May 2018
The Good: flying from USA to Germany, Germany to Singapore, Vietnam to Greece, and Greece back to Germany for only $1,704.
The Bad: being put on standby and missing your first of three international flights.
The Great: ending up in Singapore 2 hours before originally planned and making $55
Yesterday was a crazy day of travel. This was the original plan. Fly from Stuttgart, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland. Then from Zurich to Helsinki, Finland. Finally from Helsinki to Singapore. The flight path makes no sense, but it was the best value to get from Germany to Singapore, costing only $560.
I began the day by dropping off luggage and touring the International School in Stuttgart, where I will be a teaching next year. All of the staff members were exceptionally kind and all of the kids had big smiles on their faces. I am really excited to join the team in July.
After finishing up at the school, I took a train to the Stuttgart Airport. Arriving 2.5 hours early. I go to check in and am told I have been put on standby, because they overbooked the flight, despite me having purchased the ticket months in advance. I do not make it onto my first flight, thus missing my connecting flights.
This is when negotiations began, and continued for the next 9 hours, with a 45 minute flight interruption. Promises were made, promises were broken. There was I time I thought I was going to rent a car and drive from Stuttgart to Zurich.
Since I was changing airlines in Zurich from Swiss Air to Finnair, Swiss Air claimed they had no responsibility for me missing my connecting flights, because my booking agent purchased these as separate tickets to help save money. Swiss Air said they would get me to Zurich, but had no responsibility in getting me to Singapore. My booking agent told me I had to get to Zurich before they could help get me to Singapore.
Swiss Air told me their next flight to Zurich was completely booked, but they would reimburse me the car rental fee if I drove. I asked Ralph, the manger, to come with me to rent a car. When he found out the rental would cost 420 euros, he retracted the offer to pay for it. Fortunately, the high car rental rate motivated him to get me onto the next flight to Zurich. He held up the plane a few minutes and issued me the following boarding pass. The original flight cost only 25 euro. Ralph gave me a 250 euro gift card for the inconvenience and thanked me for being so nice.
So now I am in Zurich, and my booking agent claims they will get me to Singapore at no additional cost. I see there is a direct flight from Zurich to Singapore taking off in two hours. I want to be on that plane. They say they do not see that flight and want me to take two different flights the following day.
A crucial detail is that the hotel I will be staying at in Singapore is going to charge me full price for a 3 day stay, and not let me check in Saturday or Sunday. So if I do not check in Friday night, I pay for a room I never get. My booking agents plan does not get me into Singapore until 11am on Saturday.
I tell my booking agent I can put the direct flight on credit card, if they will reimburse me. She says they will only reimburse me for the amount of the option they provided, which is $560.
I go up to the ticketing desk. The first thing I ask if there are seats available. She says there are.
I ask, “How many.”
She says, “A lot.”
I ask, “How much?”
She says, “$1,100”
I say. “I will offer you $600.”
She explains to me how she cannot change the price. I say there is always a way to make a deal happen, that that have lots of open seats, and they are better off getting something than nothing. She gets her manager and they sell me a ticket for $800 and a high five.
I get the ticket in hand 30 minutes before the flight takes off. I run to the gate, having to get on a train to change terminals along the way, and am the last person on the plane. I walked on with a huge smile on my face.
Between the 250 euro gift card and the reimbursement from my booking agent, I ended up making $55 and the direct flight got me into Singapore at 4pm on Friday, when the original flight plan got me into Singapore at 6pm.
I believe this all worked out favorably because I stayed calm and courteous throughout all of the negotiations. I made demands, but did so respectfully. I expressed appreciation and confidence that the people helping me would get the job done. Even though I was totally screwed over, I treated everybody I spoke with kindly. I was frustrated at the situation, but I did not take it out on the people trying to help me. Too often we lash out at the person trying to help us and this only hinders us. Patience and kindness can pay off big time.
By the way, Singapore has an amazing airport and is an awesome city-state. Singapore actually has more trees than any other city in the world. Since it is near the equator, it also has beautiful tropical plants. I have only been here a few hours, and I am really excited to explore for the next few days.
