Less than friendly United

Back in May, United Airlines called us and told us that our trip would have to be rescheduled because they were canceling the flight that we were booked on. Bob was on the phone for over an hour rescheduling both our flights and Rivers' flight a week after ours. We had to change our plans, hotels and flights in Honduras. The gentleman that Bob was working with was very patient and we ended up with a satisfactory schedule, but because we now had an overnight in Houston, he said that he could give us a hotel stay in Houston for no charge. We asked- "what happens when we get to Houston and they have no record of this conversation?" He said"no problem- I will put a note in your record."

Fast forward to today. We arrive in Houston. I go to the customer service desk as told. I tell the woman behind the counter that I had been told that I would have a hotel voucher waiting for us at the counter. She ripped a blue coupon off of a pad a told me to call the number on the slip and see what was available. We start to call the number and then we realize that this was for a discounted hotel rate. I returned to the counter and told the woman that this was not what had been promised. She asked me"why did you tell me to give you a blue slip?" (I hadn't). Then she asked how she was supposed to get the records if I didn't give them more information. (They did not ask yet). Then, with the information provided, they looked up the records and said that there was no record of a cancellation, and they could not give us a hotel room. I explained again that United had called us and initiated the change. She called her supervisor who said that she saw no record of a cancellation, and therefore no hotel voucher could be given. I explained the situation again and the woman said" so you decided to change your vacation dates and you expect us to give you a hotel?" "No, no no" I said. 'Ma'am do not tel at me" she said. (I was not yelling- but I was very irritated)

She called her supervisor and I began again. After several more iterations of the story I had a hotel voucher in hand. I then told her that my son would need in the exact same situation one week from today, was there anything that could be done so that he could avoid the same hassles. She was not very helpful in this matter, but I persisted, and she looked up his record (very slowly) and said that there was already a notation on his record. (This was after I had my vouchers and we had been discussing his case for 30 minutes). All he has to do is tell them to look on comment line #35. Simple. Stay turned next week for the update on this!

Where is Roatan?

Preparations

Roatan Honduras.

We have been to Honduras, and we have been to Utila, (the smaller sister island of Roatan) but we have never been to Roatan and are really looking forward to it. This will be our first trip to the tropics in the summer, so it will be interesting to see how we adjust from Florence summer temperatures (60's and 70's) to 80's and 90's. Today was spent running around taking care of everything that required business hours on a weekday (banks, post office). Tomorrow will be the big packing day. We will be leaving on Sunday and arriving in Roatan on Monday. I hope this will be an entertaining travelogue. Let me know what you think.