My Present: Exile
Here in Malaysia, it's already February 24th. That makes me 32-1/2! So, for my half birthday, I have treated myself to another few days in Singapore. It wasn't intentional, but because of the whole stupid Americans gaffe, I had to change my outbound flight from Singapore back to Seattle.
When I asked the concierge at the prior hotel to see if she could change the flight, she reported that the flights on Sunday were booked. Yet if I went online, I could see available itineraries (though through Hong Kong). However, changing my flight online wouldn't work; I kept getting an error message.
After changing our accomodations to move to another hotel (this time, one with net), I figured I'd try my hand at calling up (via Skype) to talk to a person and change the flights. United now has this voice recognition software to "assist" travelers without having to have a large staff at a call center. I haven't yet figured out the magic word to bypass my new electronic friend to get direct to a person, so I have to answer a few of his questions first. "Is this a new, or existing reservation?" Eventually, I get the option to say "agent" (no, not Hugo Weaving), to transfer to a human. I hear "boo-beep" and then "We're sorry, the number you are calling is not accessible from your calling area." Crap!
Next, let's try the Singapore website for some contact numbers. Calling .sg from .my (since they're neighbors) is easy and cheap. Oh, but their office is closed for the evening! Do Singaporeans not travel after 6pm? I ride the elevator down to the concierge to ask for a local Malaysian number for United. That one didn't work at all.
Finally, today, I borrow my coworker's (Singaporean) cell phone, and call up United. The earliest flight I've got is March 1st. Yay! I said "I'm willing to upgrade to business if there are seats in business class available." I was told "We have to have an economy seat available first to confirm you on the flight before you can request an upgrade." Curses! So nothing to do but suck it up and enjoy a couple of days in Singapore.
When I asked the concierge at the prior hotel to see if she could change the flight, she reported that the flights on Sunday were booked. Yet if I went online, I could see available itineraries (though through Hong Kong). However, changing my flight online wouldn't work; I kept getting an error message.
After changing our accomodations to move to another hotel (this time, one with net), I figured I'd try my hand at calling up (via Skype) to talk to a person and change the flights. United now has this voice recognition software to "assist" travelers without having to have a large staff at a call center. I haven't yet figured out the magic word to bypass my new electronic friend to get direct to a person, so I have to answer a few of his questions first. "Is this a new, or existing reservation?" Eventually, I get the option to say "agent" (no, not Hugo Weaving), to transfer to a human. I hear "boo-beep" and then "We're sorry, the number you are calling is not accessible from your calling area." Crap!
Next, let's try the Singapore website for some contact numbers. Calling .sg from .my (since they're neighbors) is easy and cheap. Oh, but their office is closed for the evening! Do Singaporeans not travel after 6pm? I ride the elevator down to the concierge to ask for a local Malaysian number for United. That one didn't work at all.
Finally, today, I borrow my coworker's (Singaporean) cell phone, and call up United. The earliest flight I've got is March 1st. Yay! I said "I'm willing to upgrade to business if there are seats in business class available." I was told "We have to have an economy seat available first to confirm you on the flight before you can request an upgrade." Curses! So nothing to do but suck it up and enjoy a couple of days in Singapore.
posted by Sanford Owings at 10:59 PM
1 Comments:
It's the 24th here in EST, which I would guess is about 12 times zones away from you. So happy birthday!! :)
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