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So… I actually (very surprisingly) got a reply from Mexicana…

Dear Mrs. Lorenia de la Vega:
 
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to process your request. On behalf of Grupo Mexicana please accept our sincerest apology for any inconveniences you may have endured.
 
My name is Sergio Gomar and I am in charge of the evaluation to your case. Please allow me to inform you that the Management in Orlando international airport has received your comments for their assessment.
 
On the other hand, in regards to the delay of your baggage, please note that according to the guidelines established for such events:
 
“You must not reside in the destination city where the delay of luggage delivery occurred. You must provide receipts from the emergency purchase of clothing and personal hygiene items up to the amount previously mentioned a copy of the airline ticket and a copy of the initial delay of baggage delivery report after a 24-hour minimum period of being without your luggage. If you fly Executive Class, payment will be made as soon as the previous requirements have been met.”
 
Therefore, please submit to this office required documents in order to review them and apply it corresponding outcome.
 
Our first interest is to understand your needs and we are at your orders for any additional information that you may require.
 
Best regards,
Sergio Gomar
Customer Relations Analyst
U.S.A. & Canada

I’m sorry, how is that a sincere apology? Also, I completely don’t care what the established guidelines are, I am not even ASKING for a refund (did they even read the letter I SENT?), what I am doing is informing you that your customer service reps LIE and that is NOT OK. They lie to get people of their backs, make promises and guarantees that the company will not comply with, and that is just ridiculous and messed up. UGH. I replied. The saga continues!

I’m not big on writing complaint letters to Customer Service reps when I am mistreated or when service is just plain shoddy. I am pretty understanding about the fact that one employee of a company is not an accurate representation of all that the company actually stands for. However, after my experience this past weekend, I decided to not only write to Mexicana and all their listed customer service reps, but I also wish to post this here, on Twitter, and everywhere someone might stumble upon it. I may not be Kevin Smith, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to warn people against poor service.

To whom it may concern,

My name is Lorenia de la Vega. I recently flew on your flights MX340 (Cancun – Mexico City) and MX317 (Mexico City – Orlando). I fly to and from Cancun/Orlando quite often, and decided, as a Mexican citizen, to try out the company despite the poor things I had heard. I figured if I was going to give my money to a company, I might as well do it to a national one. Big mistake!

I arrived at the airport at 5:00am on February 28th for my 7:00am flight from Cancun to Orlando, connecting in Mexico City. I assumed that the ticket counters would be open at 5:30am since it is stated on the Mexicana website that passengers should arrive 90 minutes in advance for international flights. Incorrect assumption: ticket counters were not open until nearly 6:00am. Once I proceeded to check in, I was detained at the counter for over half an hour: problems with the software did not allow the check-in clerk to check me in to my flight, because I had a passport and a green card number. Surely, I cannot be the only passenger in Mexicana history to have flown with a Mexican passport and a green card! Once I was checked in, I was asked to rush to the gate, as they were already boarding.

Not so!

I arrived at my gate, and my flight was delayed approximately 30 minutes. I was already a bit worried about my connection in Mexico City being only one hour, but figured if Mexicana sells “connecting” flights with one hour between arrival and departure, they know what they are doing and have accounted for small delays.

My flight landed in Mexico City with 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off. On stepping off the flight from Cancun nearly ten minutes later, I was advised as to which gate to go to: gate 32, from gate 12. I inquired about my luggage, and was told not to worry, that it would be in Orlando waiting for me.

Now, here I will insert something I didn’t insert into the letter: an actual map of the Mexico City airport. They expected us to comfortably walk from one end to the other in ten minutes. Please check this out:

Arrival gate, where the first set of stairs are. Departure? The very, very last gate of the airport. I’m not even kidding when I say I have blisters on both heels now!

Now, surely Mexicana personnel are aware of the size and distribution of the Mexico City airport. The passengers needing to make that connecting flight had ten minutes to walk from one side of the airport to the extreme opposite, with their carry-on luggage and, in the case of other passengers that were in the same situation as I was, with small children. We arrived at the gate as they were shutting the doors, flushed and out of breath. When I took my seat on the plane and requested a bottle or glass of water, I was denied one, since we were about to take off! I explained how we had been running, and how I was already dehydrated from the previous three hours of flying, and again, the flight attendant denied me a glass of water.

