my experience with the airline call center

Soooo, this is fun. Here's a very short synopsis of a phone call i just made.

BACKGROUND: RM & Evelyn are joining Nancy, Big-O, and G-Lou to venture across the country tomorrow and visit Tootie & Boonie in CO tomorrow. (If you can't discipher that lingo, lemme know, and I can hopefully give you the background on our inter-family codes.) Basically, it's gonna be a Baker Sister reunion, which is sure to provide some juicy photo and video updates on the various blogs.

PHONE CALL DETAILS: I am trying to be a very wise and thoughtful mommy-traveler, which means i even went so far as to e-mail the airline today (over 24hrs in advance of our flight) to tell them that Nancy & Evelyn will each have an infant in their lap. I thought that this would be a relatively simple process to execute with the online services. IT WAS NOT. Customer Care online isn't what it could be my friends. I got a nice e-mail back from the "online specialist" telling me to call the toll-free line and speak to a representative. Okay, i says... this should still be relatively simple, right?

"Hello, yes, my name is such-and-such, and my record locator number is such-and-such, and I am calling to notify the-powers-that-be that Passengers A and B will be carrying infants under the age of 2 in their laps."

[Thick Indian Accent] "OOOOkaaaaay, I am happy to assist you. Could you give me the record locator number again? And your name was? And can you speak up please? And you are carrying an infant? And the name of the infant? Okaaaaaay, Was that R as in Raaaaandy, E as in Edwaaard, D as in Delta? Okaaaaay, and the infant's date of birth? I'm sorry, can you speak up please? So Nancy is carrying the infant with the name of Red?"

"No, I am not Nancy, I am Evelyn, and I am carrying Red. Nancy is carrying G-lou, another infant, with the same last name as her. Red and I go together (notice the matching last names?)."

----This process repeats, with me giving her G-lou's stats, etc. etc. etc.----

[Thick, almost indiscernable accent again] "Sooooo, Stetson Fisher is carrying G-lou and Nancy is carrying Red?"

----SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY? Am I speaking in a foreign langauge? No, i cannot speak up, I am speaking directly into the receiver, but i am at work, and I can't yell above all my co-workers at you. Are you kidding me? Who'd like to see the two and a half year old O-man carrying G-lou onboard our flight? And I'll make Nancy carry RM, and I'll just sit pretty reading the gossip magazines or shopping the onboard flight catalog. ----------