Korea Trip #3-2 – Ready…. Get Set… STOP!

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.

Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek

Meghann and I took our honeymoon to Tahiti on the tail-end of our wedding in October 2013. It had many memorable moments but perhaps none more than getting to our departure flight. We arrived at the airport an hour before boarding, a little close for timing but not unreasonable. Upon arrival – no passports! Cue a high-speed rush down the 101 with my jeep’s engine pushed to the limits to get home, snag the passports, and back. Figured a speeding ticket was cheaper than rebooking anyways. We arrived at the ticket counter a few minutes after boarding started (no checked bags, which would have derailed any chances) and while the agent doubted our ability to get to the gate in time, she agreed to let us try. We’d just come off a series of half-marathons and used that conditioning for a theatrical sprint across Sky Harbor. We arrived at our gate just minutes before the doors closed, sweaty and boarding the plane with the exhilaration of threading the needle and sidestepping disaster.

Up until today, Meghann nor I had ever missed a flight despite having been on hundreds. We’re both meticulous planners that like structure and rarely miss commitments, let alone late to anything. And today we were as ready as we’ve ever been. We arrived at the United ticketing counter shortly after it opened at 5am. We’d completed the four pre-travel sections in the United “Travel-Ready Center” and had scoured the South Korean and US government sites to review and check off every entry requirement. We had all COVID vaccination cards filled out and had each taken the $129 COVID Antigen test within 24 hours of departure, submitted those tests to the South Korean government, and had our COVID “Q Codes” for “easy entry through customs” on arrival.

As soon as we got up to the ticketing counter, the agent informed me she was having an issue checking in Vivienne. She spent around twenty minutes waiting on hold, talking with someone, and then informed us we missed filling out a form somewhere. A few minutes later, she gave us a website address, and told us we needed to log in and fill out the form for Vivienne. This form was not something we’d seen in any travel prep work but no problem, let’s just get it done and stay on track for the flight.

This form was clearly thrown together in haste – required photos of passports, a headshot, all kinds of details about where we’re staying in Korea – hotel addresses, contact numbers, etc. It also had some bizarre technical requirements like all photo file sizes needed to be between 100k – 300kb. An iPhone photo is 10x that size, so here we were, Meghann calling one of her employees with graphic design skills to see if she could help resize, while I’m frantically uploading our passports to the first google search result site that shrinks image file sizes (in retrospect – yikes). As we finally get all of this information finalized, the agent informs us we actually need to fill out this form for all four of us. We then start the process again 3x more with 20 minutes to spare before boarding starts. Maybe still check bags and keep going? Nope, it turns out the form also needs to be reviewed and approved by the Korean government, which takes between 30 minutes and 72 hours. The window to make our flight was closed, there was no way we were getting on that flight.

Flight options to South Korea are very limited post-COVID, with entry only allowed to foreigners as of April. The ticketing counter didn’t have any rebooking options. Cue a very emotional and frantic hour and a half of sitting on a small metal pole near the ticketing counter as we call United and exhausted every possible rebooking option. Nothing available through United outside scrapping and replanning the trip. It was clear we weren’t getting on a flight anytime soon, so time to head home.

So where are we now? This writeup is already long enough, but Meghann and I each spent 4-5 hours today rebooking everything on a different airline, moving hotel reservations, train tickets, changing plans with those we’re visiting. SO. MUCH. HOLD. MUSIC. I could write an entire post comparing the hold music of Chase Sapphire, Orbitz, United, Asiana Airlines (the worst, my wife was enduring that but I could hear it from across the house), and American Airlines. I did this entire writeup while waiting on hold.

So off we go tomorrow, more COVID Antigen tests in the morning and an 8:30pm flight with a 14-hour layover in LAX. At least Sage will still be taking classes, although she’ll be learning about coaching instead of business.