Mercury in Retrograde

So on October 9th last year John and I each booked a flight to London for April 6th, 2011, using Air Miles - 20,000 for each of us, with me *gifting* him (for only $150) 10,000 of mine as he didn't have enough. As it turned out, he wasn't able to make the trip blah blah blah, and, as both of us had dropped the ball when it came to booking a return flight, I ended up paying for a ticket and going by myself. That left me with the choice, I discovered later, of paying $150 to put the unused miles back into my account or, within a year, making the same trip as originally scheduled - New York to Heathrow.

Miss Thrifty here, unwilling to pay $150 to put the miles back, decided it made more sense to use the original ticket, go to the UK for the second time this year even though this time there was no real reason to go, go on to Spain to visit my sister and fly back from Madrid to the U.S., rather than shell out $150. (This took no regard whatsoever of the fact that I could have paid the $150, put the 20,000 miles back in my account, used 12,5000 of them to get back to Boston when I needed to for *nothing* and still have 7,500 miles to use.)

Complicated? Piece o'cake. The first reservation I made, the day before Mercury went retrograde, with me leaving Boston near the end of September and returning the 9th of October (from Madrid, via Miami) was okayed by my sister but Ahma suggested an earlier trip, if possible, would be better to make sure Star Child's summer babysitter was still available in my absence, as said babysitter would be looking for a full-time *real* job before too long.

Okay. The day Mercury went retrograde I was back on the American Airlines Redeem Rewards site and the best I could come up with for *free* was leaving New York on September 9th, going to Raleigh/Durham, wherever that is, and then on to Heathrow, arriving at 10:45 pm, and then leaving Madrid at 11:00 am on the 19th, flying to Miami (again) with a three-hour layover before boarding a flight to Boston. Now in the mix was my having already made a (paying) reservation out of El Paso for the day after Labor Day, arriving in Boston late that night, Tuesday September 6th, meaning I would spend the whole of Wednesday in Cambridge re-acquainting myself with Star Child and she with me before taking off for New York on Thursday to spend the night in my apartment before getting to La Guardia at 6:30 am on Friday to fly to Raleigh/Durham and then on to Heathrow. Totally ridiculous, but I'd be damned if I was going to spend that $150.

This time the reservation was approved by all involved, and I had until midnight Sunday 8/7 to confirm it. I'd already been told by AA customer Service I'd need to call it/them before I could book the ticket, as I was no longer traveling off-peak and each leg of the new trip required 30,000 miles instead of the 20,000 of the original booking, miles I no longer had as I'd gifted 10,000 of them to John in October of last year.

Looking at the AAdvantage website at 9:00 pm Sunday, I discovered customer service closed at 5:00 pm, so called the regular old American Airlines reservation number, holding for 18 minutes before the call was answered. I went through my spiel about re-using a reservation made last year and was then promptly transferred to the AAdvantage customer service line and sat on hold for five minutes before the call was answered. Once again I went through my spiel and was transferred to the AAdvantage International help line.

One more time through my spiel about re-using a reservation made last year and could you please put the 20,000 miles back into my account so I can book this ticket and I was then told that as my new reservation left from La Guardia instead of from JKF, as the original made on October 9th, 2010, did, I would STILL need to pay the $150 fee for changing the airport of departure. But, but I couldn't get a flight out of JFK on the date I needed to leave to use the ticket, I splutter. Sorry, says Ms. Implacable AAdvantage, I have to charge the $150 fee for change of airports.

But, but, but, I continue to splutter, I'm only making this trip so I don't have to pay the $150 to put the miles back in my account. I understand, says Ms. Implacable, but I do need to charge the $150 fee for change of departure airports...

We go backwards and forwards like this for ten minutes or so, as I ask her to FIND me a flight out of JFK that will fit the AAdvantage Program's requirements which of course she can't do, and, inevitably, I say f*ck the whole thing, charge me the $150, put the f*cking miles back into my account and I'll go and see my sister whenever I want to.

I'm now wondering when, if and why I shall have to cancel the reservation I've made to get me and Sweet Pea back to Logan on September 9th. See label.