Sat Apr 16/05
A little help?

I realize it's probably a lost cause, but I'm soliciting some travel advice. Here's the deal: I had a flight booked to London for May 13th. I bought it from Flight Centre; my confirmation says the travel is provided by Sunquest; and the flight itself appears to be operated by an outfit called MyTravel Airways. It was wicked cheap. I then booked an ongoing Easyjet flight that leaves Gatwick some nine hours after I was due to arrive — given the nature of deep-discount charter air travel, I thought it best to give myself lots of leeway.

I gave myself 39 hours too little leeway. Having returned from a lovely brunch and feeling like a million bucks, I checked my messages this afternoon and was very cheerfully informed that, due to a "scheduling change," I will now be leaving on May 15th. This is a non-fatal blow to my vacation, though I'll be out a solid c-note for rebooking on Easyjet and I'd much rather blow into town on a Saturday afternoon than a Monday, but I plan on raising holy stink with Flight Centre regardless. I don't really expect to get anywhere, but the travel industry is like the bank — you never actually know what can be done for you until you've bitched and whined yourself blue in the face.

So, anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who actually knows if I have a hope in hell of getting anything back from Flight Centre (or from Amex, with which I paid for the ticket). Thank you for listening. Now check out two amazing tracks from What Comes After the Blues?, Magnolia Electric Company's boffo new album: "Leave the City" and "The Dark Don't Hide It".

[UPDATE 8:00pm: And then check out Ezra Levant's hilariously off-the-mark post at the Shotgun, and the hilariously plaintive face-saving attempt in his "update". Dude, you own the blog — just delete it!]

[UPDATE Tue Apr 19/05: Turns out the airlines can't reschedule you by 48 hours without offering you a full refund. That this should be counterintuitive — I was practically speechless when so informed — says all you need to know about the travel industry, I think. So, long story short, I am now the proud owner of an Air Canada e-ticket to Heathrow. I'm significantly poorer for it, but at least I know I'm reasonably sure I'll get there.]