without staying inside one’s head. There are whole worlds in there that may still need to come out. But there’s also a whole world outside that needs to come in, and for now that has to be my priority.

Having made such a sweeping declaration, I should at least recognize that writing isn’t like a “real” job with a steady paycheck and a retirement plan that can be taken advantage of. It’s a fluid activity that can be set down and taken up with a minimum of fuss.

I should also note that many years ago Stephen King said he was going to stop writing, which obviously he hasn’t. So I might not either. As of this point in time – less than a week after my last attempt to make any progress on a writing project – it’s too early to tell.

For the time being, however, I have no immediate need for a blog about my writing efforts. As this is too good a blog to let simply go to waste, I’ve decided to repurpose it to record whatever other creative endeavors I pursue in place of composing fiction.

In the spirit of pursuing activities that will force me to get out of my chair, walk away from my desk, leave my house and go out into the world, I’ve decided to pursue a drone pilot’s license.

Almost exactly two years ago I went nuts on Amazon Prime Day and bought a bunch of stuff I most likely didn’t really need. Among these frivolous acquisitions was a Yuneek Typhoon H drone. Ever since its arrival, it has sat unused in its box. The awful truth is that I’ve been afraid of it. I got a really great price on it, which means it would be expensive – perhaps prohibitively so – to replace if it got damaged. Thus I’ve been highly reluctant to try flying it.

Which of course is completely illogical. Why even own something you never get to use because you’re afraid it will break and become unusable? That made it a natural starting point for my newfound dedication to take better advantage of life’s possibilities.

So today I applied to take the FAA’s unmanned aircraft pilot’s exam.

The illustration at the top of this post is from the drone’s user manual.

Sunday Night School – Day 11

I have decided to take the day off.

If there aren't any more entries after this one, then it turned out to be more than a day.

Sunday Night School – Day Ten

Looks like what "tomorrow" brought was more of the same. Another writing spurt after midnight and then not much else.

Sunday Night School – Day Nine

I started strong after midnight but couldn't get much going during the day. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Sunday Night School – Day Eight

Act two of the current story is considerably shorter than the one before (and most likely also shorter than the one to come). Thus I was able to write it from beginning to end in a single day.

Though this wasn't the epic writing day I had yesterday, I did manage to do enough work to get back on my 2k per day pace. I hope I can keep it up.

Sunday Night School – Day Seven

Today I decided that if I was going to do this at all that I needed to make a complete commitment to it. No more "maybe I'll write and maybe I'll do something else." Time to do or do not. There is no try.

If that's my mindset, then for today at least it worked. I cleared 4000 words with less than five minutes to spare before the stroke of midnight. Act one of "VIB" is complete, and the rest of the story is at least framed in my mind. The rest is just scribbling, right?

Sunday Night School – Day Six

And on the heels of every success walks a day like this. Today I had no particular excuse for a poor performance, but I turned one in anyway.

At least it wasn't a complete zero.

Sunday Night School – Day Five

With Independence Day behind me, I've managed to bounce back a bit.

The real key to getting moving again was switching stories. That's a real blessing of the collection format: unlike novel work, if I get stuck on one story I have four others I can switch to. So I set aside the detail-heavy piece that had me shut down and switched to something more up my traditional alley.

I topped 3700 words for the day, so the new track is working so far.

Sunday Night School – Day Four

Nothing.

The holiday has me out of sorts, and I'm having some issues unrelated to the writing process.

Though I suppose it's still early, I'm starting to feel like this isn't my year for Camp NaNoWriMo.

Sunday Night School – Day Three

Today the fates conspired against me. I've got a stalled story. I had a friend in from out of town. Though I hoped to write at least a word or two, I managed to write literally nothing.

Total goose eggs really put a dent in my pace, too. Now I'm way behind on my 2k per day goal and even lagging a bit behind the pace I'll need to finish before the end of the month.

Sunday Night School – Day Two

Today went well, but not as good as yesterday. In general that's no big deal. Some days are better than others.

My particular concern at the end of the writing day today is that I'm a little stuck. I started at what seemed like a logical starting point: the first story in the collection. However, this particular piece is giving me a couple of different kinds of trouble.

First, the plot hinges on some technical details about DNA. At the outset of the writing process I admitted to myself that I didn't have the level of technical knowledge required to make this as realistic as possible. As long as the science fiction elements don't get too implausible, I'm prepared to forgive myself (and hope my eventual readers can do the same) if I make mistakes or suggest complete impossibilities.

However, even an over-simplified version of science and technology still involves a lot of science and technology. What I'm finding at this point in the story is that I'm having trouble striking a balance between details that are actually interesting and details that I'm merely trying to straighten out in my mind. And I'm concerned that details in the latter camp are bogging down the storytelling.

And second, I'm worried about story length. Figuring that I would write five stories and that I would need to hit 50,000 words before the end of the month was math so simple even I could do it in my head. But the end of the writing session today found me at the end of the first act of this story and at around 3700 words. Trouble is, act one is by far the longest of the three. If nothing else, it does all the set up. Thus I'm concerned that there isn't enough to this tale to get it to pull 10k worth of weight.

Sunday Night School – Day One

And we're off!

Following my typical November practice, I started promptly at midnight and wrote for awhile to give myself a running start.

Camp was a little different than usual, because the stories each needed their own set-up. So that was five epigraphs starting at the stroke of midnight. And for the first time I also intend to include an afterword. That occupied my time until I went to bed.

I didn't have the most productive writing experience ever during the day, but I was saved by a last-minute push in the last hour and a half of the day. How many times have I done that in the November challenges?

Sunday Night School – Cover design

I wanted something that said "church" without being churchy, if that makes any sense. So a photo I took of some stained glass at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art a few years ago came to mind.

Might change the font to something less cliché and more readable. This one looks a teeny bit like it says "Sunday Home School."

Sunday Night School – Preliminary thoughts

This year I've decided to give Camp NaNoWriMo a try.

For those unfamiliar with the camp concept, it works a lot like the novel version that happens every November. However, the camp challenge is more flexible. Writers can set whatever word count they wish or even use some other standard (such as writing time) to measure their success. And more to the point in my case, they can work on something other than a novel.

Several years ago I read the Bible all the way from "in the beginning" to "amen." It was an interesting experience for several reasons. For starters, it left me wondering if many people who profess Christianity as their faith have ever bothered reading their own scripture. That's a discussion for another time (and probably a different venue).

One thing I noticed was that the book was full of odd bits here and there, the fragmentary beginnings of thoughts that blossomed into story ideas. None of the stories born from the experience were actually about their source materials (at least not directly). Of the five that stuck with me from my reading notes and actually wound themselves up into stories, one is a consideration of one of the possible side consequences of a well-known Bible story. Two of them put a new spin on somewhat familiar verses, and the final two are likely to have been noticed only by the most astute of Bible students.

I know that's teasingly vague, but at the moment that's where it must stand. I'm half likely to write an afterword explaining my thoughts, and if I don't I promise I'll create a much more complete blog entry on the subject at the end of the process.

The goal will still be 50,000 words, though of course this time it's divided across five plots rather than just one. I'm curious to see if that makes a difference. I'm also curious to see how writing in July – when I'm a gentleman of leisure – differs from the frenzy of November.