So, picking the story back up, Saturday night, I called Northwest to let them know that because of my error, I wouldn't be flying to Tampa on Sunday (the 28th) but would still be flying home from Tampa to Anchorage on the 31st. I fully expected that I would need to pay some sort of change fee, but figured they would understand that mistakes happen, and that I would be able to keep my reservation home. I never gave serious consideration, that given proper notice of what transpired, that they would actually invalidate my ticket.

Well, boy was I wrong. When I talked to the customer service representative on Saturday night, he was absolutely firm - by not flying from Buffalo to Tampa, I would invalidate my ticket and the Tampa to Anchorage leg would be cancelled. I tried every way possible to explain that it was a simple error on my part, but he wouldn't budge. He stated that I had "broken the contract." Who knew that you needed a legal review when making a airline reservation?

I was absolutely dumbfounded. I work for a company that takes customer service very seriously. We would never (intentionally) do something like this to one of our customers. I've also been so spoiled by Alaska Airlines. If I had messed up similarly with an Alaska reservation, the Alaska representative would have said, "Oh my. These things happen. Let's see what we can do." I might have had to pay a change fee, but they would not have bumped me into oblivion.

Peter couldn't believe it either. So, he called Northwest. And if things went badly for me, they were worse for him - the low point being his conversation with a customer service supervisor. The supervisor accused me of "picking and choosing" and "gaming the system". At that point, Peter lost his temper.

So, Northwest basically said "tough shit" and left it to me to figure out how to get back to Anchorage. This, after I paid $1000 for my original ticket. Of course, now Northwest will get to re-sell two of the three legs. In the very short term this was a money maker for them. But, long term it's an indicator of a sad corporate culture.

I'm actually more dumbfounded and agog than angry. I cannot believe Northwest's obtuse and obstinate stance. They had a golden opportunity for a win-win situation. If they had left my Tampa to Anchorage ticket in place, they would have had a fan forever. But instead, they have a very alienated customer. An alienated customer that travels frequently and works with other frequent travelers. Northwest's customer service cluelessness is staggering.

Fortunately, Alaska Airlines rode to the rescue. They were incredibly helpful when we called them. They moved heaven and earth to get me home. Unfortunately, for some reason, it's impossible to get into Anchorage either today or tomorrow, so I'm holding in Seattle until Friday morning. But that's not so bad - I can work in our Seattle offices and drink Satay Separators.