Our Almost Trip to Palau

As some of you know, I have a hobby that involves finding deals on travels.  We were forced to hone our deal-hunting skills when we lived out in Dutch Harbor, where the price of a r/t ticket simply to Anchorage was frequently more than $1,000.  American dollars.  So anyway, I found this great deal on flights to Palau from LAX for $485 on Expedia, and booked it.  We bought tickets, along with our old friends, the International Bowling All Stars, who we had previously met with abroad on a big Turkey/Cypress adventure.  We planned to tack the trip onto our Christmas trip to Montana.

That was back in September.  A couple weeks ago, Korean Air cancelled our tickets.  Alas, the deal was too good to be true.  They said we could go if we came up with another $1,800, but that was a bit over budget for us.  There are a few articles about the whole thing on the interweb here, here, here, here, here, and here.   Some folks are pretty worked up about it and have started a campaign to try to shame Korean Air into honoring the fare.  It would be nice if it worked, but I don't think Korean Air really cares.  I put a lot of effort into a thoughtful letter myself, and it was basically ignored.  And I can't blame Korean Air.  They want to maximize their cabbage, and they appear to have no problem selling seats at a higher price than their competitors.  (On flights from the US to Palau, their fares are frequently double those of Continental.)  It's too bad we won't be going to Palau, but other adventures abound!

 It all started here, with this posting on Flyertalk.

But if we had gone, it would've been great!  First, the trip would've been on the A380, the blue beast of the skies!  And Palau has lots of awesome stuff.  Diving, surfing, monoliths, etc.  After all the guide books we've read, it's almost as if we had already visited the place.  I guess we''ll just have to stop by Palau as we sail around the world.  It will be a more meaningful visit that way, I think.  Here are some cool pictures of things we might have seen if we had gone!

Now, we are just hoping that Korean Air will
actually get around to refunding our money.  I'm sure they're good for it.  They've had our money for one day shy of three months now.

In the far more entertaining news category, we recently saw the best job application since this one that was posted out at the Alaska Ship Supply in Dutch.  I called that one the most awesome resume ever posted by mankind, but I think this one is even awesomer.

  Love it!