Will I be going?

UPDATE: I got the tickets! They had been delivered to someone else - in another city! I was lucky enough that the guy whose front porch they were on (there's a scribbled out note that I still can read) returned them. Even though the tickets are in hand, I still hate corporations! Here's the thing - when delivering a single envelope to an address, how difficult is it to check the address before you leave it?

I hate corporations. I hate how they don't give a damn about people. They don't care if a person's life is screwed up by their company's incompetencies because they are making money regardless.

UPS has lost my plane ticket. That is what they told the travel agency, anyway. I am supposed to leave on Sunday, so I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I still have hope. Last night, after the travel agent had told me the ticket was lost, I checked the UPS tracking site again, and the information there said the package was "destination scanned" and was "in transit" to be delivered today, October 2. Earlier yesterday instead of "in transit" it had said "exception" in the status line, which is when I called UPS, who told me to call the shipper (the travel agent) because they couldn't do anything for me. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO LOST THE TICKET! So I was in contact with the travel agent, who told me that UPS had confirmed the ticket had been lost and I had one of two options:

1. We can get a new ticket out to you by Thursday (paper tickets) through express mail again. You will have to pay an additional cost for the original cost of the ticket ($775.51). Unfortunately, these are Northwest Airlines rules for lost tickets. I want to stress that you will receive a FULL REFUND of this amount in ninety days.

2. The second option is for me to fax you a copy of the scanned ticket we have on file, and for you to bring this to NW airlines 6 hours before your flight departs. NW will charge you a $100 reissuing fee ( again, which would be reimbursed by us with receipt...we are disputing UPS right now). In some cases, NW may not be able to process your private fare ticket, which means they may charge you a published fare (more costly) and have you reimbursed for this within ninety days as well.

Now, I have a carefully planned and very strict budget. I can't afford to pay for another plane ticket and not be reimbursed until my trip is over! And I certainly can't pay a $100 reissue fee when it wasn't my fault the tickets were lost! Plus I know I'd have to pay a few hundred bucks to make up the difference between the cost I paid and the published fair, again to be reimbursed after my trip ends.

So who's in the wrong here? Well, all three of the companies I'm dealing with - UPS because they lost the ticket, Northwest Airlines because they are going to make me pay for another one instead of just sending me a new ticket, and the travel agent because they should be paying any additional costs and waiting for the reimbursement, because they are the ones who are responsible for getting the ticket to me.

You have to remember that I quit my job of four years to go on this trip. I need every penny I have to survive over there. $775 may be very little to a lot of people, but to me it is the difference between sleeping on the street and having some place to live. There is hope, however, in that UPS really did find the ticket and it really is in transit and I really will get it today.

I hate corporations. They should be busting their butts to get this thing right, but they don't give a damn that someone's life could be screwed up by their idiocies.