Let them sing the song of their "people," Dave.
Time to hitch a ride. Don't forget your towel!
So, as most of you probably know, I went to Ireland the week of my birthday.
I booked the flight through American Airlines, and was supposed to fly out of Tyler/Pounds airport, with layovers in DFW and London/Heathrow. I had concerns, because the flights were brokered through American Eagle, British Airways and Aer Lingus. Which seems like a potential for disaster. Flights cost $1280.
On the day of my flight, Tyler was experiencing tornadoes, so my Tyler-DFW flight was cancelled. Which, you know, I don't fault them for. All the bullshit that happened next, I do fault them for.
So, I call the airline, and tell them if I leave now, I can get to DFW in time to pick up my flights on that leg of the journey (it's a 2.5 hour drive), and the representative says she's adjusted my itinerary to make note of it, and that when I return to the states, I can request a refund of the cancelled portion of the trip.
So, I drive to DFW (through the tornado storms), catch that flight and get to Heathrow. At which point, I'm denied a boarding pass by British Airways (because even though my next leg is Aer Lingus, I'm coming off a British Airways flight and they're the ones who need to give me the next boarding pass) because I "skipped" the Tyler leg, and I was told that the rules over there don't allow that kind of thing. I explained that not only was the flight cancelled, but that I *had* called American to ensure that my itinerary was adjusted before making the drive to Dallas. They get on the phone with American Airlines, and over an hour later, it's sorted out. Which means I missed the only flight to Shannon that evening. Instead, they put me on a flight to Cork (which means another 3 hour drive when I get to Ireland).
With that new set of flights, I got an email that showed the new pricing at somewhere around $977, so $300 cheaper than my original tickets. So, I'm expecting at least something on the refund.
Flight home had delays at Heathrow, so I would have theoretically missed the DFW-Tyler leg of that return journey, but it wasn't even on my American Airlines app itinerary at that point. And I couldn't have taken it anyway, since my car was in Dallas and I had to drive it home.
So, I get home, and I request my refund. I received a form email saying because the itinerary had been 'taken over' by British Airways (I assume when they fixed AA's issues at Heathrow) they would need to consult with them first. I'm told an email would be forthcoming with my refund disposition. But I've been checking the status on the website, daily. Today, I got a refund denial with no email or explanation.
This is really only a minor rant, because I had originally planned to drive to DFW for the flight anyway, but someone suggested I try the Tyler airport, and the flight was actually $200 cheaper to fly out of Tyler first ($1500 from DFW-Shannon vs $1300 from TYR-Shannon). So, I'm technically not out any money.
That said, I feel like all of the bullshit they put me through, the 12 hours of unplanned driving (3 hours to and from both DFW and Cork) is worth something more than a silent "fuck you". American no longer has a phone number where you can talk to customer service--the only phone number they have takes you to ticketing reps. And those reps will tell you they can't transfer you to a phone for customer service, nor does such a number exist.
I have 77,000 airline miles, and an American Airlines credit card that I've had nearly 20 years. I just paid the card off today, and as soon as that clears, I'll be cancelling the card. I'm fairly certain they'll put me through the retention process, and then finally a real person at the company will hear my god damned complaint, and maybe they'll throw a few perks/inducements my way in an attempt to get me to keep the card, and so I'll be made whole in a completely bullshit manner rather than them doing the right thing in the first place.
I booked the flight through American Airlines, and was supposed to fly out of Tyler/Pounds airport, with layovers in DFW and London/Heathrow. I had concerns, because the flights were brokered through American Eagle, British Airways and Aer Lingus. Which seems like a potential for disaster. Flights cost $1280.
On the day of my flight, Tyler was experiencing tornadoes, so my Tyler-DFW flight was cancelled. Which, you know, I don't fault them for. All the bullshit that happened next, I do fault them for.
So, I call the airline, and tell them if I leave now, I can get to DFW in time to pick up my flights on that leg of the journey (it's a 2.5 hour drive), and the representative says she's adjusted my itinerary to make note of it, and that when I return to the states, I can request a refund of the cancelled portion of the trip.
