Tell the airlines to blow me.

Is there any wonder that the air travel industry is in disarray? If you need proof of their incompetence, listen to this story.


Rachel flew home to Wisconsin today. Her flight was supposed to go to Minneapolis, where she'd catch a connecting flight into Milwaukee. Well, it turned out that her sister could pick her up in Minneapolis, thus saving her a boring layover and another hour and a half in the air. So, when she got to the airport this morning, she told the lady at the counter that she didn't need her connecting flight boarding pass, because it was easier for her to get picked up in Minneapolis.

"You can't do that. You'd have to purchase a round trip flight to Minneapolis if you wanted to do that."

That's the response she got. She wasn't checking luggage, so that wasn't an issue. They just flat out said that if she wanted to not take her connecting flight, it was going to cost her $400 for a new round trip ticket. So Rachel heads to the gate, where she asks the person at the gate "what would happen if I didn't board my connecting flight and just got off in Minneapolis?"

"You would be marked as a no-show and your return ticket would be cancelled."

So.....even if you PAY for a flight, tell them you're not going to take it and that they can keep the money, so hypothetically they could resell that seat on the plane, they won't do it. Does this make any sense? It is not a loss of money to them in any way.....it could only make them money. Yet they won't do it. I'm also guessing that a lighter plane gets better gas mileage, although Rachel's 115 lbs plus baggage probably has a negligible effect.

Furthermore, why is it cheaper to take two planes to get to one destination than it is to take a direct flight? Has anyone ever figured this out? I guess you can argue that the market value for direct flights is higher because travel time is cut down, but really.....you're in the air longer, you're covering more ground....you'd think it'd cost more. Imagine if you needed to take a cab from Corvallis to Lebanon. Would it be cheaper to take a cab straight to Lebanon, or to take a cab to Albany where you would get out of that cab and into another cab? I don't get it.

Complete Subject Change Ahead!

I got a chain email today. You know one of those "remember when...." things with like 97 things that you did when you were a kid. The idea is for you to get all nostalgic and go "awwww...I really miss drinking Kool-aid on a hot summer day." Well this one started with a little Rhyme that went like this.

"Close your eyes...And go back...



Before the Internet or the MAC



Before semi automatics and crack"

Now I'm not sure where this email originated, but semi-automatics and crack still aren't part of my world. It did however bring up playing "Heads up Seven up" in class on a rainy day. That did make me go "awwww" until I realized that I don't even remember how to play that freakin game. So I looked it up.

"Seven students are picked and stand in front of the class. The rest of the class places their heads on their desks. The seven go out and each touch a person. The touched person would stick his or her thumb up. Then the seven would say "heads up seven up" and each student got one chance to guess which of the seven touched him if they guessed right than they changed places. If they did not the same person got to stay up."

Really? That's it? That's how you play? And this kept us entertained on recesses when it rained? My goodness, and I thought I was easily amused now.