[Update: insert photo of crying child] Surprise flybilletter!! (English: Surprise Airfares!!)

photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tetsumo/3802078924/

DANISH

Da jeg var i 8. klasse, min mor var gravid. Selv om jeg har hørt folk henvise til graviditet, da en fejl, da jeg selv brugte det udtryk, mine forældre korrigeret mig. De sagde det ikke en fejl, men snarere en overraskelse.

Ligesom jeg er taknemmelig for min lillebror (der selv er nu en far), er jeg også taknemmelig for overraskelse billetpriser!

Ah, det er hvad vi hyppige flyers leve for. Jeg vågnede i morges, og kiggede på min iPhone. Jeg kom på tværs af stillingen på View From The Wing, og læse den over. Kort fortalt var der en prissætning fejl ved konvertering af en valuta til en anden FN Airlines hjemmeside (samt et par andre), Således at First Class fly fra London til Newark, for eksempel, der sælges for $ 75 år.

Spændingen. Mit hjerte har været flagrende hele dagen.

Tilbud aldrig komme sammen, når vi har tid. Nej, det var en morgen, at jeg ser frem til at gøre gøremål, betale regninger, måske blogging, måske komme på arbejde til tiden for en gangs skyld. Men sådan var ikke at være. Jeg kiggede på kalendere, forsøgte forskellige beregninger, kværnet numre, sorteret gennem kalendere, tekstet venner, forsøgte flere permutationer og destinationer, nogle arbejdede, nogle ikke. Min hjerne blev omrøring. Jeg lavede et par forbehold, men selvfølgelig mere var omrøring i mit hoved.

Jeg har talt med folk siden. Spændingen rører i alles sind. Hovedsageligt jeg høre folk taler ikke om billetpriser de reserverede, men i stedet om de ekstra ture, de ville ønske, de havde reserveret. Det er sådan en mærkelig, men interessant, fænomen, er det ikke?

I slutningen af dagen, vil de forbehold blive hædret, eller de vil ikke. Hvis de er hædret, så i hvert fald så vidt jeg er bekymret, det er en vidunderlig overraskelse. Og hvis de ikke er hædret, så jeg har rejste rundt omkring i verden et par gange i mit sind i dag.

ENGLISH

When I was in 8th grade, my mother was pregnant.  Although, I heard people refer to the pregnancy as a mistake,  when I, myself, used that term, my parents corrected me.  They said it not a mistake, but rather a surprise.

Just as I am grateful for my baby brother (who is himself now a father), I am also grateful for surprise airfares!

Ah, it’s what we frequent flyers live for.   I woke this morning, and looked at my iPhone.  I came across the post at View From The Wing, and read it over.  Briefly, there was a pricing glitch on conversion of Danish Krone on the United Airlines website (as well as a few others), such that First Class flights from London to Newark, for example, sold for $75.

The excitement.  My heart has been fluttering all day.

Deals never come along when we have time.  No, this was a morning that I was looking forward to doing chores, paying bills, maybe blogging, maybe getting to work on time for once.  But, such was not to be.   I  looked at calendars, tried various calculations, crunched numbers, sorted through calendars, texted friends, tried more permutations and destinations, some worked, some didn’t.  My brain was stirring.  I made a few reservations, but of course more were stirring in my head.

I’ve spoken to people since.  The excitement stirs in everyone’s minds.  Mainly I hear people talking not about the fares they booked, but instead about  the additional trips they wish they had booked.  It is such a strange, but interesting, phenomenon, isn’t it?

At the end of the day, the reservations will be honored or they won’t.  If they are honored, then, at least as far as I’m concerned, it’s a wonderful surprise.  And, if they are not honored, then I’ve traveled around the world a few times in my mind today.

“We did it. Make no mistake: We have written history. Today there’s a change of guards in Denmark”  – Helle Thorning-Schmidt