Trouble Getting In Paradise

Jan 2nd I found myself waving goodbye to my good friend Seth at the Hong Kong airport. The city was too expensive and I was anxious to be somewhere tropical, but our flight didn’t leave for Jakarta until Jan 5th! Carrie suggested that we call British Airways (we booked the flight with BA miles on their partner Cathay) and ask to bump up our flight a few days. I looked online and there were basically no open seats on flights to Jakarta for a week, which wouldn’t help us. But I checked a few other locations and found one with plenty of availability that would normally cost the same amount of miles.

The trick I used to find out the number of open seats was simply to go to the airliners website (in my case Cathay Pacific) and try to book a flight with 6 people. If they say, sorry no seats, I try again with 5 people. If they give me the cost I know they have 5 open seats.

The other detail too:

I called British Airways and right away asked if I could change the date and location. The representative said that because I already flew one leg of the flight I couldn’t change routing (technically this was the same ticket as the flight from NYC a month ago, I just made a one month stopover in China). So I told him my situation and asked him to bump up my flight to Jakarta.

Not to my surprise he said, “I’m sorry sir, but there is nothing to Jakarta.”

“Oh really? Can you try looking at tomorrow?”

“I’m sorry, I checked the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. But… Where was the other option you were looking to fly to?”

“Bali.”

“One minute.”

He talked to someone and put us on the next flight to Bali! We spent our long wait in the club lounge next to the open bar and buffet. It really wasn’t hard to take. Normally I wait til the last minute to show up to the gate but this time I’m glad I went an hour early.

No sooner than when we sat down did we hear our names called to the front desk. I walked up optimistically thinking we are getting bumped up to first class or something (since I knew there were so many open seats).

“Sir,” the man at the gate said, “according to Indonesian law you need to show proof that you have a ticket out of the country on a tourist visa. We can’t let you on the plane.”

Suppressing the bit of panic, I told him to give me a minute to book a ticket. I went to AirAsia and booked a flight to Malaysia (to their hub assuming it was the cheapest flight). My plan was to show proof and cancel it when I got to the Hyatt in Bali.

To sum up the ending, I’m in Bali but AirAsia apparently doesn’t refund tickets. Why did I book with a discount airliner when I knew I would cancel? No idea. I should have booked with an airline I knew could cancel. But it was quick and easy.

It’s time to call AirAsia and beg for a $200 refund. I haven’t paid for a flight since my brother’s wedding and I’d rather not start for a simple oversight.