So, I drive to DFW (through the tornado storms), catch that flight and get to Heathrow. At which point, I'm denied a boarding pass by British Airways (because even though my next leg is Aer Lingus, I'm coming off a British Airways flight and they're the ones who need to give me the next boarding pass) because I "skipped" the Tyler leg, and I was told that the rules over there don't allow that kind of thing. I explained that not only was the flight cancelled, but that I *had* called American to ensure that my itinerary was adjusted before making the drive to Dallas. They get on the phone with American Airlines, and over an hour later, it's sorted out. Which means I missed the only flight to Shannon that evening. Instead, they put me on a flight to Cork (which means another 3 hour drive when I get to Ireland).
With that new set of flights, I got an email that showed the new pricing at somewhere around $977, so $300 cheaper than my original tickets. So, I'm expecting at least something on the refund.
Flight home had delays at Heathrow, so I would have theoretically missed the DFW-Tyler leg of that return journey, but it wasn't even on my American Airlines app itinerary at that point. And I couldn't have taken it anyway, since my car was in Dallas and I had to drive it home.
So, I get home, and I request my refund. I received a form email saying because the itinerary had been 'taken over' by British Airways (I assume when they fixed AA's issues at Heathrow) they would need to consult with them first. I'm told an email would be forthcoming with my refund disposition. But I've been checking the status on the website, daily. Today, I got a refund denial with no email or explanation.
This is really only a minor rant, because I had originally planned to drive to DFW for the flight anyway, but someone suggested I try the Tyler airport, and the flight was actually $200 cheaper to fly out of Tyler first ($1500 from DFW-Shannon vs $1300 from TYR-Shannon). So, I'm technically not out any money.
That said, I feel like all of the bullshit they put me through, the 12 hours of unplanned driving (3 hours to and from both DFW and Cork) is worth something more than a silent "fuck you". American no longer has a phone number where you can talk to customer service--the only phone number they have takes you to ticketing reps. And those reps will tell you they can't transfer you to a phone for customer service, nor does such a number exist.
I have 77,000 airline miles, and an American Airlines credit card that I've had nearly 20 years. I just paid the card off today, and as soon as that clears, I'll be cancelling the card. I'm fairly certain they'll put me through the retention process, and then finally a real person at the company will hear my god damned complaint, and maybe they'll throw a few perks/inducements my way in an attempt to get me to keep the card, and so I'll be made whole in a completely bullshit manner rather than them doing the right thing in the first place.
I know it's fashionable to hate on Twitter right now, but: Fuck Facebook. it's become an almost completely useless husk entirely devoid of what I go there for.
"suggested" posts, ads, "recommended" groups, local sponsorships, etc etc make up FAR too much posts.
I just did a count, in the first 50 things on my feed were 4 (FOUR) posts made by friends; three of which were re-shares or reposts of someone or something else's stuff.
Political aggression, "engagement" by stoking fires, propaganda, it's all there's left there.
I joined facebook to reconnect with people, maybe get some more information on how X from high school was doing, see that Y got a new job, whatever. This never ending torrent of things to make you angry and/or happy? It's just unhealthy and unwanted and frankly...unnecessary. Yeah, the occasional marriage or something shows up, but in actuality, most important things happening in other people's lives? They don't make it on there anymore. This is just useless hormone boosting crap.
Social networking = useful, healthy, interesting.
Social media = horrible crap.
"suggested" posts, ads, "recommended" groups, local sponsorships, etc etc make up FAR too much posts.
I just did a count, in the first 50 things on my feed were 4 (FOUR) posts made by friends; three of which were re-shares or reposts of someone or something else's stuff.
Political aggression, "engagement" by stoking fires, propaganda, it's all there's left there.
