The Rage Diaries

Cranky post of the day #2: Why is Hawai'i the common denominator here?

After reading the Consumerist post "United Sells Family's Tickets To Someone Else, Ruins Once-In-A-Lifetime Vacation, Then Won't Admit It To Insurance Company," I am only more firm in my conviction that the sooner United Airlines goes out of business, the better off American airline travelers will be. Check out what United Airlines did to one family who had booked a trip to Hawai'i to see their father, who was dying of cancer:

-- The family spent $5000 on full-fare tickets from San Diego to Hawai'i. United pocketed the $5000 for six months, then the day before their flights, told them the flight had been cancelled.

-- When the family was like, "Um, no, because one of our family members who booked under a different reservation just checked in," United claimed they had lost the $5000 reservation. (This after emailing the family the day before to tell them they could check in online.)

-- After getting called on their second lie, United then admitted they had overbooked the flight and sold the seats to someone else.

-- United then said they'd be happy to a) split up the traveling party, and b) deposit them on several different islands five days later (it was to have been a seven-day trip). By the way, one of the proposed splits included separating a developmentally delayed 9-year-old girl from her parents and refusing to let the three of them travel together on the child's first flight.

-- And then when the family finally cancelled the trip because everything -- housing reservations, visiting plans, all of it -- was hosed, United refused to write a letter to the travel insurance company explaining the circumstances for cancellation.

United's actions cost the family more than $10,000 in nonrefundable fees and reservations. And the father died before his children could see him and say goodbye.

I don't know what is more mind-boggling -- that United sold the seats out from under people who had booked them six months ago, or that their customer-facing employees persistently made the exact wrong choice every time they were faced with an opportunity to fix their company's mistake.

Think this sucks? Feel free to contact United's CEO:

Glenn Tilton
United Airlines, 77 W Wacker Dr, Chicago, Il. 60601

or at glenn.tilton@united.com.

The takeaway message, however, is that you can't trust United to honor the basic idea that you exchange money for goods and services. And every time I see the United commercials during the Olympics, I'll be thinking of that.

Cranky post of the day #1: "exotic Hawaii"

A few days ago, NPR's Cokie Roberts opined of Barack Obama's vacation to see his grandmother in Hawai'i, "It makes him seem a little bit more exotic than he would want to come across at this stage of the game."

This was, in my opinion, both Beltway-blinkered ("Oh my God! He's vacationing west of the Appalachian range. But there's nothing there!") and somewhat racist ("Oh my God! He's spending time in a state that has lots of tan people. How exotic!").  But I have not been able to articulate my disgust with the same eloquence that Jon Caroll does in today's SF Chron:

He's a guy visiting his grandmother, and Cokie Roberts believes that might be politically unwise. Why? Because Grandma lives in weird far-off Hawaii. It's ludicrous.

Also, you know which other group of Americans feels an affinity to Hawaii? Asians. Hawaii is a state where Asian Americans, particularly people of Japanese and Filipino descent, have really made their mark. There's ethnic pride involved, and it's neither peculiar nor inappropriate. Oh, and duh: Pacific Islanders. Yes, they really live all over the country, and they look to Hawaii as sort of the mother ship, even if they were not born there.

They don't think that Hawaii is an odd place to visit - and they vote. Dig that, Roberts.

I am so tired of the East Coast bias in national media.

[...]

Am I overreacting? Oh, probably. Am I hysterical? No, no, no! Well, maybe. But the America of the 21st century is going to be distinctly multicultural and multiracial and mixed and blended in ways we are just beginning to see, and the cabal of powerful white people who dominate the chat shows is going to seem less relevant than it already does.

-- "My Little Grass Shack," Aug 14, 08

Too bad "lame duck" isn't an endangered species

The Bush administration on Monday said it plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.The proposal, which does not require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years.

[...]

"These changes are designed to reduce the number of unnecessary consultations under the ESA so that more time and resources can be devoted to the protection of the most vulnerable species," the Interior Department said in its announcement.

-- "Bush to Relax Protected Species Rule," MSNBC, Aug 11, 08

So the government is arguing that by eliminating those pesky scientists, it's actually free to devote more resources to protecting endangered species? I can only guess that "panicking luxury home developers" and "regulation-averse mine owners" have joined the polar bear as protected species.

Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

A few weeks back, I was shooting the breeze with the cashier the local pool, and she mentioned that Weezer had recently played out on the decommissioned Naval base on the west end of the island.

"They're this sort of alternative band ..." she added helpfully.

"I know who they are!" I protested. "I was in school when Weezer came out."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that you're ..." and then she trailed off, because there is no good way to tell your boss at lap swim that she's old.

Reader, let me tell you: THAT was nothing. Because a few minutes ago, our mail room guy came rolling through the office, looking to drop off the metric ton of press releases we still get via the postal service, and he passed the Lionel Ritchie album someone put up next to the printer as a joke.

"Excuse me," he asked. "Is that Nicole Ritchie's father?"

This is so wrong on so many levels.

In which I demonstrate that I can put my money where my mouth is

Go over to Teevee and download the grid of Olympic events and the channels they'll be airing on. I made it with my own little hands.

See, every so often, I do more than just complain.

Fiscal fitness -- August's theme ...

... was prompted by the following articles:

"Buying the Wrong House" (ScienceBlogs, July 17, 08)

"Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper into Debt" (NYT, July 20, 08)

"Housing Crisis Hits Exurbs Hard" (CSM, July 25, 08)

"High Heating Oil Prices Loom Over U.S." (Marketplace, July 31, 08)

"After the Bubble, Ghost Towns Across America" (WSJ, Aug 2, 08)

"Gas Prices Apply Brake to Suburban Migration" (WaPo, Aug 5, 08)