Change Fees

Today I received a cheery note from JetBlue inviting me to go online and confirm my flight. I thought, "Wow, that's weird, usually they do that the DAY before the flight, not the MONTH before the flight." Then I looked at the itinerary -  I had mistakenly booked tickets to a conference in Ft. Lauderdale for Bill for February 3rd instead of March 3rd. Do you know that the change fee is $100 per ticket. That is almost 1/2 the price of a dishwasher ( if you don't  buy the "better" model ! HA!). My stomach fell. Then I noticed some red bold writing on the JetBlue site that said TRAVEL ALERT - Fee Waivers for Northeast and MidAtlantic flights. Since we were in the middle of th "storm of the century" they were allowing fliers to re-book without incurring any fees. They'd been cancelling flights all over the place. What a great time for me to make a mistake!! WOOT! Buffalo is in the northeast,  I can get the fee waived. But, Buffalo - city of snow and ice - was not on the list of permissible cities. Do you know why? Because we KNOW SNOW and our Airport ROCKS!  Buffalonians can handle snow - they can plow it, melt it, ski it, have fun with it,  move in, around and through it.

I called JetBlue anyway and tried to connive my way through. They weren't buying it:  "The Buffalo airport is not experiencing any delays".  Can you hear the voice of the nasal woman saying that?

So, I took a deep breath and paid the damn change fee plus the additional fee because apparently, traveling to Ft. Lauderdale in March is more expensive than traveling in February.

And while I was in the mood, I booked a trip to Florida to see my mum in April ... on Southwest which does NOT charge change fees. You KNOW I checked the date a half a dozen times to make sure I hadn't screwed up.

I had been looking at my empty 2011 calendar and lamenting the fact that I had ZERO trips planned. And, my son, Will has taught me me that 1 of the 5 keys to happiness ( his personal mantra)  is to ALWAYS have something to which you can look forward. And, I needed to feel happier because of my stupid mistake. So, that is what I did. And it worked. I felt happier immediately.

When I confessed my booking error to Bill he said : "...and the problem is...?  Can't you rebook?" I said:  "Yes, I can replicate the flight but it's going to cost you more" . He said " Jesus, I make mistakes all the time. Book it and RELAX".

And, that made me feel happier, too!