The service of the flight attendants was appalling. All of the men seated around me were promptly served meals and drinks with smiles, while my meal was tossed at me and I didn’t receive a drink until I rose and requested it.

Upon arriving to Orlando (at 2:25pm), my luggage never appeared on the carousel – not surprising, though, if we barely had time to get ourselves to the plane, I can imagine how it would have been impossible to put the luggage through extra security and then onto a plane that was about to take off. I was very upset, though, that I had been assured it would be in Orlando. I felt as if through my entire trip, responsibility had been passed from one person to another without ever receiving a straight answer from someone.

I reported my missing luggage to a Mexicana representative at the carousel. I was assured that my luggage would be delivered at the address I provided within 24 hours, and that before those 24 hours had passed, someone from Mexicana would contact me to tell me about the location of my luggage and what time to expect it delivered. I was also assured that upon its delivery, if more than 24 hours had passed, I would also receive $100 USD for my troubles, something done routinely to reimburse passengers for any expenses they may incur for delayed delivery of their luggage.

The next morning, March 1st, when it began to near noon, I became worried no one had contacted me. I dialed the numbers provided to me by the Mexicana representative at the carrousel, (407) 825-6002/6003, to no avail. No one ever answered and when the call was sent to voice mail, I was given a notification that the voice mail was full and no further messages could be recorded.

I then dialed 1-800-531-7921 (the 800 number provided me by Information). The party who took my call was belligerent and treated me as if I were mentally retarded for not giving him all of the “numbers” necessary to trace my luggage. The only two numbers on the document provided to me when I filed the report were my Flight Ticket Number and my Claim Check Number, which he deemed insufficient. He proceeded to give me two phone numbers, (407) 825-5047 for the Manager of Customer Support, and (407) 825-5022. The first number no longer exists in the Orlando airport when dialed, and the latter is a number for a Delta liaison, both clearly useless. I would like to make note that it may be in Mexicana’s best interest to update the first number in the information they tell Customer Support to give clients. It’s a bit troublesome that not even Mexicana knows what numbers are no longer useful.

As I was not able to contact anyone, I again called the 800 number and was transferred to the first person that was able to give me any information about my luggage. However, he clarified that the information I had previously received was not correct. You do not give $100 USD checks if the bags aren’t delivered within 24 hours (again, information Mexicana may want to tell their reps not to give) and they are still uncertain when my luggage will actually arrive. All of this after four hours of locating phone numbers, two hours of which were spent on hold.

I finally received the luggage that Mexicana representatives promised I would have within 24 hours “at the very latest” nearly at midnight on March 1st. Not the most pleasant time to receive something when you have to be up at 5:30am, and when the information that accompanied the luggage says that it landed nine hours earlier.

My husband and I both travel multiple times a month and I can guarantee you that after such a poor quality experience and such generally rude and incompetent service, neither of us have the slightest desire to ever fly with Mexicana again.

I am publishing this letter on my personal and professional Websites, Facebook groups, Twitter, and Trip Advisor (and any other pertinent travel Websites) as well as encouraging everyone I know not to use your services.

Thank you for your time,
Lorenia de la Vega

And to anyone who may have had the patience to read the letter the whole way through, I sincerely advise you never to fly with them. I have never had a more exasperating, uncomfortable, and unpleasant experience with an airline, and you all KNOW how much I fly! And it’s not even how long the luggage took to get back to me — as far as lost luggage goes, it took a relatively short time to make it home, it was the constant excuses and lying and the overall crappy service. Ugh.

A couple of years ago, I went to the eye doctor in Cancun for a much overdo update to my prescription. The optometrist didn’t perform a whole lot of tests, and declared that it was obvious that my left eye was overcompensating for my right eye’s blindness. Right eye -0.50, left eye +0.25. I spent way too much money on normal glasses and sunglasses, but hey, eyes are worth it, right?

Wrong.

Over the past two years, I’ve had a hard time forcing myself to use them. They made me see clearly, but t-i-n-y, very bizarre. They also gave me horrible headaches, which I attributed to the time spent without them, not with them, on. But something was kind of off. Wearing them made me get migraines, nausea, etc. I noticed little things, the way my eyes focused, the way they could focus on what I chose and bokeh the rest of what I was looking at, and a few other things. Turns out, there was something definitely wrong.

