A Frightening Episode

Hello all. This is an introduction to the extensive blog that will follow with all the details (okay not all, but many) of our trip to Europe.

 

Let us start from the beginning. A day and half before we were supposed to leave I made a terrible discovery. After months of planning, I got my passport out only to realize that I had never changed my name on my passport to my married name. It still read "Amanda Levesque," and I had purchased our plane tickets as Amanda Parrish. I wasn't too worried initially. I was optimistic that it would just take a few phone calls and it would all work out. Well, I spent part of one evening and literally all of the following day on the phone with Orbitz, United Airlines and Lufthansa trying to get it corrected and the answer was no, no, and an emphatic "NO." Orbitz has made me hate "Canon in D" (their hold music) more than I ever thought possible.

 

When Dave's mom picked us up to bring us to the airport I still didn't know if they would let me board the plane. I explained the situation the lady at the United Airlines desk and she then asked if I had my marriage certificate. I did, and produced it. She said it wasn't sufficient because it wasn't stamped or didn't have some kind of raised seal on it. It's the only thing I was given when we were married, so I was distraught. She said that I had to call Lufthansa, and given my success rate the previous day I was no longer hopeful. I called and they said no yet again. The United Airlines agent then asked if I had my driver's license in my married name, which I did. Apparently that was the ticket and she printed my boarding passes out. I was thrilled.

 

So there were were, sitting at our gate waiting to board and about ten minutes before we're supposed to get on the plane, here comes that same United Airlines agent and asks "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" My heart sank. She said she called her boss to double check if what she's done was ok, and that I would make it to Chicago, but they definitely wouldn't let me board the flight to Paris. She said I had a few options. 1) Stay in Fayetteville and get my passport amended and take a flight to Paris the next day. 2) Fly to Chicago and take a cab to the embassy there during our layover and get my passport updated, or 3) Fly to Chicago and check with the Lufthansa desk there to see if they would make the name change.

 

I opted for number 3 with plans to go to the embassy if Lufthansa wouldn't help me. We had to run to make it onto our plane to Chicago. We got to O'hare and made the long trek to the Lufthansa ticket counter. It was there that a wonderful German man charged me $50 and changed the name on my plane tickets back to my maiden name so they matched my passport. And then we rejoiced. We had a celebratory bite to eat (even though I couldn't really eat anything because I was still so stressed) and found our gate and waited. We were going to Paris!