I joined facebook to reconnect with people, maybe get some more information on how X from high school was doing, see that Y got a new job, whatever. This never ending torrent of things to make you angry and/or happy? It's just unhealthy and unwanted and frankly...unnecessary. Yeah, the occasional marriage or something shows up, but in actuality, most important things happening in other people's lives? They don't make it on there anymore. This is just useless hormone boosting crap.
Social networking = useful, healthy, interesting.
Social media = horrible crap.
I have a similar hate for Instagram. If I'm scrolling on my phone, posts will appear as "New post from someone I follow, ad, new post, suggestion to follow this person, ad, suggestion, new post, suggestion, ad, new post." A good two thirds of what I scroll through now is either an ad or a "because you follow this other person." And no matter how much I say "Do not recommend this person," it's like a hydra where even more pop up, anyway. Fucking hell, Instagram, just give me the option to turn that feature off entirely.
I mean, considering that Instagram is owned by Facebook now, it's completely on-brand.
--Patrick
figmentPez
Staff member
I put in a maintenance request to have my apartment clean my air conditioner's evaporator coils. They kicked by my request as "completed" with the note "checked". They did not at any time enter my apartment to access the evaporator coils. Unless they've got access to the attic space that I don't know about, there's no way they could have even checked the coils, let alone cleaned them, as should be done yearly as part of regular maintenance.
GasBandit
Staff member
Apartment maintenance guys are the worst sometimes.
Back in the day, I had an A/C in my apartment that the thermostat broke in a very bizarre way. I had one of those thermostats that had a little switch for "on/off/auto" and another for the fan being on/auto. Two switches. I kept the "fan" one on "on" at all times to keep the air circulating (and filtering), and usually left the A/C on "auto" so that it would kick on when the thermometer got above the set temp.
One day I noticed "holy shit it's cold in my apartment" and looked... sure enough it was 65 degrees (I keep the thermostat at 75). The AC had kicked on and never turned off. After some convoluted troubleshooting, I figured out that the fan's "On" position was now keeping the A/C running at all times when the AC was in "auto." I wrote all this up and opened a maintenance ticket.
The maintenance guy came when I was at work, flipped the fan from "on" to "auto" and marked it fixed.
Shitfucker.
I came home to a clammy, stale-smelling apartment and wrote a VERY acidic note to management.
GasBandit
Staff member
I don't have my A/C on in the winter at all.
That sounds awfully hot for the land of ice and snow according to the Canadian temperature scale. 18ish sounds more reasonable for you guys. But then, it won’t even get down to 18ish here tonight.
My school has been locked down *again* due to some asshole posting a vague threat. And right before lunch, too, so all my students are just trapped in my room, becoming increasingly angry and hungry.
Why the fuck would you threaten a school? Such a pain in the ass. I wish I could find who did it and throttle them.
Why the fuck would you threaten a school? Such a pain in the ass. I wish I could find who did it and throttle them.
Someone probably did it because their "My grandma died" excuse wasn't accepted.
--Patrick
I was racing to get home ahead of the rain yesterday. It had already rained already, so the ground was wet. I hit a slick spot and my front wheel went sideways. I got a bit banged up -- skinned and bruised shoulder, skinned and bruised knee, probably a lightly bruised rib, and a pair of bent glasses. No damage to the bike. I was able to take the day off today and get my glasses fixed, and none of the other injuries have developed into anything more serious. (I was describing my injuries to people as "I've had worse", which upon reflection is not as assuring as I was hoping it would sound.)
It's our last big order delivery before Christmas today at work, so I'll be out in that delightful weather for an hour or two. Yaaaaaay.
I genuinely cannot comprehend what that feels like. It was 28 F (-2 C) yesterday and I thought I was going to freeze while walking to my car.
Can confirm it fucking sucks.
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Condolences bud. Fuck this weather so hard ha ha ha ha.
I was up north for work and my hair froze to my hood.
"It's cold enough to freeze your Winnebago!"
(A line I've quoted every winter since I watched Muppet Family Christmas, even though I have no idea what it means because I know nothing about cars.)
I'm not even a minute in and this is fucking hilarious.
I have never seen this. Thank you - it's gold!