An aeri(a)l disaster

If you know me well, you know that my general take on life is that if you procrastinate long enough, it will eventually get done. This includes such things as writing papers, sending long over-due emails, and packing to leave the country. As such, you can imagine my intense satisfaction, when I was fully packed and ready to leave the country by 6 p.m. Tuesday night. I had a leisurely dinner with the family and was about to go out for dessert as a last delicious hoorah.

8:45 p.m. Amanda calls. I answer excited to squeal about how we're going to be in Panama in 24 hours. Long pause. . . Then she whispers, "Ummmm...is there a reason your flight itinerary says October 19th?"

The short answer: because back in July I managed to book my ticket for the wrong day and not notice for the next four months until all three of my flights had passed and were no longer refundable. The long answer involves a lot of tears.

Yet, good-willing I was able to book another flight for Wednesday, the correct day, for $598. Sigh. There was nothing American Airlines could do, and they were very sorry.

Convinced that I just had to own (literally) up to my mistake, I emailed American Airlines' customer service and wrote them a completely honest letter.I told them of my embarrassing error and said I was very distraught as I am traveling and volunteering on a shoe-string budget. I mentioned that I know how the system works and that they succeeded in making a profit off of my loss. Customer service responded to my email with a full reimbursement voucher attached to use on my return flight!

Thank you English major skills, for successfully teaching me to write a persuasive letter, so that I can at least remedy the aeriAl disaster I brought upon myself.