Ending the year in high gear

I can never sleep the night before I travel. I opened my computer around 4 am today thinking of how I hadn't checked in for my noon flight today. Yesterday I was very focused on how to get to the airport--another long story. This morning I wasn't too bothered about printing boarding passes. We don't have a printer so I figured I'd get them at check in. However, I thought I probably needed to reserve seats on my two flights. Here are some of the questions I wrestled with between 4am and 6am.

1. What airline do I check in with? I flew over with Air Canada but I think I'm flying back with United and/or Lufthansa. I booked the ticket through Expedia and have gotten zero emails about checking in.
2. Turns out I check in with United on return. If I change my assigned seat, do I pay? No, if I click a white box.
3. What are United's baggage policies? Are the sizes different from Air Canada?
4. Yes. They are smaller. I went downstairs in the dark to get mom's measuring tape and was measuring my bag at 4:30 a.m. I had to pay to check a bag that Air Canada allowed as a carry on bag coming over. Is there a deadline for checking a bag on line?
5. Yes. I had another two hours to finish this task. Am I paying the $57 fee for each flight? Or for the journey? The page where you pay the fee shows only the first flight, so I thought I'd have to pay twice. A comment board post told me it was per journey.
6. Is there a weight limit? Yes. Turns out I was well inside that one.

I sent David a text around 4 am asking his opinion on these issues. He said go to the Air Canada desk and don't prepay the baggage fee. I think had I not prepaid that fee I'd have faced a much higher fee at the counter--although I couldn't confirm this.

I wrote yesterday that I am aware of my tendency to focus on the tedious or the many things that offend me (particularly on the environmental front). So you'd think I could lay off for a day. But I just am gobsmacked at how hard it is to play this gotcha game with the airlines.

The payoff was the day went smoothly. At the last minute, mom's neighbour agreed to go with us to the airport (four hours round trip) so mom didn't have to drive home in heavy rain. On the way to the airport, we canceled the taxi I had ordered to get from a hotel just off the interstate to the airport. This would have made mom's journey simpler. But lucky for me, the neighbour joined our little sendoff party.

Dec. 31