Austin Bound

Well I flew to Austin Texas this morning and almost got stuck in Washington DC. I had to fly on United, and they oversold the flight therefore since I just booked the ticket a couple of days ago, I didn't get a seat assignment. Having spent many many hours this year in the airports across the country, you learn all the rules and what your entitled to if you might get "bumped" off the plane. The airline will ALWAYS offer you a free ticket anywhere in the US, but they don't tell you what restrictions apply. See you can only use those "free" tickets on select flights, and have to drive to the airport within 24 hours of booking the flight to turn in your voucher at the ticket counter. Now what they also wont tell you is that when you get bumped off your scheduled flight and it isn't due to weather or mechanical failure, and the next flight doesn't leave for 4 hours, you are entitled to a full refund and an additional "cash" refund doubling the price of your ticket, not to exceed $400. Much better then a free flight that you'll probably never use right?

So anyways, back to my DC layover. When the guy at the front desk told me that if I don't make the flight, he'll give me a free ticket and put me on the 7:00 PM flight. I said "I DON'T THINK SO". I told him, if I don't get on this plane you owe me $400 dollars Cash!!! Well that was a little rude, so I guess I didn't put it exactly like that...but after we argued back and forth, and I showed him the rules in writing, he said "well actually it looks like you're going to get on this flight...". So long story short, I made it to Austin originally as planned.

After I landed, and since today was my day off, all I wanted to really do is go to the hotel room and relax. I had a good Japanese dinner and so far that's what I've been doing. Oh by the way, the waitress said I'm "good with chopsticks". I think that's a complement right?

On another note, when I arrived in Austin, I was expecting 85 degree weather like they had this weekend, but of course a cold front came through and it's 48 here right now. The good news is, it's supposed to be 79 tomorrow, but a slight chance of rain. I think I'm going to wake up early and get my 60 minute run in before work as long as it isn't raining.

posted by Chad Holderbaum @ 7:58 PM Comments: 0