Hey, Destination Fun-seekers!

 

If there is one thing I have learned from years of traveling, it is that even the best-planned trip can throw you a curveball. Sometimes it is a missed connection, a delayed suitcase, or a hotel that looked much better in the photos than it does in person.

 

But occasionally, the curveball is a big one. Our latest experience involved Amsterdam, Cape Town, two missing airline tickets, $10,000 in unexpected expenses, and a mad dash through the airport that I hope never to repeat.

 

And, as usual, there are a few lessons worth sharing.

 

We had checked in with KLM the night before our flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town. Everything looked perfectly normal. We had our boarding passes, our seats were confirmed, and I had even ordered our meals.

 

We arrived at the airport three hours before departure—which turned out to be a very good decision. But truth be told, we barely made the flight.

 

When we got to the KLM check-in counter, we discovered that Delta, the airline through which we had purchased our flights, had put a hold on our tickets. And there was no Delta ticketing staff at the Amsterdam airport. No problem, we thought. KLM was operating the flight, so surely they could help.

 

Except…not quite.

 

This is something I think many travelers misunderstand. Airlines can have extensive partnerships, share flights, issue each other's mileage points, and work together through alliances such as SkyTeam. But that doesn't necessarily mean one partner airline has the authority to make changes to a ticket issued by another partner airline.The airline operating your flight and the airline that issued your ticket can have very different responsibilities.

 

In our case, KLM was operating our Amsterdam-to-Cape Town flight, but Delta had issued our ticket. KLM could see the problem, but they couldn't simply reissue or fix a ticket that Delta had issued. And there was no Delta representative at the airport to straighten it out.

 

While the KLM ticket agent tried to connect with an off-site Delta agent, I called Delta from my phone. You guessed it - the BOT asked me many questions before it decided my issue was worthy of being place into the “live team member response” queue.

 

Ninety minutes later…still nothing - only the musical recording that seems to play the same song over and over again. The KLM ticket agent escorted us over to the KLM Help Center. Eventually, that agent managed to connect with someone at Delta, while at the same time, I was finally connected to a Delta agent on my phone.

 

And that's when we discovered what had happened.

 

Apparently, when Delta made a change to one of our flights at the end of our trip, the paid Amsterdam-to-Cape Town segmenthad been dropped from our ticket. We no longer had a valid ticket for the flight!!!!! Let that sink in.

          - We had checked in online the night before. 

          - We held boarding passes. 

          - We had confirmed meals.

          - And yet, as far as the ticketing system was concerned, we weren't actually ticketed                 for the flight.

 

KLM couldn't rebook us because the problem was with the Delta-issued ticket. Delta couldn't reach a speedy resolution as they now had to investigate why this happened.Our only option was to buy two completely new tickets ($5,000 each). Yes. You read that correctly. $10,000 in additional airfare.

 

So here's the takeaway: whenever an airline changes your itinerary, don't just look at the new flight time. Review the entire itinerary from beginning to end. Make sure every segment is still there, every passenger is still listed, and—most importantly—that you still have a ticket number associated with each flight.

 

Once we had purchased the new tickets, we had approximately 20 minutes to get our luggage checked, get through security, clear customs, and make it to the gate. And there was one more little complication.

 

Dave is still recuperating from his partial hip replacement, so we use a wheelchair to navigate large airports. And guess what? There was a 30-minute wait for wheelchair assistance.

We didn't have 30 minutes. So I grabbed a wheelchair and pushed Dave through the airport myself. Somehow, we made it.

 

We boarded the plane with minutes to spare, completely exhausted and more than a little stunned by what had just happened. Fortunately, it was an 11-hour flight, and let's just say the complimentary liquor was flowing freely. After the day we'd had, I considered it medicinal.

 

Now comes the part of the story that I hope will convince at least a few readers to take travel insurance seriously. Travel insurance isn't just about lost luggage or medical emergencies. Depending on the policy and the circumstances, it can provide valuable assistance when a major travel disruption results in significant unexpected expenses.

 

We are now working on three different avenues to recover the $10,000 we had to spend to get home.

          - First, I have started the refund process with Delta. Unfortunately, it can't completed 

            until we are home because there are several supporting documents I need to attach 

            to the claim.

          - Second, I contacted American Express to place a payment hold on the $10,000 

             charge due to the Delta ticketing error.

           - And third, I have notified our travel insurance company to get them involved.

 

I am optimistic that, between these three avenues, we will eventually recover the money. But there is a big difference between eventually getting your money back and having $10,000 unexpectedly charged to your credit card while you're standing in an airport trying to get home.

 

That is where having a good credit card—and good travel insurance—can make a very real difference.

 

This is probably not the most glamorous travel advice, but it is practical.

 

When you're standing at an international airport and the airline tells you that you need to purchase two $5,000 tickets immediately, you don't have much time to debate your options.

Having a credit card with sufficient available credit gave us the ability to solve the immediate problem and get on the plane. We can sort out who ultimately owes us the money afterward.

 

And that is exactly what we're doing.

 

After all, we made the flight. Our luggage made the flight. We eventually made it to Cape Town. And we have a pretty good travel story to tell.

 

Although next time, I'd prefer my adventures to involve discovering a great restaurant or getting lost in a beautiful European city—not discovering that our $10,000 worth of airline tickets had vanished from the system.

 

Welcome to travel. Even when you plan everything perfectly, there's always a story waiting to happen.