Since getting married I’ve learned quickly that the name change process doesn’t just stop at your drivers license and credit cards. It slowly drifts over into every electronic everything you’ve ever signed up for.
With the launch of this new site, I really want to be dedicated at writing and blogging and I’ve been told time and time again that one of the best ways to do this is to make more friends who blog about what you want to talk about, and go to conferences, because those things tie together.
Since right now this blog is a very expensive hobby, going to a conference means I need to be super creative about what I spend getting there.
I just registered for BlogHer15 [so excited]. I’ve been following the BlogHer community since launching my career in social media marketing and the conferences they put on look amazing. This years conference will take place in New York City, meaning finding a flight at a reasonable time and price is a bit complicated but thanks to a year of work travel doing Yelp Events I’ve racked up enough miles to cover one leg of the trip.
Now this is what shouldn’t be so hard. I traveled ALOT using one airline, so redeeming my points for something they offer, really really should easy.
I first needed to log into my account – without knowing my password – so I reset it. That password reset didn’t work, so I tweeted knowing that Frontier has AMAZING customer service online (after attending a Sprinkr training with their team about a year ago). Sadly it looks like with the swap to an ultra low cost airline, maybe some of that really amazing social media team had to go because they responded with a phone number to customer care.
I called and spoke with the rep, who could reset my password again, and send an email, but was limited to that because I had no clue what address was saved in my account (turns out it was 6 moves, 2 states and 7 years old).
Ok, now I’m logged into early returns. I have 15,000 pts and enough for 1 leg of my flight – BUT my name is still my maiden name, so I can’t book the flight with points without changing that first.
Another call back to customer service. This time the automated system took me in a loop and after 3 redials I was connected with someone who could transfer me to someone who could change my name on my account.
Yeah! Now I can book my flight. Log back into Frontier rewards, select my flights, submit: “You do not have enough rewards points for this trip.” Ok… go back, select the 1st segment as a one-way ticket, submit…. All your contact information pulls from EarlyRewards and BINGO… now my last name is misspelled…. Can’t change it from here so I hop back on the phone with customer service. Work through the automated menu to where I should get real person and I’m disconnected… TWICE.
Well… darn. Go back, book two different 1 way tickets (one to New York and one back to Denver) with the wrong name. I’m sure they can fix the spelling thing later when I have the patience to sit through the automation again.
The benefit of booking my flight this way is that I ultimately saved $150 on the whole trip. I do however feel like I should have been able to do that without booking two separate transactions. The name change part is just silly. I can change everything else about my profile, except for my name.
Moral of the story – my flights are booked, conference registration is paid for – BlogHer15 here I come!
All opinions are my own. I have not been compensated by any of the brands mentioned.
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