This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. I recently made a two-week trip to the U.K. It’s been 52 years since I lived across the Atlantic “pond” and I’ve been back every few years. This time, I expected stress on my 76-year old body, but what I didn’t expect was the biggest stress of the whole trip to be technology.
Here’s an example. I’d (brilliantly, I thought) signed up for flight status update texts from Expedia
EXPE,
+0.43%.
I’d also learned I could sign up for international phone service through T-Mobile
TMUS,
-1.80%,
so that I could actually receive said texts. So far, so good. Then Expedia texted me the day before my trans-Atlantic flight, saying “It’s time to check in for your flight to Hounslow.” What the heck? Hounslow is a suburb of London. So, I texted back saying: “Not going to Hounslow!” “No worries” said Expedia, “We’ll cancel your flight immediately.” I texted right back saying I was going to Heathrow, not Hounslow, and they again assured me they’d cancel promptly. Yikes! Super-anxious, I went online to try to check in before they could cancel. My flight was by British Airways “operated by American Airlines.” A labyrinth, stress at every step, as I was shunted to various places on the British Airways site and then similarly, to various places on American
AAL,
+0.35%,
but checked in, at last. The cost for a new ticket if mine had really been canceled was only $1,000 more than I’d paid… Be sure to read: These …