Documentation! Aarrgghh -- the documentation... Gone, the good ol' days when you could ask again and again until you found the answer you liked . Still, though, for real, I wouldn't necessarily pull this unless I needed to, but I have felt pretty s**tty at times of flights, and a day to recover would have been awesome, especially given the trauma for the ears...

Frustrating anecdote related to aforementioned documentation: Had a business trip BOS-ORD-BOS. Scheduled to return home Friday AM, but client needed some extra work done, so I figured, I'm Plat, they'll put me on another flight, no problem. Show up, get through security, go to AC (paid for this privilege dearly, mind you), and am told about some stupid time restriction. Basically, I showed up at 12:45, and needed to get out and back to BOS waaayyy before 7:30. This ticket was apparently restricted to 10am-1230pm and 730pm-> (or something like that).

Long story short, I tried standby, tried to offer to pay a change fee, jump through a flaming hoop--no luck. I even said 'no thanks' to the $700 fare difference, and ran to the nearest BOS gate for a chance to get on the plane, but she had the gall to phone the gate and warn them of me, so the lady kindly greeted me by name >:|. Mileage saved my a**, and even that wasn't smooth, but at least they didn't charge the expedite fee.

Recourse: no renewal for AC--not for that kind of service. Never did get around to writing a letter, though I could anticipate a great explanation of their new time-restricted fares.

Diatribe over, thanks for reading.

--bc