Saturday, October 2, 2010

only in grenada






So Krew is officially walking!!!! (well he has been for almost two weeks now, my updating skills are a little lax these days) Not only is he walking, but the little guy turns one tomorrow!!! Can you believe it; this could have possibly been the fastest year recorded in history....I can still remember his birth like it was yesterday. Well, I told myself that I should write a proper post devoted to Krew for his birthday (mainly for my sake to remember the special day) so maybe I will accomplish that tomorrow, who knows, like I said the updating thing hasn't gone so well for me thus far. In the mean time I thought I would share a funny story....

So realizing that I might not see my family for a year....or more, Thomas and I decided that it would be a good idea if Krew and I flew home for Thanksgiving and spent a little time with my family while Thomas stayed in Grenada for two weeks to finish up with finals. I got on the phone and made the painful but necessary phone calls to switch our flights. Switching my flight was a sinch because it is all electronic, but switching Krew's was a little more tricky. Since he is a lap child he is required to have a paper ticket, meaning I have to go to the actual airport and get one printed off. Knowing that ticket prices go up as time passes, I decided to rush to the Grenadian airport, and take care of Krew's ticket asap. Well, needless to say the Grenadian airport is nothing like what we are used to in the states, but when I walked into the small...tinny, tiny international airport, I actually thought the whole process might be pretty simple because there was only one American Airline ticket agent and only one person needing help (me)...haha, boy was I wrong. So after explaining my situation I was prepared to pay the change fee to receive Krew's new paper ticket, for his new flight. In the end none of those things happened. The ticket agent was adamant that I did not need a new paper ticket and that the one I had would work just fine....even though it was for a different time, a different date and a different destination..... I guess she could tell that I was a little uneasy about the whole thing so she told me to step over the weight machines, behind the ticket counter (could you imagine!!!, this would never happen in the states....only in Grenada) and then I followed her to this security locked office (again, this would never happen anywhere but here), where she pulled up my flight information on a computer (using all of her passwords that I could have easily stolen and reeked havoc on the tinny tiny airport, you know if I was crazy like that). After she pulled up my locator number she proceeded to call American Airlines on the phone. She handed me the phone and stood right next to me while I talked to the American Airline representative. I was baffled by what was happing.....the conversation went a little like this:

Me: Hello, what process do I need to go through to change my son's flight; he is a lap child?? (already knowing the answer to this question because I had called the day before and was told that I needed to go to the actual airport for them to print out a completely new paper ticket)

AA representative: You need to go to the actual airpot and have the ticket agent at the counter print you off a new paper ticket.

Me: (repeating loud and clear so that the ticket agent standing right next to me could hear every detail that I already explained to her five minutes earlier). Okay, so I need to go to the ACTUAL AIRPORT and have the TICKET AGENT print me off a COMPLETELY NEW PAPER TICKET!!!!!!!!!!

AA ticket agent standing next to me: Ask her if she can do it over the phone???

Me: (already knowing that the answer was no, but obviously she needed a more simple no, because the last answer wasn't straight forward enough) She wants to know if you can do it over the phone??

AA representative: No, I am sorry i cannot do it over the phone, I can only do electronic tickets and paper must be done at the airport.

Me: (again repeating loud and clear) No she cannot do it over the phone, you need to do it here.

AA ticket agent standing next to me: Ask her if there is a price that you need to pay and if she can take care of that over the phone??

Me: (I also knew the answer to this question from my previous phone calls the day before, there was supposed to be a small change fee associated with this new ticket and it had to be taken care of at the actual airport) She wants to know if there is a fee associated with this new paper ticket and if so can you take care of it over the phone???

AA representative: I do not know if there is fee, the ticket agent at the airport should be able to take of all of that at the airport....wait a minute, is the ticket agent asking you to ask me these questions...what is going on over there????!!!!!

Me: Yes, m'am, I have no idea, but I will tell her that you cannot do anything to help me over the phone and that everything needs to be taken care of with a ticket agent at the actual airport and that she would need to print me off a new paper ticket and check to see if there is a price associated with it....thanks bye, bye.


So after all that, with straight forward directions from an American Airlines Representative, this ticket agent still believed that my original ticket would be sufficient, but to make me feel better she printed off an itinerary, that she typed up herself, to bring back to the airport the day of our departure.....and there should be no problems......right??!!?!?!?! We will have to see if Krew and I make it off this island. I guess the plus side to all of this is that we didn't have to pay the change fee, because the ticket agent was also convinced that I already paid for that as well (which I did not, and was totally ready and willing to pay). Like I said I was so baffled by this whole experience, that on the way home, I drove through an entrance only section, which means I think I skipped out on paying for parking.....oooops!!!!! At first I didn't realize it, but after seeing two Grenadian workers throwing their hands up in confusion while staring straight at me, I finally realized what I was doing. So of course not only was I confounded about what just happened at the airport, but then I felt bad about not paying for parking....although my remorse didn't last very long when I saw a guy driving completely on the side walk, making people jump out into the street to get out of the way.....at least I didn't put peoples lives in danger when I went out the wrong way......oh only in Grenada!!!!! Got to love it.

2 comments:

  1. That is so nuts! Wyatt and I are in California for Thanksgiving this year, so I am going to have to demand that we see you during the week. I miss you guys!

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  2. way to go Krew!!! I can't believe how big he's gotten. Good work on the updates! I love em, keep them coming! On another note, it was really not that long ago that we lived next door to eachother! Now I live a country life in the forest of central oregon and you live in the a tropical oasis! How did this all happen so fast?!

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