The Travel Division carefully selected the ¢heapest ticket - thereby rendering my Continental Airlines Platinum Elite status as useful as a goat in an aquarium. Departure occurred on the Sunday that marked the end of Daylight Savings Time. But I still had to forgo the extra hour of sleep because the Continental simply moved departure time one hour earlier.
The flight was smooth, if somewhat cramped. I immediately noticed the gargantuan gravitational field generated by the sheer mass of my seatmate. (He had collapsed into a sphere.) Fortunately, he was two seats away and there was an ostensibly empty seat between us. For safety reasons, I believe the airline placed him in the middle column of seats in the (suitably named) wide-body aircraft.
Flashing my Diamond status at the Hilton Times Square, I was met with…
“I am very sorry, sir,” the clerk said. “Your American Express card has been rejected.”
“It is a company card,” I replied. “It cannot be rejected,” I thought - inaccurately.
Settling into my room after paying with my personal card, I telephoned American Express.
“We have an eMail from your company asking us to cancel the card.”
“Really?” I replied. “Who sent the eMail?”
“There is no name on the message…”
“… you cancelled my card because of an unsigned eMail?”
“There is a telephone number.”
“A telephone number that sends me directly into voicemail,” I thought – accurately.
The flight was smooth, if somewhat cramped. I immediately noticed the gargantuan gravitational field generated by the sheer mass of my seatmate. (He had collapsed into a sphere.) Fortunately, he was two seats away and there was an ostensibly empty seat between us. For safety reasons, I believe the airline placed him in the middle column of seats in the (suitably named) wide-body aircraft.
Flashing my Diamond status at the Hilton Times Square, I was met with…
“I am very sorry, sir,” the clerk said. “Your American Express card has been rejected.”
“It is a company card,” I replied. “It cannot be rejected,” I thought - inaccurately.
Settling into my room after paying with my personal card, I telephoned American Express.
“We have an eMail from your company asking us to cancel the card.”
“Really?” I replied. “Who sent the eMail?”
“There is no name on the message…”
“… you cancelled my card because of an unsigned eMail?”
“There is a telephone number.”
“A telephone number that sends me directly into voicemail,” I thought – accurately.
A “discussion” with European Human Resources followed. It appears that my American Express profile allows collection of Frequent Flyer points when used to pay for a hotel. This faux pas is in direct violation of the (new) corporate policy. The new approach touts “Operational Efficiency” i.e. doing everything the cheapest possible way. It seems like we get a price break if we don’t collect frequent flyer miles. Accordingly, for hotels, I will move from Diamond to sedimentary rock status and for airlines from Platinum Elite to Tinfoil Sub-Normal
2 comments:
Nice writing..naz
This is amazingly frightful. how could they just cancel the card during your trip without calling? Naz
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