I made a mistake and ended up scheduled to depart Seattle for Dallas at 11:40 pm when I thought I was leaving at 11:40 am. It was in early November when Hurricane Sandy had wrought destruction to the east coast and pandemonium to air travel nationwide. It was not possible to fix the mistake online or reach anyone via telephone to fix it.
Many hours over many years have been spent aboard Alaska Airlines flights. I took a risk and went to the airport at 10:00 am. My departing flight was not an Alaska Airlines flight. The airline on which I was booked was unable to assist, or at least had no interest in doing so.
A lagniappe oriented Alaska Airlines ticket agent solved the problem. It took her 20 minutes and several back room discussions with her supervisor and it cost me less than 20% of a the price of a new ticket which she called politely a mandatory change fee although I knew it was actually an appropriate and modest penalty for not paying attention.
In appreciation of the lagniappe level of service provided by the Alaska Airlines ticket agent whose name I failed to note, this month’s lagniappe contribution goes to the Redding, California Chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.