[EXPLETIVE] Air Canada!

Before I start ranting about Air Canada, I will update from my last post. Valerie and I had a great time in Las Vegas.  I bet approximately $20 US on the slots and lost it all!  I'm just not a gambler.  Valerie won a bit - $50 on a $1 bet!  That bought her several bras at Ross's Dress for Less.  Haha, that is probably the only part of 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' that Valerie probably would not want publicized from our weekend but she's not here to stop me.  The rest of it was very boring.  Lots of walking and shopping. 

 

Ok, Air Canada.  

Mom and I are booked to fly out with Air Canada on September 18.  We have hotels and some tickets for entertainment booked.  Air Canada (😣) has announced their pilots may go on strike as of September 17.  Some of the more astute of you may see a problem with these dates.   For the less astute, Air Canada may be on strike on our departure date!  

Options.  So many options, none of them good.  

I started by thinking that maybe we book cancellable 'back up flights' Victoria to Toronto with WestJet.  I called Air Canada to see if our Air Canada flights are cancelled due to the strike, would be still be able to take the Toronto -> Frankfurt -> Budapest parts even though we did not take the first leg. My CSR was so unpleasant that I never even got to ask that question.  Plus, this of plan requires that the Toronto to Frankfurt leg goes.  I thought it might since it seems to be a co-flight with Lufthansa.  I called them.  Much nicer CRS, but no, they said it is Air Canada. 

The next idea was actually Rob's.  Cancel with Air Canada and book a different airline.  I checked, flights out of Vancouver to Budapest are not that much more expensive than our current flights.  I wrote everything previous to that last paragraph while on hold with Air Canada to ask if I can cancel.  This time I got a very nice CSR.  We can cancel but our refund goes into our Air Canada 'wallet' which has to be used on a flight that has to be booked before March 9, 2025.  Hmm.  Surprisingly, I don't actually have any travel plans for 2025 that would require a couple of thousand dollars worth of flights (although that will likely change).  

Time to call mom to see what she thinks...  She thinks I should decide.  I've got to make some lemon squares for a potluck.  To be continued. 

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It's a couple of days later.  I managed to use those lemon squares (turned into tarts in the end) for three social events.  At each of which, I lamented my Air Canada predicament.  And got as much info/advice from my friends as possible.  

I was so undecided.  There were so many factors to consider but with some proper reflection it came down to this:  extra money or extra peace of mind.  Pay for more a flight not about to go on strike, or don't pay more and chance it that the about to go on strike flight will get cancelled. 

I decide to pay more.  

What's another $950 EACH!  It was only going to get more expensive the longer I waited.  I am reading what I wrote above, two days ago and the prices went up in those two days of dithering.  

So, we are now booked on Lufthansa, leaving Vancouver the same day, direct flight to Paris, then to Budapest.  (So, bonus!  French wine & cheese coming home!  I do like to take advantage of the CDG airport duty free!).   

I called Air Canada to cancel.  In the end, the ticket prices from Air Canada are in my 'wallet' (not my actual wallet of course, my Air Canada wallet).  When I talked to the next CSR (nice this time), she said I had until March 9 to use that money.  Doable I figured.  But when I got the final emails $2200 has to be used by August 25, 2025.  Ok, that's better.  And $457 has no expiry date.  Plus, I still have my $400 from their 'we're sorry we suck so hard' email when they cancelled TWO flights on my trip to Colombia. So, that's one big and one small trip.  With Air Canada of course, but how often can they go on strike (hahahaha, sorry to curse all Canadian travelers.  Apparently, they can go on strike monthly).

If Air Canada does not go on strike, the rest of the country can thank me and mom for taking the expensive/safe route.  Because if Air Canada can screw me over, they will for sure.

Now that that is decided and done, I can start thinking about the actual trip and not just the flight.  Leaving in 16 days!  

Nexus, Air Canada and flying to the US

This whole post is a 'but I digress' situation but I know everyone loves a good 'wow, Joanne is not good at vacation planning' story.  

