I turned too quickly walking downstairs and banged my knee into the bannister. Grrrrrrr… 
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I’ll use this thread, even though it’s just for Annoyed Thoughts, not explicitly including Super Annoyed, Really Pissed Off Thoughts
Extremely upset at American Airlines. I have a reservation Friday morning, leaving Philadelphia 6 AM. Got e-mail this morning “You can move flights at no charge. If your plans are flexible, we have a few options you may consider. This is an exclusive online offer that is limited to availability."
There’s a box for “See offers”. I chose it. I liked one. I chose “Confirm”. I get the message “Our website is having problems. Please try again later.”
After that happens several times, I call American, asking for Reservations. He transfers me to Web support, but almost right away that it terminated by the survey about “Did you like your interaction with Reservations”. I call Web Support directly and find that the offer is terminated because all the needed seats have been switched. Possible with a limited availability offer, but outrageous that the message when I try to Confirm is “Please try again later” instead of “the offer is no longer available”. That’s still the message now. This wasted over 2 ½ hours of my time this morning (about one of which not totally wasted, but waiting for a call back from American reservations).
The final destination is in Canada, so I need to be at the airport at least 2 hours in advance (3 recommended). The option I tried to switch to would leave Philadelphia 7:30 (don’t know why I didn’t choose it originally, maybe price).
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I loathe American Airlines. They treat their customers like shit and are proud of it. BECAUSE GREAT IS WHAT WE’RE GOING FOR !
I refuse to fly American.
Several years ago, I booked flights on them with miles about 9 months in advance of a hobby-related convention I wanted to go to in Visalia, CA.
Just before the deadline to cancel the hotel, I double-checked my reservations and discovered my flights had changed. The changes were such that the trip no longer made sense.
Now, flight schedule changes are, of course, a fact of life when booking that far in advance, so that doesn’t really bother me. The problem was the lack of notice. I discovered the changes so late that I couldn’t get acceptable seats on different flights to salvage the trip.
(“Acceptable seats” = I used miles to book business class seats. I think there were options still available that either would have had me flying 6+ hours in a middle seat in coach…)
After that experience, they’re dead to me. Shame, since a couple of lives ago I had status with them…
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AA is on my no-fly list. They delayed one of my flights to Hawaii and the service counter guy got a little misogynistic with my wife and I kind of blew up at him. The following year I had a similar incident, flights were delayed and it was a real challenge to get them to re-book me.
I’ve had the usual issues with United (who I’ve done hundreds of flights with) and Southwest (many dozens of flights) and they seem to help me figure it out with minimal hassle. I get it, weather happens and planes break down and what-not, I’m not asking for perfection.
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Exactly this. Just show that you care a little.
And stop hiding behind the “safety is our first priority “ bullshit excuse. Profits are your first priority.
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Looking at the website of a large canadian life insurance entity:
- they write that Equitable Life is owned by AXA. WTF. AXA equitable is a US company. Equitable Life in Canada is a discrete mutual company, nothing to do with AXA.
- they suggest that whole life insurance earns 2.5% and that people would be better off putting their money into RRSP’s (a canadian 401K type of thing) which earn on average 19.5%.
No wonder there’s so much confusion by the public.
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That’s why I was such a fan of Southwest pre-pandemic. Once you know what is or isn’t possible in terms of what the CSRs and gate agents can do…I found that if you’re kind, understanding, and flexible they’d bend over backwards to work with you.
(Admittedly, their staff can’t do much when their systems melt down as a result of major weather disruptions at the peak of holiday travel…but since I generally avoid exposing myself to such potential chaos, I haven’t been scarred by that experience…and my post-lockdown travel patterns don’t really work well with flying them.)
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Got some dim sum at the Asian grocer: the su mai were a little dry. 
After twelve hours of travel, I am zonked. Need to be up in less than 7 hours to drive to Seattle!
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Could American become even more annoying? Maybe; they’re trying. Since officially (i.e., ignoring what the web support person told me on the phone, that the flight was no longer overbooked), I tried the link again. It’s gotten even better, maybe. Now they no longer are offering me the chance to switch to the better flight, they’re even overing me a $150 travel voucher. (With some chance that this is only an offer to switch if they actually need volunteers tomorrow.) Anyway, I tried to take it, but again got the “Our website is busy Please try again later.” For an extra hour of sleep, I will try again later, but I am going ahead and checking in online for my scheduled flight.
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American tried. When I went to check-in online, they repeated the offer. (Until just now, my source had always been the e-mail they sent yesterday.) So I tried to accept again. Nope; website busy. I am checked in, but could not pay for bags on-line. (A feature, not a bug: they do say that paying for bags on-line is only available within the US plus some Caribbean destinations, and my destination is Canada).
Though :swear: I flew to Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) in March, and that wasn’t one of the Caribbean destinations that allow paying for bags on-line.
Check-in did suggest that the flight is fully-booked. There were no free seats available to switch to, just a few that would include an extra charge. [I do have an aisle seat, chosen when booking.]
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My oatmeal overflowed in the microwave. 
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When I woke up this morning I seriously thought it was Friday. Now I have to GAF until tomorrow.
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(Not a new Annoyed Thought, just the end of the story, I hope.)
Wallet and replacement PA drivers license both arrived today. As far as I can remember, nothing was removed from the wallet except the cash, probably between $100 and $200. It did contain one credit card that I didn’t think was in it, but which I had canceled and replaced anyway since I couldn’t find it and my wife couldn’t find hers.
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When did the Annual meeting become ImpAct??
I don’t do many SOA meetings, too big to selectively network
I did a few regional, but one I travelled to and expected 250 people was barely 100
Will do the NY occasionally, but just one day, hardly any client material and rarely a topic I care about.
I had regularly attended an Industry meeting, where I presented and got plenty of CE - it is crap now
So I looked to an SOA. Bad timing on the Health, and couldn’t find the Annual, was going to sign up for Life, even though I’m not. Yesterday someone mentions the Annual dates and location and when I look it up, I realize why I didn’t know it existed. Thankfully I hadn’t signed up for the Life yet.
I think the Impact thing started in 2021? I know it was Impact last year. See you in Indy? Hoping to fly in early and see a friend.
most likey.
I usually stay anonymous, but if you see a fat old bearded guy smoking a cigar, take a chance
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I’ll be the short old fat woman.
Excel decided the clipboard was being used by another app and I had to reboot.
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