Oh Canada!

I am not good at logistics and navigating travel websites. I’ll just admit that up front. I leave in two days for a two-week trip to America to see my mom. It’s taken me weeks to buy my roundtrip bus ride from Belfast to Dublin airport; my RT Air Canada flight from Dublin to Toronto to Columbus Ohio; my hotel stay in Columbus; my bus fare to Parkersburg; roundtrip tickets for mom and I to Florida; rental car in Florida. Many hours of trying to figure out what I’m buying and trying to get the best deal. I spent tonight printing tickets, itineraries, receipts.

While the internet is supposed to make all of this easier and cheaper, I find it’s just a big game where the vendor is trying to get me to buy something without explaining fully what I’m buying. Then the vendor can add charges for the things that weren’t disclosed.

For instance, the rental car comes with some kind of insurance, but it doesn’t explain what is covered. As a driver with an international license, I am totally not clear about whether I need to buy additional coverage. And I won’t want to be pressured into buying something at the counter.

But the real killer was Air Canada. I paid $940 for my round trip airfare, which I thought was a lot. Not being technically savvy, I buy the best priced ticket on Google Flights on the day I look. I’ve always thought if I go back and look again, the price will go up because their algorithm tells them they’ve got me. I think the way to do this is set up an alert and buy once you’re offered a cheaper fare. But I haven’t figured that trick out yet.

Anyway, I look at my confirmation e-mail and I see a link saying “Reserve seat.” I click on the link and see every seat has a price--14 pounds for interior seats and 20 pounds for aisle seats. This can’t be right. The discount carriers--where you get a cheap fare--assign you a seat. You pay more only if you want to select your own seat. I decide to call Air Canada. The “toll-free” phone number is not toll free if your cell phone plan doesn’t include toll free calls to Canada. The wait is a half hour. I realise I can use Skype to call, which I do. I pack while I’m on hold. The woman who answers confirms that I must pay for four seats on top of the $940. I ask her where that was disclosed when I bought my ticket. “Terms and conditions” she answers. I am hot at this news--I try not to take it out on her, but I’m hot. When you go to a fare comparison site--as we all do--how are you supposed to know what you are getting?

Add to that that every airline has different baggage policies as to size and weight--which change depending on the size of the plane. And all are different in terms of when you check in--24 hours before or weeks before? And all are different in terms of how you get rid of your bag. So I get off the phone and start reserving my seats. I get the first seat reserved, then I watch a red airplane fly in a circle over and over and over on Air Canada’s website. It won’t let me progress to the next flight. I close out, lose my first reservation and start over. I’d say this took a half hour as well. Just the Air Canada flight was probably two hours of research, phone calls, web clicking.

Grump grump grump. I just feel the business model for a lot of companies is Trump like--trickery, extortion, gas lighting. Promise you one thing, give you another.
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