September 13, 2010

Press "2" for English

You might remember earlier this year, April 1st to be exact, I booked our hotel and airfare to Xpu-ha, Mexico. This has been a long awaited trip, what was once an annual event had been cancelled two years in a row. When this year rolled around we weren't letting anything stop us. Funds were in the bank, time off was available so we made all the arrangements. We were booked! Eight months in advance to boot. All we had to do was countdown the days...

Or so we thought. Turns out Mexicana's great deal on airfare was too good to be true. The airline has went bankrupt. Lovely. This means my funds are tied up until who knows when and I need to find new flights.

I filed a claim with Mexicana, and then they changed the forms online so I had to resubmit. In order to do this I had a make half a dozen phone calls. The first attempts were to lines that were automated espanol only. I can pick up on some spanish, but I'm not that good. Finally, found another number that had an English option, and after several tries I even spoke to a person. After all the hassle, I got the scoop. Mexicana has until December 15, 2010 to contact its customers that have paid for their flights. They are working hard to get out responses before that date. I was told to expect word in 35 days. Not clear what that means, will I be refunded? Will I be told to stick it, we spent your money? I guess I wait and see.

In the meantime, I have to book airfare for the specific dates we took off and reserved the hotel. Surprise, surprise, fares are quite a bit higher today than they were in April. Not to mention half the flights send us on a goose chase across the country. In what world does Las Vegas to Cancun via Detroit make sense? Delta has a flight we might book. It's the lowest fare offered and its connection is in Atlanta. I'm just not sold on the price. It has come down since I started looking, and other airlines are $62+ more so I should probably book, especially since we are less than three months out. Decisions, decisions. Why can't other airlines be like Southwest? I love that I can rebook if fares drop and use the credit for a future flight. Better yet, why can't Southwest fly to Cancun. It would make my life much easier.

2 comments:

Christine said...

crap! didn't know you booked with mexicana.

we booked with delta thru atlanta but it makes sense for us being so close. (although the 5:30am flight time out of nashville is beyond crazy) the thing i really like about delta for mexico is they don't charge for baggage and when you consider all the scuba, snorkel and clothes needed for a long vacation, it's by far the cheapest option.

Kellee said...

We did. It sucks.

I was looking at Delta once the scramble for new flights began. I hesitated booking because I wasn't thrilled with the return flight times. Then, the fare jacked up. Can't find anything under $400 right now. I keep checking, and hoping...