Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Bad news/good news

The Bad News:

We are going to Minnesota in August. No, that's not the bad news. It's actually really good news because we get to see our friends, go to Mark's class reunion, and I get to meet in person someone I've been getting to know via email and I'm really excited about that.

No, the BAD news is this: What is up with the air miles you earn on your credit card and seat availability? We have lots of air miles. We wanted to cash them in to make our flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We wanted to fly for FREE. That's why we HAVE a card that earns air miles. So when I tried to make the reservation the other night, there were no seats available. Correction: there were no air mile seats available for the days were wanted to travel, nor the day before or the day after. There were first class seats available on a flight coming back, but not at a time we wanted to fly, and we were not about to bankrupt our air mile account anyway by using it to fly home first class. There were a lot of seats available on the flights we needed, just no air mile seats. When I asked about this, the reservation person said, "Well, it IS summer, and it IS Minneapolis." Don't get me wrong. Minnesota is a beautiful state and I love going there. But August in Minnesota? Hot, humid, mosquito-swatting August in Minnesota? A popular destination in August? Really?? So we had to fork over hard cold cash, ahem, credit card, which will earn us more air miles...that we probably can't use when we need 'em.

Now the GOOD news:

While we are there, we get to go to the Fairmont County Fair and see these guys! Phenomenal musicians! Never thought we would get to see them in person. And the price for this stellar entertainment? Free with paid admission to the fair...a whopping $6/person! Woo hoo! Almost makes up for having to pay for our plane tickets. Almost. Not quite.

6 comments:

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The Luedtke Family said... #

You could always use your air miles and come to Chicago!! MN, in August, really? Mosquito-ville here you come! Be warned - hot and sticky and buggy!

Mary on Lake Pulaski said... #

Well, I live on a lake in Minnesota and I LOVE everything about it in August!!! I hope you have a wonderful time, wonderful weather, a great time at the county fair and a great visit!

JHNickodemus said... #

Woohoo! How exciting! Boo on airlines.

monaluna said... #

Ha! As a former Minneapolitan, I'm with you on MN in August. Though it can be nice, too, as long as you like it muggy...

Mid Life Cry Sis said... #

that just proves that most "free" things are gimmicks. Free offers and rebates just chap my hide. I hate all of the hoops you have to jump through to use them. You probably go to MN in Feb if you leave on a Tuesday and return three weeks later at midnight on Wednesday. Argh!

Anonymous said... #

I won 2 free airline tickets at work which was perfect because I was getting married 10 months later and we could use this towards our honeymoon. But it was using their air miles. The travel agent at work said she would just have to keep calling every day to get a flight that would work for us. We ended up calling 3 different times before finally a flight was available that would work. I suggest calling again to see if something became available.