So it was one of those days where everything took longer than I thought.
I didn’t think I’d spend 2 hours trying to book a 2.5 hour flight from Hartford, CT to Orlando, FL. But I did, thanks to Southwest changing something about the booking process. Suffice to say, it could have — should have — taken 10-20 minutes at most. But it didn’t.
So then I tried to book a less-than-2-hour flight from Orlando, Fl to Philadelphia, PA, this time on USAir. Both USAir and Southwest fly non-stop from Orlando to PHL, FWIW. I decided to use USAir for the second flight because of all the problems I had booking the first flight.
It should have only take 10-20 minutes to book the flight on USAir. However, it took — are you ready? — 2.5 hours and 3 phone calls. The reason there? Because I wasn’t convinced that things were working properly when I typed in my last name on the book form as “McIntyre”, with a capital “I” in the middle, and subsequently aw that the booking was going to be under this spelling: “Mcintyre”.
Yes, that’s only the difference of a capital letter. But it said right there on the booking screen — next to where the name was listed — that I needed to be certain that the name on the ticket was match exactly the same as the name on my passport. And since the name on my passport does not read “Mcintyre”, I was skeptical that my booking was going to turn out OK.
So, I persisted with several different variations here on my computer to try to fix it, before call USAir.
FWIW, and to save anyone out there that has a similarly complicated last name — well, complicated because it has a capital letter in the middle, that is — let me save you the 2 hours I spent booking that ticket. It turns out that in the USAir system, all names are stored in CAPITAL LETTERS only. I.e., in their system, my name is stored as MCINTYRE. This is what will be printed on the boarding pass, which has to match my passport. The “Mcintyre” version will not appear on the boarding pass at all, although it is the only thing that ever appeared on the screen.
Not that it says all that anywhere on the site. Now, it would be a simple UI fix to have them add that to the booking page on the site, right? That would save people who are paying attention to the spelling of their name a little extra work and worry.
Not that I could convince anyone in the USAir service department of that. Of course. Argh and double argh.
But on the upside, I did get to chat with a friendly USAir booking agent who happened to have the same birthday as mine, and who called me a “young whippersnapper”, since he was older than I am. OK, that was kind of fun.
Also on the upside, I got to play with changing settings on one of my photos from Verona while I was on hold at one point. Of course, it was fortunate that most of my time on the phone today was not spent waiting on hold. It helps to be calling from Europe, where the time zone works in my favor with offices on the east coast.
See, another upside.
However, I’m still not certain that I’ve hit on the right variation this scene from dusk in Verona – I think I could have used a bit more time on hold today to perfect a photo of these scene at dusk in Verona. I only had a chance to play with one version of the second photo I took of the same scene before I ran out of time.
But on the upside, I didn’t need a little more time on hold today to get that travel booked. And, once I realized I was going to have to call USAir, I was thinking that I’d be spending a lot of time on hold.
As I said, nothing went quite as I expected today.
In any case, hope you enjoy the photo variations. (I should note that I did not add any color to the sky in some of them, the sunset behind the clouds was a colorful rosy hue).
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- Verona at dusk – Photo 1 – close to “as shot”
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- Verona at dusk – Photo 1 – variation#1
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- Verona at dusk – Photo 1 – variation#2
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- Verona at dusk – Photo 1 – variation#3
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- Verona at dusk – Photo 1 – variation#4
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- Verona at dusk – Photo #2
I like variation 2 at the moment. The more you look though the more one might change their mind.
Age is all about perspective. To me you are still a young whippersnapper, but how do you think I feel when someone calls me that.
Long phone calls have replaced long lines, in my opinion.
At least you had someone to talk to, so often I’m on hold forever.
I like the first one, because at this time, after the sun set, the after glow would be more rosy/purple than orange. Orange when the sun is still around then the after glow is light magenta. If you want it to look real.
I recently helped a Japanese artist that showed in the same Homage to Steve Jobs show as you did. He lost his luggage on the way from NYC to Syracuse. I contacted both the airlines, and the insurance company he had purchased separately. although the airline said they would send his luggage to Syr in time for him to receive it, that never happened. He had his very expensive water color brushes in his bag, probably worth around 500 to a 2000 to replace.
I aided him via email and phone calls to make sure he had them shipped to himself as well as got a check from the insurance and or airlines for the lost bag. He got the bag in a couple of weeks, but It took months to get his money. I think the brushes were the most important.
It was all good with a happy ending. Many emails and few phone calls, but I do believe the people answered the phones right away. I guess it depends on what department and hours call how much time it takes. As an x-customer service rep. I know that later in the evening and between 10-12 or around 6-8, are the best times to call and never on a Monday. Try that time frame next time.
I liked the first one as well because of its instant mysteriousness.