Flight canceled. Lost $150. Keep things in perspective....
Tickets to the US cost, typically, around $1800 RT. The way you book it for that "cheap" is you book one ticket on one airline for Kabul-Delhi or Kabul-Dubai (Delhi is cheaper in the winter, Dubai is cheaper in summer.) Then you book a second, separate ticket from Delhi-Portland (or wherever.) If you don't do that, and just book straight Kabul-Portland, you'll find yourself paying something in the neighborhood of $2800+. This is a fine strategy.... except when it goes wrong.
When it goes wrong and the first leg of your trip is canceled, you are just plain out of luck, because the second airline/leg couldn't care less why you weren't in Delhi to be on your flight.
It's snowing here today, and for some inane reason, Air India canceled the flight 2 days ago. No other airline canceled flights, although they were delayed. They supposedly sent out email notifications, but I didn't get one. (They have my email address correct because they sent my ticket to me. And yes, I checked my spam folder. No notification.)
But a canceled flight to India meant I also lost my $1450 Delhi-Portland ticket.
I tried all sorts of creative endeavors in the airport to try to get to Delhi on time, but all flights were booked. I assume this was because all the properly-notified Air India passengers rushed out and bought tickets on other airlines, since it's a pretty standard trick to transit through there and book separate tickets.
I finally gave up and had visions of paying $1500 to change my ticket, if I was lucky, and if there were even flights available at this time. And I was trying to decide if I wanted to do that or what I wanted to do. And if I didn't want to pay that again, then what would I do? Stay here for Christmas?
So I came home.... and was horribly depressed about the whole thing. I think it was the excitement of GOING HOME, then the letdown of not going home, and envisioning paying huge amounts of money.
I got on the phone (skype actually) and started calling.... everyone. I called Air India and tried to convince them they were responsible for paying for my ticket from Delhi to the US, but they weren't convinced. In the process, though, I found out that they'd booked me on the Air India flight for tomorrow without having bothered to tell me despite me talking to the Air India people here in Kabul. Afghan efficiency is rather lacking.
Next I tried calling Cheapoair to see how much it would cost to change my ticket. They said they could change it to tomorrow for $1450. After that, everything was booked solid until Dec 19, and that would cost $640. That was more financially realistic, but still a lot of money and I'd lose an entire week while sitting in Kabul. She did tell me that the cancellation charge to change the ticket was only $200, so I was being optimistic that at least I'd get a good chunk of my money back, but it didn't make the whole situation much less depressing.
So finally I decided I might as well try looking for other tickets leaving tomorrow and see what I could find.
And low and behold, there's another Lufthansa flight leaving tomorrow (well, Saturday, actually.) So I'll fly to Delhi Fri afternoon. Leave Delhi Sat morning. And the ticket only cost $1400. That was $50 cheaper than my other ticket, meaning if I purchased this one and canceled the other, I'd only be losing $150!!!!
I couldn't even believe it was true, tbh. I was so relieved and excited and everything else. So I booked, and canceled, and confirmed air india, and everything else, and I think I'm all set and only $150 poorer. I suppose it sounds crazy to say I'm cheering about losing $150, but considering the alternatives, I am downright thrilled.
This itinerary is horrible, but I'm well past caring about that, either right now. What was a 33 hr trip home is now a 67 hr trip with a 1-day layover in Newark. But even that, I'm passed caring about at this point. It's amazing how perspectives shift on things within just a few hours.
If anyone reading this lives near Newark and would like company Sat night/Sunday, I'd love to hang out. Leave a comment or send an email dawnmlloyd at gmail . Sure wish there was a Cam domain in the area, but I don't think there is. :(