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned that I bought a kind of crappy ticket to Budapest through Air Canada:  Victoria to Vancouver to Seattle to Frankfurt to Budapest.  I was not keen on adding in a stop in the US, what with the border etc.  But it was way cheaper.  

Well before I had planned this vacation, I had also applied for a Nexus pass.  Nexus allows Canadians to cross the US border more easily.  Even though I don't cross the border into the US that often, I have been noticing a lot of 'Trusted Traveler' lines at airports in other countries. Nexus holders are considered trusted travelers. And those line ups are WAY shorter.  I guess they figure if the US immigration says you're ok, they can trust you too.  So, I applied for Nexus.  It is an online application to start.  That took almost a year to get to the next step, an interview with a Canadian Border agent.  

I got my email in July that said 'book an appointment'.  Yay!  In time for Europe I thought!  I jumped onto the booking page and looked at the first day.  Full.  Next day.  Full. Every day after that until December 13.  Full.  I booked for December 13.  Oh well.  But, not one to give up easily, I checked every day for a cancellation.  Finally, there was a spot in August.  I jumped on it.  

I had to go to Vancouver airport for that interview.  I realize now, there may have been other options but this isn't even where I am particularly stupid (oh, don't worry, that's coming).   By going to the airport for my interview, I had to do my second interview with the American Border agent at a major Canadian airport as I was flying into the US.  No problem, I thought, I am flying through Vancouver into Seattle as part of my trip to Europe.  I will do it then. So far so good.  

Then Air Canada managed, in the least and yet most Air Canada way, to screw up this entire plan.  Air Canada, who had never done anything good for me ever, sent me an email.  They've changed out flight.  We are now flying Victoria to Toronto to Frankfurt to Budapest.  A much better route, by far!  I would normally rejoice at such an awesome change.  But I need to fly into the US!  

Ok, lemons to lemonade!  I'll just do a short hop into the US for a weekend.  I'm not sure if you all know this but last minute flights in August are not cheap.  it was going to cost almost $1000 for flight and hotel just to go to Seattle for one night (there is no same day return factoring in the island and the interview time).  I checked Portland, Los Angeles and other hubs on the west coast.  All super expensive.  It has to be done...  I checked Las Vegas.  I had a flex day on Aug 9 which would give me three days.  No one was keen to join me.  So, last minute, I booked a flight and hotel through Booking.com packages for something like $780.  

Then I went out for a beer with some friends.  I told them about my plan.  Rob asked where I was staying.  Bposhtel I said.  He and Amy both googled it.  The laughing will haunt my dreams forever (not really, it is very laughable).  So, Bposhtel is a hostel that only has six-bed rooms.  When you check in, you get a lock so you can secure your belongings in a plastic bucket at the end of your bed.  There may or may not be a bathroom which may or may not have a curtain separating it from the bedroom.  

That is all bad.  But this picture was the one that convinced me I had made a terrible mistake.  

Um, Ya, No.  

Plus some pretty awesome reviews (if you are laughing at your idiot friend, not if you are staying there)

Righty-oh.  The one thing I did right, by accident, was that there was a 24 hour cancellation policy.  I signed back on later that night.  I was able to cancel the flight no problem but the link to cancel the hotel just said I can't cancel online.  So, I called Bposhtel.  They have a long message about how it sucks to be you and you should have done your research (I am paraphrasing a bit, but that was the gist of it).  Fortunately, I was able to get hold of Booking.com the next morning and cancel the room (well, the bed).  

I am still going to Vegas.  Now I am going with Valerie M. on August 16 and we are staying in a real hotel with actual beds and probably a bathroom door.  

There you go.  Feel free to continue to follow my blog for my excellent travel advice (learn from my mistakes!). 

It wasn't all bad.  I saw whales while I was on my way to Vancouver!  Lemons to lemon meringue pie!