I have been busy this week getting everything ready for Emma to bring the girls home with her for the summer...
I have a ticket booked for Emma to return on Tuesday, but needed to move that date to June 14 when they will travel to Kiev to visit the Canadian Embassy to apply for their visa's... Ukraine is natural ground for us, and neither Emma or the Girls need a visa to get in there, so it is the best place for us to work on the visa applications from... So all that to say that I had to change Emma's ticket and purchase the tickets for the girls... we are not certain that we will be able to get the visa's so we start by purchasing the return tickets from there home to Kiev.. One stop in Moscow... We determined the dates, Buy the tickets, making sure that there will be lots of room on the flights so that unless 200 people suddenly book that flight , Emma will be able to fly with them when I book her flight in the next ten minutes... or so you would think...
I contacted Expedia ... " Can I please change this ticket date and location of the second part of the flight, not going to JFK" ... "certainly... that will cost $165 to make that change... just one moment"... then rather then putting me on hold, ... they hang up.... So I call back and try again.... "OH I am so sorry .. you are mid trip, ... you can not change that from expedia you will have to contact Aeroflot directly" ... That should be no problem... so I call them .. wait on hold for 15 minutes with them continually telling me that they will be right with me.. then they come on the line, and tell me to leave a message..then hang up with out an opportunity to leave a message... So I try again... and again.. then I try the NY office... same thing... so I try Washington... they tell me to try calling back in 20 minutes... I call LA ... out of service... I call Seattle... 15 minutes then hang up... so I think OH well I will try tomorrow...
We return home from being out that night, and I check my email... a message from Aeroflot...whom I have never spoken to... Dear Mr Wright we thank you for your choosing Aeroflot..blablabla... As per your request to change the date and destination of your flight itinerary.#65324764784 ..we are confirming that Emma Wright is now booked on Turkish Air to Istanbul flight #253 on June 12 .......
So since the only person I actually spoke to was Expedia ... I call them ... "No we did not change that flight ... we had nothing to do with it.... " I asked where Aeroflot got the idea that I even wanted to change a flight if not from them.. they said that it was just a coincidence that Aeroflot decided to change her flight ... so after arguing that for 10 minutes, I ask for a supervisor... she admits that they had started the flight re routing, but " because you did not give us the date and location that you wished to fly to, you made it very difficult for us and we had to decide that on our own....."... suddenly this was my fault... then to make it worse.. it would be $200 to move it back, but that I would have to do directly with Aeroflot ( who is not answering any phones in North America right now) because they can not change a flight once it is on route.." I asked well then how did you change this one... to which she replies... well actually AEROFLOT DID THAT ON THERE OWN .... It must have just been a coincidence... So on to the next supervisor....at which point my call was dropped... I get back on with them... asking to go to the supervisor of Lea
and we start the whole thing again... Mr Wright Clearly you could not have expected us to get you the correct location and date if you did not give that information before you hung up... STOP RIGHT THERE... This time I want to speak to a real supervisor and stop passing the phone around to all your co workers.... And I loose it.... by 2 am a real supervisor comes on ....
Yes Mr. Wright... Certainly Mr Wright ... No problem Mr Wright I have put it back the way it was for you Mr Wright. Certainly your Daughter does not need to go to Turkey ...... Then she thanks me so much for choosing Expedia and asks if there is anything else... I figured that was enough for 1 day.... My friend Dan always says to me.." If you are going to laugh about it in a year from now ... you might as well laugh now... so that what I will chose to do .
I have a ticket booked for Emma to return on Tuesday, but needed to move that date to June 14 when they will travel to Kiev to visit the Canadian Embassy to apply for their visa's... Ukraine is natural ground for us, and neither Emma or the Girls need a visa to get in there, so it is the best place for us to work on the visa applications from... So all that to say that I had to change Emma's ticket and purchase the tickets for the girls... we are not certain that we will be able to get the visa's so we start by purchasing the return tickets from there home to Kiev.. One stop in Moscow... We determined the dates, Buy the tickets, making sure that there will be lots of room on the flights so that unless 200 people suddenly book that flight , Emma will be able to fly with them when I book her flight in the next ten minutes... or so you would think...
