Firewallender // Cassie Wallender

I have the coolest friends ever, which means I end up with the coolest weekends ever. Really, you guys spoil me. Last weekend was spent with a small group celebrating Micah’s birthday in a beautiful riverside cabin on Hood Canal.

And this weekend? I’m hanging out with my lindy hopping crew. A group of twenty two (TWENTY TWO!!?) of us are renting out a huge log cabin in Leavenworth.

Ah, December. Full of rain and snow and win.

Leavenworth, WA during the holidays (picture from Leavenworth.org)

This is serious business. If you happen to visit The Battle Station (my home away from office) please do not feed the wildlife (that is, Faye, my little feline companion).  The vet has informed me that Faye needs to drop a pound in order to be at the target weight of 10.5 pounds, otherwise she’s tempting the onset of kitty diabetes.  So, Fayzer Deja Wallender is on her first ever diet.

Oh lordy, I’ve become one of those people who blog about their cat.  But what can I say? I adore the little fuzzball.

Look how tiny she used to be! (No elf ear comments, please.)

In the last four years, we’ve grown up together.  I think our most recent picture needs a LOLcat caption:

Winner gets a special souvenier from my upcoming Caribbean adventure (which is in - holy moly - a mere 5 days!!).

Yes, loathe.

I bought a roundtrip U.S. Airways ticket from Seattle to Phoenix over the Independence Day weekend. My roundtrip ticket was $235, and I was ecstatic to see my friend Connie who lives there.

Sadly, I missed my SEA to PHX flight, but before I did I called U.S. Airways to reschedule my flight. I told the lady at U.S. Airways that I needed to schedule a later flight to PHX, and she said for a $100 rescheduling fee I could go later in the day. I was fine with that, it was my own fault I was rescheduling, no problem. She said the next flight would be 13 hours later. I did some quick math - that would be 1/6th of my precious time with Connie. Time I could not waste. I told the lady on the phone that I would book a one way flight with another airline down to PHX, because I wanted to get down there that morning. She was understanding, and quite pleasant, and all in all it was a fine phone call. But, the U.S. Airways attendant at this point failed to mention some important policies.

So, I booked a one way down to Phoenix, flew in only an hour and a half later than originally planned, and had a wonderful weekend with my friend. Then came the trouble.

At the end of my weekend in Phoenix, I called U.S. Airways again on my way to the airport. I tried to confirm my flight on the phone, and lo and behold - this lady from U.S. Airways informs me I no longer have a ticket to Seattle. They canceled my ticket home. Without letting me know, without contacting me, they took what I had paid for and left me stranded in the desert. I asked her why they canceled the ticket I had paid for without notice. She said, well, I should have called to let them know I was taking a one way on another airline to Phoenix. I said, I did. I called on Friday morning before my original flight out, and the U.S. Airlines representative I talked to didn’t said it was fine when I ran the one-way ticket idea by her.

This lady had no sympathy however (she made that obvious). My ticket was canceled, I was stuck in Phoenix. She told me it would be $150 to reschedule PLUS $147 additional because the ticket cost had gone up. I clarified with her that it would cost me another $297 dollars to get on the seat I had already bought, the seat which was originally one half of my $235 roundtrip ticket, the seat which I had not canceled and in fact had called the airline about before I even started my trip. Yes, she insisted, it would be $297.

In my mind, I quickly realized that 1.) U.S. Airways had failed me as a customer, 2.) I could fly one-way home to Seattle for cheaper than $297. So I said to her, “No thank you, I think I’d prefer to just find a flight home with another airline.” And then the coup de grâce: instead of saying “Thanks for donating $235 to U.S. Airways, I’m sorry I could not help you but have a nice day,” this lady hung up on me! She hung up on me! I have never been so rudely treated by any customer service representative in my life. I was not yelling at her, I accepted the policy though I was frustrated, I simply told her I didn’t want to give them another three hundred dollars and she hung up on me.

Now, I manage a tech support team - which is basically geeky customer service. I know customer service, and I know you never hang up on a customer. I saw neither end of my flight, and the lady hung up on me. Way to pour salt in my wound, U.S. Airways.

Luckily, a friend at Alaska Airlines saved my life and put me on a delightful flight home to sunny Seattle. I’m sharing this rant because I wanted to warn my friends about this policy, this airline’s lack of care for their customers, and because I’ve sent them a note regarding the debacle and used my blog to stage my rough draft.

UPDATE: U.S. Airways called me back, months later and after I complained again, and explained to me I still have a credit with them that expires 6/20/09. Credits, especially those that expire, are no good, I explained, unless you tell the person they have them.

I had a truly crazy weekend and I’m still a little weak in the knees from it all.  A good chunk of the limping though is from getting kicked by a gal in sharp heels at the Century Ballroom on Sunday night.  Swing is definitely a contact sport, and Lindy Hop is no exception.  As much as I love swing though, I’m pleasantly shocked to say it got majorly trumped by The Seattle Anti-Freeze this weekend: I’m sure you’ve heard of pub crawls, but we did a pub run.  An epic 8k pub run to seven bars with a ton of people.  Epic.

Things are going really well with the Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteering.  My “Little” is really fun to hang out with, she’s very smart and full of energy.  It’s also encouraging me to go on some fun little adventures.  For example, on Saturday we’re helping to restore a creek in Juanita while learning about the environment.

Also, on a bit of an overdue whim I’ve decided that over Independence Day I’ll be headed to hot, hot Arizona to visit my dear friend Connie. That’s fewer than two weeks away! It will be great just to have some quality one on one time like the good old days, but as a bonus we also have some fun plans: we’re going to the July 4th Tempe Town Festival, and then we’re going camping in the Grand Canyon. Camping in the Grand Canyon - how awesome is that?   Pretty awesome.  I am super excited for camping with Connie. I miss her.

Because it’s two hours from Seattle and twenty degrees hotter than Seattle was when you left. Because you drive down the street and see ginormous dot-com king companies lining the street, one after another. Because the party you throw in Atheron gets on ValleyWag. Because of all the good memories there.

But most of all, because stuff like this can be found on the street and end up in your Flickr friend’s photostream:

If can haz
Originally uploaded by Jamison

Sidenote:  I’m traveling right now, but in Spokane, Washington, not in the valley.  Just being in the hotel room here kind of reminded me of my last trip to San Francisco.  I’ll be back in Seattle on Saturday evening.