The Ticket Dance
This is another variant of the home exchangers who can drive you nuts.
Recently an American expat from Rome wrote AlteCocker asking for a home exchange in August. Mind you the request came in during the month of May--very late. AlteCocker told the woman that she had a home exchange in Stockholm that was scheduled to end on August 16, 2014. Because AlteCocker had not yet purchased her return ticket, she offered to exchange with the woman starting August 17th. Before she did that, she researched how she would get both to Rome and home from Rome.
AlteCocker told the woman she had to buy her tickets NOW. What happens? Do the tickets get bought? No. A series of emails results with excuses. First the woman tells AlteCocker that she is having trouble "finding" tickets. Pardon me, but what the hell is that? This woman is an American expat in Rome who supposedly schleps her kids to the US every year and she can't "find" tickets? It doesn't make sense. There are always tickets. You just might not like the price of the tickets. There are a couple of other emails about how the woman is working it but she still has not "found" her tickets. AlteCocker suggests that the woman check with Icelandair but tells her that she would have to first fly to one of their hubs because the don't fly to Rome. The woman responds that she doesn't want a lot of flight changes because she is flying with kids. Fair enough, but there are not a lot of options Washington, DC, to Rome without a change of planes somewhere.
Finally the woman writes that one reason the woman cannot "find" tickets is that she is trying to use frequent flyer miles. She wants to use frequent flyer miles, she is needs transatlantic tickets for August and she is attempting to get them in May? Now, when you use frequent flyer miles, how do you get home? You go by way of somewhere--and most of the time it is very inconvenient. What AlteCocker calls the Ticket Dance is going on and AlteCocker does not like it very much. AlteCocker explained several times that she needs dates certain to plan the end of her trip if she is going to Rome. Fortunately, she is wise enough not to buy tickets anywhere until her home exchanger has bought theirs.
AlteCocker was, by this time in the Ticket Dance routine, very fed up. What she suspected was that this really was a contingent home exchange. That means that if the woman got her free tickets, she would exchange. If not, she would send AlteCocker an email saying she was not coming without the free tickets or some other excuse. In the meantime, AlteCocker's plans was supposed to just wait to see if Mrs. Rome could "find" her tickets? AlteCocker did not think so. So she gave Mrs. Rome a deadline. The deadline has, of course, passed. Did Mrs. Rome buy tickets? Not that AlteCocker knows. Maybe the woman thought AlteCocker was so desperate to go to Rome that she would put up with Mrs. Rome's nonsense about finding tickets. No, AlteCocker would not. Having given the woman a fixed date for ticket purchase, that was it. AlteCocker wrote the woman telling her firmly that there would be no home exchange. She hopes Mrs. Rome, who was a first time home exchanger, learned something from the experience. Ticket Dancers always end up with nothing--and complain loudly that they can't get a home exchange.
At least AlteCocker knows what she is doing now and will be doing the rest of her itinerary. Rome would have been nice but she does not need a lot of aggravation to get there--and Mrs. Rome would have cancelled anyway.
Rule No. 1 to Prevent Financial Loss: Never buy your airline tickets before the other side purchases. They might do a Ticket Dance.
Recently an American expat from Rome wrote AlteCocker asking for a home exchange in August. Mind you the request came in during the month of May--very late. AlteCocker told the woman that she had a home exchange in Stockholm that was scheduled to end on August 16, 2014. Because AlteCocker had not yet purchased her return ticket, she offered to exchange with the woman starting August 17th. Before she did that, she researched how she would get both to Rome and home from Rome.
AlteCocker told the woman she had to buy her tickets NOW. What happens? Do the tickets get bought? No. A series of emails results with excuses. First the woman tells AlteCocker that she is having trouble "finding" tickets. Pardon me, but what the hell is that? This woman is an American expat in Rome who supposedly schleps her kids to the US every year and she can't "find" tickets? It doesn't make sense. There are always tickets. You just might not like the price of the tickets. There are a couple of other emails about how the woman is working it but she still has not "found" her tickets. AlteCocker suggests that the woman check with Icelandair but tells her that she would have to first fly to one of their hubs because the don't fly to Rome. The woman responds that she doesn't want a lot of flight changes because she is flying with kids. Fair enough, but there are not a lot of options Washington, DC, to Rome without a change of planes somewhere.
Finally the woman writes that one reason the woman cannot "find" tickets is that she is trying to use frequent flyer miles. She wants to use frequent flyer miles, she is needs transatlantic tickets for August and she is attempting to get them in May? Now, when you use frequent flyer miles, how do you get home? You go by way of somewhere--and most of the time it is very inconvenient. What AlteCocker calls the Ticket Dance is going on and AlteCocker does not like it very much. AlteCocker explained several times that she needs dates certain to plan the end of her trip if she is going to Rome. Fortunately, she is wise enough not to buy tickets anywhere until her home exchanger has bought theirs.
AlteCocker was, by this time in the Ticket Dance routine, very fed up. What she suspected was that this really was a contingent home exchange. That means that if the woman got her free tickets, she would exchange. If not, she would send AlteCocker an email saying she was not coming without the free tickets or some other excuse. In the meantime, AlteCocker's plans was supposed to just wait to see if Mrs. Rome could "find" her tickets? AlteCocker did not think so. So she gave Mrs. Rome a deadline. The deadline has, of course, passed. Did Mrs. Rome buy tickets? Not that AlteCocker knows. Maybe the woman thought AlteCocker was so desperate to go to Rome that she would put up with Mrs. Rome's nonsense about finding tickets. No, AlteCocker would not. Having given the woman a fixed date for ticket purchase, that was it. AlteCocker wrote the woman telling her firmly that there would be no home exchange. She hopes Mrs. Rome, who was a first time home exchanger, learned something from the experience. Ticket Dancers always end up with nothing--and complain loudly that they can't get a home exchange.
At least AlteCocker knows what she is doing now and will be doing the rest of her itinerary. Rome would have been nice but she does not need a lot of aggravation to get there--and Mrs. Rome would have cancelled anyway.
Rule No. 1 to Prevent Financial Loss: Never buy your airline tickets before the other side purchases. They might do a Ticket Dance.