I contacted Expedia ... " Can I please change this ticket date and location of the second part of the flight, not going to JFK" ... "certainly... that will cost $165 to make that change... just one moment"... then rather then putting me on hold, ... they hang up.... So I call back and try again.... "OH I am so sorry .. you are mid trip, ... you can not change that from expedia you will have to contact Aeroflot directly" ... That should be no problem... so I call them .. wait on hold for 15 minutes with them continually telling me that they will be right with me.. then they come on the line, and tell me to leave a message..then hang up with out an opportunity to leave a message... So I try again... and again.. then I try the NY office... same thing... so I try Washington... they tell me to try calling back in 20 minutes... I call LA ... out of service... I call Seattle... 15 minutes then hang up... so I think OH well I will try tomorrow...
We return home from being out that night, and I check my email... a message from Aeroflot...whom I have never spoken to... Dear Mr Wright we thank you for your choosing Aeroflot..blablabla... As per your request to change the date and destination of your flight itinerary.#65324764784 ..we are confirming that Emma Wright is now booked on Turkish Air to Istanbul flight #253 on June 12 .......
So since the only person I actually spoke to was Expedia ... I call them ... "No we did not change that flight ... we had nothing to do with it.... " I asked where Aeroflot got the idea that I even wanted to change a flight if not from them.. they said that it was just a coincidence that Aeroflot decided to change her flight ... so after arguing that for 10 minutes, I ask for a supervisor... she admits that they had started the flight re routing, but " because you did not give us the date and location that you wished to fly to, you made it very difficult for us and we had to decide that on our own....."... suddenly this was my fault... then to make it worse.. it would be $200 to move it back, but that I would have to do directly with Aeroflot ( who is not answering any phones in North America right now) because they can not change a flight once it is on route.." I asked well then how did you change this one... to which she replies... well actually AEROFLOT DID THAT ON THERE OWN .... It must have just been a coincidence... So on to the next supervisor....at which point my call was dropped... I get back on with them... asking to go to the supervisor of Lea
and we start the whole thing again... Mr Wright Clearly you could not have expected us to get you the correct location and date if you did not give that information before you hung up... STOP RIGHT THERE... This time I want to speak to a real supervisor and stop passing the phone around to all your co workers.... And I loose it.... by 2 am a real supervisor comes on ....
Yes Mr. Wright... Certainly Mr Wright ... No problem Mr Wright I have put it back the way it was for you Mr Wright. Certainly your Daughter does not need to go to Turkey ...... Then she thanks me so much for choosing Expedia and asks if there is anything else... I figured that was enough for 1 day.... My friend Dan always says to me.." If you are going to laugh about it in a year from now ... you might as well laugh now... so that what I will chose to do .
Yesterday morning I started again... but this time it all seemed to work, and Emma is now booked on the same flights to Kiev... and even the same day...hahaha... I made a few more calls around and found reasonable medical insurance for the girls while they are in Canada......
As soon as we get word that the Visa's have been approved, then we can go ahead and book the flights from the Ukraine... it will be last minute and may cost a bit more, but if we buy them in advance and they do not get the visa, we are out the value of the tickets...
I just know it is going to be worth it all when they walk through that gate... We have a lot of people waiting to see them some for the first time and many that have met them at the orphanages... we are excited... I have even had an incredible donor that has come forward to sponsor the trip for one of the girls... they understand that this is not just a "Fun Trip" , but it is an incredible opportunity of sharing , and learning for them... What ever does not come in we are committed to pay ourselves, but we are just so blessed ...and overwhelmed that we are not the only ones that see the opportunity we have here ... I really was concerned about looking for support for them in case the visa's did not come through and we could not complete the journey. But support has started to come to us.... so if you would like in on it , you can make a donation by using one of the top right donate buttons... If for some reason the Visa's do not come through , we will try to find some volunteer work for them in the Ukraine orphanages for a few weeks before they head home ... but we BELIEVING for Visa's
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