My doctor in Cancun could not have been more off. The doctor here (and his staff) performed exhaustive tests, things to test my focus that no other doctor had ever bothered doing, and we discovered something I should have known: my right eye is lazy!

“Haven’t you ever noticed your eyes doing weird things?”

“Well, I mean, I can cross one eye and then make the other once dance around…”

“Um… show me…”

Yeah, apparently, that’s not normal.

Long story short, I’m wearing right eye +0.50, left +1.00, a.k.a. totally blind as a bat which is normal for my old age (sniffle). I tried super thin contacts, they were still too thick for my eyes and I would actually blink them out. I’m the optometrist’s version of the Princess and the Pea. Fortunately for me, they just came out with ultra-thin contacts which my optometrist/ophthalmologist got shipped today, which he gave me at my appointment. I can’t feel them, I can focus, I can see clearly (♪ now, the raiiiin is goooone ♪), no headaches, no desire to rip my eyes out or sever my head. First time in AGES! I’m happy.

And the moral of the story is, if you have headaches and your glasses bug you, get it taken care of PRONTO… don’t be afraid of getting grandma glasses. Your LIFE will thank you.

On Google Chat with George:

Georgie Porgie: Rosemary from Brevard Eye Center just called me, looking for you.

Georgie Porgie: I said, “This is her husband George”

Me: OK? I thought my appoinment was on Monday?

Georgie Porgie: She said, “Oh, hello Mr. de la Vega. I was just calling to confirm her appointment on Monday at 3:45.”

Georgie Porgie: MISTER DE LA VEGA

Georgie Porgie: yesssssssssss

hahahahahahaha Is he the only man in the world who would get excited over something like this? Hilarious. Also hilarious is that if that is the name on my Eye Dr. records, they assume if I am married, it must be my husband’s name. Not all women take the guy’s name! (For the record, I did.)

All cats have their “thing”, and ever since we got Sparty, he’s had his particular quirk. Whenever we change the kitty litter and spread Arm & Hammer on it (because we like kitty poop to smell like baking soda and artificial flowers, duh), he ROLLS AROUND IN IT. Now, it’s not like he’s totally gross; he won’t do this in dirty litter. I tried describing what he does to other people, the entire body FLOP and roll around, but it’s so much better when you see it… and so, I present you with this video. Enjoy!

Sparty is disgusting from Lorenia on Vimeo.

It’s a fact: I am, indeed, an electronic menace.

While in Cancun, Ebony, my dear, sweet, little MacBook just ceased to function. Out of nowhere, upon turning her on, I would get a “forbidden” sign. While I waited to take her to the Apple Service center, I tried to diagnose her myself… and hoped against hope that I was wrong. But I called it — RIP, hard drive. Kernel damage to the drive, as well as damage, somehow to the actual physical HD. Data not recoverable.

As my luck would have it, the Apple warranty ran out in July 2009. And the distributor’s warranty? In November. Plus, Apple Mexico? Not as friendly as Apple USA. Yeah… I couldn’t break her just three months earlier. I do believe it was my fault, tempting fate. I had just told George, not a week earlier, “We’ll see what breaks NOW!” Ask and ye shall receive!

Instead of replacing the hard drive for another overpriced one and keeping a computer for another couple of years which would be obsolete pretty soon (poor thing was already chugging along with its limited RAM), we opted to bite the bullet and purchase a new computer.

I know a lot of people think Apple is overpriced and just a company that people like for its caché… but after using Linux for a few years and then making the switch to Apple, I never want a Windows OS again. EVER. Apple is simple, sleek, and to the point. No bells and whistles, just a straight-forward interface without a million layers and complications. It’s the Chanel of computer nerdery. And for the specs I selected, it would have cost the same (or more!) to purchase a PC.

MacBook Pro 15″, how I love thee.

I love re-installing all my programs (or “Applications”) on Snow Leopard. Download, drag and drop, you’re done. No waiting 5 hours. No clicking through 500 options. You don’t want that program? Delete from Apps! No millions of secret hidden files.

I’m definitely a Mac.

George and I are in Cancun for a mini vacation (and by mini, I mean ten days). I have a series of conferences this week, so we just decided to make the trip into a vacay, too. Not too shabby when your flights are covered!

