You may have noticed in my previous post that I was taking a field study trip to Belfast and Derry/Londonderry to study the Northern Ireland conflict. Why do I use the word "was," you say?
Funny story.
Wednesday was my flight to Dublin along with the other members of the class. We agreed to meet at my professor's house near Campe du Fiori. However, I got hopelessly lost and thus missed the group. In desperation, I flagged down a taxi to take me to the airport. There were road closures and traffic and all manner of obstacles, particularly when I was already running late. Then there were massive lines to get to the check-in...
When I finally did get up to the counter, the woman at the desk said, "all of the seats on this flight have been booked up."
I was a wreck. I think the stress of the day was just too much. I was sobbing, an incoherent mess. The taxi driver back to Ottavilla was really sweet, though.
So I booked a second flight for Thursday, hoping I could meet up with the rest of the team in Belfast. I'd fly from Rome to Leeds, spend the night in the Leeds airport (joy) and then fly to Belfast in the morning. Even though my ticket was ONE WAY it still cost me 300 euro.
I did everything right this time. I gave myself all this time, I got my ticket, got through security, got to the gate. We were lined up getting ready to go on- but there was no plane there. The man at the front of the line announced that there would be a 20 minute delay due to mechanical problems.
Fast forward a half an hour and we were still waiting. I was playing cards with this American family with a bunch of little kids. Then there was another announcement: the mechanical problems were persisting. They would announce at 9 (another twenty minutes) whether or not the flight would be cancelled.
Turns out it was. And the next available flight wasn't until noon the next day, so I'd miss my connection to Belfast anyway.
So I called my professor and we decided to scrap it. Now I'm working on getting refunds for my tickets and for what I paid AUR. I know I can't get refunds on my original tickets- their policy expressly says that the only refunds they will give are if you were in the hospital at the time of your flight. And I'm certain I can get one from Jet2 from the Leeds flight, but I have to write to them and it could take some time. But I know AUR will refund my fee. It would be great to get that money back- all told I sunk nearly a thousand euro into this and I really, really could use that money.
Funny story.
Wednesday was my flight to Dublin along with the other members of the class. We agreed to meet at my professor's house near Campe du Fiori. However, I got hopelessly lost and thus missed the group. In desperation, I flagged down a taxi to take me to the airport. There were road closures and traffic and all manner of obstacles, particularly when I was already running late. Then there were massive lines to get to the check-in...
When I finally did get up to the counter, the woman at the desk said, "all of the seats on this flight have been booked up."
I was a wreck. I think the stress of the day was just too much. I was sobbing, an incoherent mess. The taxi driver back to Ottavilla was really sweet, though.
So I booked a second flight for Thursday, hoping I could meet up with the rest of the team in Belfast. I'd fly from Rome to Leeds, spend the night in the Leeds airport (joy) and then fly to Belfast in the morning. Even though my ticket was ONE WAY it still cost me 300 euro.
I did everything right this time. I gave myself all this time, I got my ticket, got through security, got to the gate. We were lined up getting ready to go on- but there was no plane there. The man at the front of the line announced that there would be a 20 minute delay due to mechanical problems.
Fast forward a half an hour and we were still waiting. I was playing cards with this American family with a bunch of little kids. Then there was another announcement: the mechanical problems were persisting. They would announce at 9 (another twenty minutes) whether or not the flight would be cancelled.
Turns out it was. And the next available flight wasn't until noon the next day, so I'd miss my connection to Belfast anyway.
So I called my professor and we decided to scrap it. Now I'm working on getting refunds for my tickets and for what I paid AUR. I know I can't get refunds on my original tickets- their policy expressly says that the only refunds they will give are if you were in the hospital at the time of your flight. And I'm certain I can get one from Jet2 from the Leeds flight, but I have to write to them and it could take some time. But I know AUR will refund my fee. It would be great to get that money back- all told I sunk nearly a thousand euro into this and I really, really could use that money.