The Man of a Thousand Places

About two years ago, Melissa, the Girl, and I had a flight from Orlando to Houston that connected in Atlanta. After our first flight was delayed due to rain, we spent about 9 hours in the Atlanta airport waiting for the next available flight. During that time, apple juice leaked all over the remaining diapers in our bag and our 15-month old toddler almost literally climbed the walls. By the time we finally made it home, we had sworn off connecting flights with kids. It took until now for me to forget the lesson we learned that day.

We should have just stayed here forever!

We’ve added one to the family since the last time we dared to take a connecting flight. With the winter months dragging on, we have been anxious for a warm, sunny getaway. Foolishly, I tempted fate and booked airfare to Hawaii with a stopover in San Francisco. The trek there went reasonably well. Once there, we had a fantastic trip (someday I’ll find time to write about it…really). The return flight tested our mettle. Instead of rewriting the story, I’ll simply post the complaint I sent to United Airlines shortly after we arrived at home:

On February 16, I was scheduled to fly with my family (wife and two children) from HNL to SFO (flight 1166) and continue from SFO to SLC (flight 5643) that same day. The first flight went as scheduled, but the second flight did not. The flight was initially delayed due to the late arrival of the plane. Once we boarded, additional delays occurred due to weight and balancing issues on the plane. Finally, a mechanical problem prevented the captain from starting the plane. After some time, all the passengers were removed from the plane and offered an explanation that the mechanics would continue to work on the problem. A great deal of time subsequently passed with no updates. It wasn’t until approximately 9pm (four hours past the scheduled departure time) when the announcement was made that the flight would be cancelled.

 

It is upsetting that United wasn’t more proactive in offering to get us on another flight that would get us home that same day. This could certainly have been accomplished if action was taken sooner. Instead, we tried to keep two very tired children happy in an airport after having exhausted all the entertainment we had brought for them, used most of the diapers in our carry-on luggage, and gone through much of their food.

 

Once the announcement was made that our flight was cancelled, we raced to customer service to get rebooked on a flight (which ended up being the following day) and received hotel and food vouchers. Unfortunately, the hotel (Comfort Inn – San Mateo) didn’t have a room with enough beds that fit our family (one bed for four people). Also, the food vouchers were nearly useless to us since most of our family suffers from severe food allergies. We routinely travel with sufficient prescription medical food to meet our family’s needs, plus extra in case of delays. Due to the combination of TSA rules, United’s baggage restrictions, and the length of our delays we were running very low on food and diapers.

 

I am writing to let you know that we regularly find United (and other airlines) lacking in their ability to meet our family’s travel needs. We travel regularly and try to be well prepared for unexpected deviations from our travel plans. The shortcomings in United’s service were compounded by a travel delay well beyond our control.

I’ll spare you the details of leaky diapers, minor tantrums, and other kid related mayhem. That’s just part of the fun of family travel. It should be sufficient to say that by the time we got home, we were completely wrecked and in need of another vacation. I can appreciate that sometimes there are hiccups in air travel. Ultimately, United got us all home safely. Still, I wanted them to be aware that there was room for improvement in their service.

The first flight of the day is always fun!

I was pleased when they responded to my complaint and offered the choice of 7,000 points per person or $150 in travel credit. Bonus! That cash value award amounted to nearly a 50% refund on our initial airfare purchase (which, incidentally, was paid for by redeeming some Capital One points), and will go a long ways towards our next adventure.

Strangely, I’m afraid this sets a terrible precedent. Our family was compensated for our travel inconvenience – an inconvenience that I had previously committed to avoid by only taking children on direct flights. So what should I do in the future? Take a chance on the connecting flight? Or stick to the smart plan of keeping travel short and simple?

Certainly one moral of this story is that trying to constructively point out instances where service can be improved is appreciated. If you have a bad experience, let someone know how it could have been made better.

As you may have noticed, my posting activity has dropped off quite a bit over the last several weeks. I feel like I owe my readers some explanation. There are a number of changes going on in our household these days. The most exciting of which is the expected birth of our second child (a boy!) in October. The most disruptive change is my decision to accept a new job in a different state. Both of these things have necessarily caused travel to fall a bit lower on the list of priorities than it typically would be.

Still, this blog is about more than just travel; it is also about personal credit, how to use it, and getting the most out of it. Over the last several month I have tracked my credit scores in the aftermath of the Super-Mega-App-O-Rama. When I executed my 13 card application binge, I had no expectation that I would be applying for a mortgage in the next 6 to 12 months. However, in conjunction with our move we expect to purchase a new home. Fortunately, my card churning activities have had a fairly neutral effect on my credit score, given the amount of time that has passed since the last churn. After applying for a mortgage recently, a lender sent me information about my credit score and indicated that Equifax reported a score of 779. This is at the high end of the range of the estimated scores reported by various credit monitoring services and generally qualifies me for the best financing rates. Woohoo!

I suppose I got a bit lucky in the timing of my churns and my mortgage needs, but I figure 6 months is an adequate amount of time to let pass after completing a churn and applying for home financing. If your credit profile is a bit on the weak side, you will want to allow a greater amount of time. So far, nobody has asked me anything about adding 11 accounts in a short amount of time. Mortgage underwriting has certainly become more onerous in the aftermath of the credit crisis and Dodd-Frank. However, I don’t think anyone is weeding out the card-churning crowd.

So when will I execute my next churn? Probably the day after I close on a home purchase. Stay tuned.