Yesterday, my mom “hired” Samantha, my very much 14 and a half year old sister, to work with us and hand out the receivers and basically just help out. During one of the breaks, she and I were talking about boys…

“You know, mom’s going to freak out when I introduce her to the boy I want to date.”

“Why? Is he covered in tattoos? Body piercings?”

“No… but I mean… he’s not very pretty…”

“Oh, Sam,” I teased. “Not very pretty? Ew.”

“I KNOW!!! But he’s so, so, so nice…”

“Why don’t you hold out for one you find pretty AND nice?”

“Pffft. Those don’t exist.”

I raise a brow, turn to look at George, editing photos on his laptop. “Oh?”

“OK, sure, but LOOK HOW LONG THAT TOOK YOU!!!“

Touché, little sister. Touché.

Huge chunks of the past year have been… well, frankly… a little boring!

I don’t mean the parts that have to do with George: I was lucky enough to marry my best friend, someone who makes me laugh so hard my sides hurt on a daily basis and who finds me equally (although he claims much more) hilarious. Life is happy. The “boring” parts have been the parts where I have had to be unemployed because before you’re a resident, you’re not legally allowed to work here, and I only got my residency in October. What is that, you say? You can file for a work permit while your visa is being processed? Yes, you can! I got mine three days, yes, THREE DAYS, before my visa was authorized. Useful!

With such an uneventful year, I expected it to remain that way… and remain that way it did until I was hired as part of a team of translators working on the files for a legal case in Mexico… hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages. Hundreds of pages to try and work through while being sick. And Thanksgiving. And my aunt Maria Luisa and Coquito coming to visit. And my mom’s upcoming (tomorrow!!!) visit, as well as the arrival of our friends Lauren and Mojdeh for the SED conference. Did I mention devotionals? And Ruhi circles? And regular chores? And work?

My mom always said, “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” I spent the better part of this year begging and praying to be busy and occupied and to have consistent work and visits from friends… and there you go.

So, I guess, thank You?

P.S. Who doesn’t like freebies? I am currently obsessed with Annie Little’s “Fly Me Away”. You know the girl who sings the song on the new Kindle commercial? Well, it seems Amazon is giving the mp3 away. You’ll love it. Click here.

Tonight, driving home through the dark suburban streets, brightened with the colorful Christmas lights and decorations. Windows down, cool, damp Florida night wind weaving through my hair. George holding my hand. My chest feeling so very full of contentment, a feeling akin to a deep breath after a long workout. Satisfaction. Peace. Silent companionship.

These are the moments I want to commit to memory. Not the monumental events, necessarily. Not those few days that you tire everyone with by recounting them over and over in your old age. Just these every-day days that life is peppered with.

“He drove us home, and we held hands. It smelled clean and fresh and slightly swampy.You could hear crickets and alligators on the sides of the road, even over the music.”

Those are the things that make my heart burst.

Every year, in support of World AIDS Day, Starbucks decides to do something nice:

“Join us in support of World AIDS Day. On December 1, 2009 we’re contributing 5¢ U.S. to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa for every hand-crafted beverage sold!”

And every year, I click on the little Facebook button saying I’m attending the event. And EVERY YEAR, that takes me to the page where people have left comments.

Now, I’m curious: do people really think that Starbucks gives a crap about destructive comments? Comments like: “Starbucks doesn’t send coffee to our troops, so I’m never buying coffee from them again,” or “Cheap bastards, five cents? Capitalist pigs!” I usually silently laugh, but this time it just pissed me off.

Would you like a list of all American and international companies who are “not supporting the war and not sending products to our troops”? WOULDYA? Because believe you me, it’s more than 98% of all domestic companies.

Could you also explain to me why it’s their obligation to give ANYTHING AT ALL? Most companies do not contribute in any way, so anything that Starbucks does is POSITIVE. (No AIDS pun intended.) Why do people love to complain so freaking much? Is this not the season of giving thanks? Give thanks that someone, no matter how much or little, cares about things going on in the world to say, hey, let’s pick a day and donate a little money to a cause. I am in now way affiliated with Starbucks – however, I appreciate a good deed from wherever it may come, big or small.

*Steps off soapbox*