Airlines and the people who sell their tickets for them are the worst things on this planet.

Why is it so hard to give them my money?

I'll provide some background, some of which you would already know, assuming that you were reading this website for a little while (which means that this story should be new to everyone). ANYWAY, so, I'm over here in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, 3500+ miles and 7 and a half hours, away from New York. I'm a ways from home. I'm studying (beer) abroad for the semester, and I had booked a fairly inexpensive round trip ticket in like, November. So I was supposed to fly back at the end of May, but by my calculations, I'll be broke by April and since I'm done with exams a week and a half into May, I figured I might as well change my flight home.

I understand that the airline charges a penalty to do this (its bullshit, mind you, because I'm taking a cheaper flight and giving them an extra seat to sell on a more expensive one, but whatever), and I accept this because they told me that when I bought the ticket. So I decided that I needed to call Virgin Atlantic and arrange the change.

At this point, I was still assuming that the airline, as strapped for cash as the nerdy guy on the news is always telling me, would be happy to take a couple extra bucks from me and send me home on a wednesday... I was wrong

You see, you can literally spend DAYS of your life on the phone trying desperately to get through to a human being on their ticket reservation line. This, mind you, is the same line that they use to sell tickets to people who don't already have them -- people who in a sane business model would be sold tickets as swiftly as possible, and talked into upgrading and buying something from the "skymall" to boot. It was, however impossible to get through.

I spent HOURS listening to Stevie Wonder cover songs, as interpreted by some white English dude. HOURS. Meaning, I listened to it more than once. The only thing breaking the horribleness of this, was the intermittent pre-recorded messages telling me about hotel and car rental deals that I no longer have any interest in buying after waiting on hold for... oh... a lifetime. Then of course, there is the voice that tells you that they'll be answering the phone shortly. Here's a hint: they won't. Its also quite ironic that they bother with that message after you've been on hold for 30 minutes anyway, its not like you're going to believe them.

So, I gave up and emailed them. Twice. This was about five days ago, and I haven't received a response. Spectacular, huh?

Then I thought, well, I'll book a new ticket online (hastening my brokening). Nothing under $1000 could be bought with a US credit card. Thanks.

Actually. I found a GREAT direct flight on Continental for $600ish. They allowed me to believe that I had a ticket booked for a solid 24 hours, before canceling my booking and jacking the price up by $200. Thanks.

So, such is my life, I guess.

Update: I finally got a travel agent (studentuniverse.com) to help me sort things out. Flying sucks. I can't wait till they build that transatlantic bullet train...

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Click on my links. Brian Answers All is pretty much cancelled, since nobody cared to email me questions. Next on the chop-block is the comments... Use them, or I'll probably eliminate them as well.

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