Carolyn's First Law of Traveling...

 ...appears to be, if it can go wrong it will.  (see previous post).  

So, for reference, I made my travel reservations back in January through my Capital One Travel, for my daughter's wedding in Waterford Ireland.  I had points for a premium economy upgrade and had done tons of research on getting the longest leg of my flight as the premium.  Do I fly out of Vancouver, or Seattle.  Was also looking for the best deal without sacrificing quality.  I ended up with a Vancouver to Seattle (???), Seattle to London (Heathrow) and London to Dublin. Going.  Coming back it is just Dublin to London, London to Vancouver.  And don't ask me why Seattle to London wasn't an option when I booked.  At any rate, not that big of a deal.

So Wednesday at 5pm I did my check-in with no problems.  I knew I had to still check-in to drop my checked bag.  I was also working Thursday morning until noon, when I would leave for Vancouver (side bar:  The Nexus card I applied to last September was finally conditionally approved in June and the first interview appointment I could get was November 8, so would be of little help getting across the border) to account for possible border issues.  I was fully packed, just needing to throw my laptop into my backpack and go.

As is typical for me when traveling, I don't sleep well the night before.  Anxious I guess.  And as an aside, I have taken to putting my phone across the room to keep me from being on it too late at night before going to sleep and/or picking it up if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night.  When I woke around 2am Thursday morning, I laid in bed for about 15 minutes before I knew I wasn't going back to sleep.  I went to the bathroom and grabbed my phone before crawling back in bed.  I am calling it divine providence as the first thing I saw was a message from Capital One that my itinerary had changed.  I pulled it up on Capital one and the message was there but the flights were all the same.  I went to British Airways website where I found that apparently they cancelled my Seattle to London leg, so they put me on the next BA flight out, which was 18 hours later.  Yes, that means I hang out int he Seattle airport for 18 hours AND forfeit the prepaid hotel room I have in Dublin for Friday as I would no longer be arriving on Friday but Saturday instead. This was not acceptable.

I figured the best bet was to contact Capital One Travel first.  And this is where the first snag comes in.  They literally HIDE the customer service phone number on the website.  No, I do not want to chat with an automated service on line, but I want to talk with a PERSON.  I finally got connected and after an hour  I got, the best we can do is refund your ticket and you can rebook.  UMMMM, I purposefully booked in advance while watching the price of the flights.  There is NO WAY I would get a flight with the times (IF there was any space available) for what I booked my ticket at.  This after an hour on the phone with them.  I said I"d call BA first and asked for their direct number (because they too have it hidden on their website).  So while Capital One was attempting to find a better solution, I also checked BA website and lo and behold they have a Seattle to London flight leaving at 130pm  and will get me into Dublin ( I'd be keeping my same flight from London to Dublin but have a longer layover in London).  AND they had premium economy seats left.

So here is where the snag came in.  They wouldn't let me drop the Vancouver to Seattle flight, allowing me to get to Seattle as they assumed because I made the reservations for Vancouver, that I lived in Canada and if I lived in Canada I would have to cross the border into the states and they couldn't guarantee the flight if there was a problem at the border.  After explaining that I was NOT in Canada, just planning to cross the border for the Vancouver flight, I was in the states and Seattle while being a little further away is still OK and I wouldn't have to cross the border.  Finally, at 530am this morning I had my flight switched to the 130pm Seattle to London flight. and at 8am I was headed to Seattle.  

I didn't think about it until on the car ride down, but going out of Seattle, I now had SEA Spot option available, if there were still appointment times available.  Luckily there were so I saved maybe 30 minutes waiting in line to go through security (only to get to my gate and find my flight pushed back an hour, then another half hour...which just ate into my long layover at Heathrow)

Positive notes.  I'm alive (see previous post 😛). I'm still on schedule (although...every flight heading to Dublin has been delayed).  I have an air tag in my checked suitcase and it DID make it to Heathrow, so at least my wedding attire is on the right side of the pond).  I'll call these all wins and continue to pray that the wins outpace the suck.