Travel VENT! long - sorry

[luvmyhunny]

I just need to vent a little bit even though everything has now been taken care of.

DH and I planned to travel for our anniversary (see this thread http://community.southernliving.com/showthread.php?t=718)

Due to Hurricane Wilma we received notification from our Hotel that the hotel itself in Cancun was destroyed and probably would not be reopening. No surprise there - contacted my travel company and got a refund for my hotel reservations and the round trip transfer from the airport to the hotel. Was told by them that Delta had not cancelled the flight yet so the best I could hope for at that time was a credit with the airline. Honestly guys, a credit wouldn't work for us simply because we rarely fly. Also, the credit was only for 1 year and the only reason we were taking our vacation at this time was because of work conflicts, we usually go in December.

Been talking to my online travel people www.cancun.com for a week now (I had until tomorrow to make my decision about changing vs. cancellation) and was finally informed this morning by them that because Delta was not cancelling the flight the best I could hope for would be to get a credit good for 1 year or cancel and pay a $100.00 per person fee + the original airline cost. NOWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Called Delta directly (had previously been told I needed to go through cancun.com by cancun.com) and within 10 minutes had a full refund except for my $98.00 insurance fee.

Okay - I feel better now - thanks for letting me vent. This has been a laborious vacation to plan-replan-replan some more-and finalize and I'm just ready for it to start!

[LisainVA]

I am so, so sorry that you have had to go through all of this. Vent away...I understand completely. At least you got the situation resolved and that is a Good Thing (as Martha would say)!

On another note, I never, ever use a travel agent. I do all my arrangements myself. I have worked for attorney's for years and have made more travel arrangements then you could shake a stick at. I did use a travel agency one time & I thought the price they were quoting me was very high so I got on the phone and called directly and sure enough, got the flight for $550.00 less then quoted by the travel agent (that was for a personal trip for myself). My company did use a travel agency but we started finding out that us Assistants could get better deals. The only time it helped was when someone was outside of the US and they had problems not during normal office hours. But, my bosses would call me at midnight if they had too - UGH! I have put together some really great trips for my husband and I & have never had a problem.

This storm was a real kicker and that made it difficult. Once again, I'm happy that you got everything resolved. Have fun!

[Cricket]

I agree about travel agents. We've used them in the past and always paid way too much. I have better luck going online.

[Veecee]

Two things I do that have worked well for me.
#1 Get an American Express card and make travel arrangements through them. If something happens like your flight "not" getting cancelled, let Amex deal with it. They do that very well.
#2 I dealt with US Airways customer service regarding a very similar situation to yours, thanks to Wilma. Long story, but the jist of it is, the info from the guy of customer service did not sound right at all. He wasn't American, and although he seemed to be trying as best he could, we just weren't getting anywhere. I drove to the airport (1-1/2 hours but worth it, had lunch w/ DD while out, so that's nice), spoke with a fabulous USAir rep at a desk -problem solved within minutes.

I'm glad that you were able to get the problem corrected, but it is truly frustrating. I don't blame you for venting!!

[Veecee]

Two things I do that have worked well for me.
#1 Get an American Express card and make travel arrangements through them. If something happens like your flight "not" getting cancelled, let Amex deal with it. They do that very well.
#2 I dealt with US Airways customer service regarding a very similar situation to yours, thanks to Wilma. Long story, but the jist of it is, the info from the guy from customer service did not sound right at all. He wasn't American, and although he seemed to be trying as best he could, we just weren't getting anywhere. I drove to the airport (1-1/2 hours but worth it, had lunch w/ DD while out, so that's nice), spoke with a fabulous USAir rep at a desk -problem solved within minutes.

I'm glad that you were able to get the problem corrected, but it is truly frustrating. I don't blame you for venting!!