Moving Up Our Departure

Apparently, Mui and I have both been thinking about a “what if.” And not saying anything to each other. The “what if” was … what if our flight from COS to IAH on 6 September is delayed or canceled? Would we be able to make our flight departing IAH for IST?

We’re not superstitious people. And if we weren’t in the midst of a pandemic, we probably would have laughed off our concerns once we voiced them during our morning walk today. But we are in the midst of a pandemic and air travel can have more bumps than usual.

Rather than stress over the “what if,” we decided to just move our departure from COS up by a day. Thanks to an earlier schedule change, our United flight was eligible for a one-time change/cancelation at no charge to us. Why not take advantage of it?

Step One … check flight availability for 5 September. The answer was yes.

Step Two … verify full refund for the 6 September flight on the UA website. The answer was yes.

Step Three … cancel the original booking. Miles refunded immediately; refund of taxes & fees pending the usual credit card cycle.

Step Four … book the same round trip COS-IAH-COS flights with a 5 September departure; return date unchanged. The bonus … fewer miles to purchase the tickets. The second bonus … same exit row seats available on both flights.

Step Five … book a hotel room for the overnight before our 6 September IAH-IST departure on Turkish Airlines. The bonus … a room at the Marriott at IAH … no shuttle transport required to/from the airport.

So, our 2021 overseas jaunt will now commence a day early … and neither of us will be stressing over the “what if.”En savoir plus