- 2/5/2008 3:55:44 PMAirport AdventureThis is a story that looked like it was going to be awful when it began, but by the time it ended it was relatively pleasant.
We arrived at Austin Strauble International Airport in Green Bay and walked up to the Delta counter. All the other open counters had long lines and Delta had no customers. That's good. We had some potentially long business to conduct. We approached the counter lady and began to explain what we needed.
"You mean you didn't purchase your tickets yet?", she asked.
"Yes", we said. "That's why we're here. To purchase them now."
"I'm going to have to be on the phone for hours straightening this out", she complained.
Little did she know that we went through five different customer service agents last night and got five different answers. Honestly, I really didn't care if she had to be on the phone for hours.
We explained further that we had received a confirmation number from one of the agents last night and that all of the hassle we went through should be in their system. This information did not seem to phase her and she began to give me the impression that we had just ruined her day.
She called someone from Delta and began to explain that we had not purchased our tickets on line and needed to do it now and there was an adoption involved and blah blah blah blah. She mentioned repeatedly, "I don't know why you didn't just purchase them on line... There is going to be an additional fee for each ticket for purchasing them at the counter..."
Whatever.
As she spoke to the person on the phone, we listened carefully.
"... and there is no record of the price... extra fees... I've never done one of these before... I-171h..."
I looked at Peggy.
She looked back at me.
Oh boy.
Then we received her preliminary explanation of what was going on
"No one ever reads the notes field on these things... There is no record of a quoted price... Hold on..."
A little panic began to set in. All I wanted to know was if we were going to get the quoted price or not and she either couldn't or wouldn't give me a definitive answer on that.
Then she came back, "... as soon as I said the word adoption, she knew exactly what to do".
Apparently the person on the other end of the phone is very familiar with adoption flights and knowing this put our counter agent at ease. Her whole attitude changed and she actually became friendly. It was not long afterward when we had secured our tickets.
Here is the final total:
(my ticket) 2016.20 + 20.00
(Peggy's ticket) 2016.20 + 20.00
(Yuri's ticket) 1102.85 + 20.00
---------------------------------
Grand Total $5195.25
While it seems to be an amazingly high price (and it is), we are just glad to have the tickets and this step complete.
Next item on the agenda: locating a flat in Moscow.
Stay tuned.
