Incompetance Abounds!

This year we booked a flight for Taylor-Lynn to fly down with Delta with Unaccompanied Minor Service from YVR (Vancouver, B.C.) to JAX (Jacksonville, Florida). I called Delta Airlines and booked the flight directly with them. I did not book online. I did not use a travel agent. Went straight to the Big Guys !

So when I booked the flight, I asked the agent if Taylor's Mom would be allowed to escort her through to the terminal and see her off on the plane. I was told that she was required to stay with her child until she boarded the plane and that she would then be required to stay at the terminal until the plane had departed. Great! Right?!

So we called Mom and gave her the flight information. Mom was worried. Asked if she would be allowed to go through to the gate. We told her the instructions that we were given by the agent. She was not convinced. I called Delta back. Spoke to a different agent. Again, I was told that Mom would be required to see her through to the terminal and so on. Called Mom back. Told her again. She seemed to feel better. Great! Right?!

Fast forward to the morning of Taylor's flight. I get a call from Mom. That's right! You guessed it! Mom is not allowed to go through to the terminal and put Taylor on the plane. OMGosh! Somehow there was a break down and neither the booking agent nor the second agent realized that this was an international flight and that Mom, who was not traveling, would not be allowed to go through customs with Taylor. Great! Right?!

Fast forward again. Summer is now over. Taylor must go home. :( Dave takes his daughter to the airport extremely early in the morning to make a 6:30 am flight. They stand in line for 1 1/2 hours before finding out that her flight departed early and she had missed it. Dave stands in line for another 30 minutes before getting to the counter to book her on another flight. The agent he speaks to wants to put her on a flight leaving out in 30 minutes that will have a 6 hour layover in Atlanta!!! Remember now, she is an Unaccompanied Minor. Yeah. Dave refuses that flight and takes the second offer which puts her on 3 different flights intead of 2. The last of which is the last flight out for the day. Remember....Unaccompanied Minor. Against policy for her to be on the last flight of the day. Argh! By the Grace of God, Taylor made it home safely to her Mom, 12 hours after she was scheduled to be there. Great! Right?!

Dad's not happy. Mom's not happy. Dessie's not happy. Dessie complains to the airline.

True to form, I get an email today from Customer Care at Delta appologizing for all the troubles that we have encountered with their service this summer. Out of the goodness of their hearts they have decided to bestow upon me a $100.00 travel voucher, good for use on any Delta flight. It will soon arrive in a second email. Great! Right?!

I get the second email. I open it up and what to do I find? My travel voucher? Nooooo.....why would they send me that?? I received an eTicket Receipt for a flight purchased by one Amy Jones!

Great! Right?!

Coupon Queen??

Okay folks! I am to be 35 in just a few short months...er, make that weeks. In my life I have been a divorcee, a single mother and a loving wife. I have lived in another country, driven 3000 miles with nothing but a map to guide me (and a little help from above). I've been a waitress, a receptionist, a front desk clerk, a school bus driver, a substitute teacher and a mail carrier! I've overseen the making of court orders, visitation agreements/disagreements, school schedules, ball schedules, band schedules, dental appointments, doctor appointments and vacation schedules. I purchased plane tickets and rental cars every year for 7 years and always managed to get the best deal and be at the airport on time!

WHY WHY WHY does coupon clipping and sales paper shopping seem to be more work than all those things combined!!

• I made the menu for the month.
• I made the shopping list for the week.
• I bought the paper and clipped all the coupons
• I bought the second paper to get the sales paper.
• I sat down with the list and went through the coupons.
• I sat down with the list and went through the sales paper.
• I shopped like an elderly lady, going down each and every aisle.
• I compared all the prices, with and without the coupons.
• I hounded the lady at the register, with sales paper in hand, to get the advertised price.
• I proudly handed over my coupons.
• I saved myself $6.00!!!

Are you kidding me!?

A day at the lake...

The boys and I spent the day at the lake. It was wonderful. No really, had a great time, seriously!

Anyone out there remember when you'd take your kids to the lake and spend the day blowing up floaties, slathering on the sunblock and running yourself silly trying to keep up with the kiddies?? Yeah...(sigh)...I remember that too. Somewhere in the back of my mind, anyway. After the, "Mom can you get my back?" and "Going in now!", it was me (Mom) sittin in a chair with the rest of the "old folks" up on the bank looking out at my "kids" diving off the pier into 14 ft of water, tubing behind a speed boat and flirting with the girls in bikinis.

Yep, that's me, Mom of teenage boys. When did that happen?

There are perks. Like, unloading the car, and the big strong boys get to carry the cooler and all of the chairs. If the sun is lined up with the moon just right, they'll set out your chair for you and maybe even get you a bottle of water before running off. You do actually get to sit and sun yourself on the bank instead of running around like a chicken and being forced into the smelly murky water of the lake. No carrying a toddler up and down the bank every 5 minutes. You get to hang out with ppl your own age and have a conversation that does not consist of "No, honey, not right now", "Hold on one minute and Mommy will get it" etc....No seriously, you really do have other things to talk about, other words to string together into something that resembles an intellegent thought.

Considering all those "perks", I reckon I don't have alot to complain about these days...

Except maybe the passing of time....;)