Aaargh - airline websites

Yesterday I had to buy some "last minute" tickets for a quick visit to Brisbane next Tues/Wed. It turns out that the only Virgin Blue direct flight PER-BNE is a red-eye, and I'm not going down that route, not for only 1 or 2 days at the destination. The return flight is an evening flight, which is much better.

So it's Qantas (QF) PER-BNE on Tuesday, returning Virgin Blue (DJ) on Wednesday evening.

So far, so good.

Booking the DJ flight is no problem and I get myself a ticket for $275.

The QF flight is a different matter.

First, it turns out that there is some strange bug in their website which means that if you ask for PER-BNE flights it only shows (expensive) connecting flights via Melbourne or Sydney. However, if you use the 'change date' calender thingy and pick a date it will show direct flights (which happen to be cheaper as well as quicker).

After faffing about with the dates thingy I work out what is going on and book myself on a morning flight from Perth to Brisbane for a grand total of $318.

Or so I thought.

Literally seconds after finalising the payment I realise that in all the mucking about with the date calender thingy to get the flight I want I find that I have booked myself on the Monday and not the Tuesday as I wanted. I immediately go in and change my booking, at a rebooking fee of $38 (because it was a 'special' fare I initially booked). Bugger, but problem fixed.

Or so I thought.

This time in the faffing about to get the fare on the correct day I find that I have not booked myself on the morning flight, but rather the evening flight which gets in at a rather late 11.30 pm. There goes my evening in Brisbane. Bugger again!

I use the Internet for hours everyday, and this is probably the first time I have stuffed up like this. A combination of rush and a dodgy website have left me inconvenienced and out of pocket.

I've written to Qantas to ask for a refund of the rebooking fee, because their website is dodgy, and as for the second wrong flight, I think I'll just turn up at the airport early on Tuesday and ask if I can be squeezed on anyway. If not I'll just come back home again and read a book for a couple of hours.

Speaking of which, Borders has just opened in Perth...