(New York, NY) Priceline.com and TWA were the well-deserving targets of an irate and tired Micah Laaker during his birthday weekend of June 11, 1999.

Taking up his close friend Aaron Steckelberg’s offer to join him in Pittsburgh, PA, before he (Steckelberg) moved to Atlanta, Mr. Laaker found himself searching for affordable air travel packages online a mere two weeks before the "big" weekend. Having located a very affordable price, Mr. Laaker mistakenly waited a day to double check the dates with Mr. Steckelberg, little knowing this one day was not at the liberty of being taken. He returned to the online ticketing service the very next day, only to find his ticket price escalating $500.

Frantically, Mr. Laaker mustered all his strength and buckled down for an evening of price chopping. Three hours proved exhausting in the ticket search, and Mr. Laaker was ready to surrender all hope for such a weekend to occur. Suddenly, he remembered a friendly and highly convincing William Shatner announcing there was a "revolution" in leisure airline ticket purchasing! He reopened his browser and entered the soon-to-be-regretted domain name: priceline.com.

Mr. Laaker herein departed upon a voyage of disappointment. priceline.com matched his price, just as Mr. Shatner had claimed they could, but unfortunately what could be have been a brief flight was routed through St. Louis (several, several hundred miles west of the appropriate destination). Respecting TWA’s request for him to arrive "at least" an hour early, Mr. Laaker entered New York’s La Guardia airport at approximately 13:15 EST for his 14:30 EST flight only to wait in line for 45 minutes. Figuring his wait was due to "whiny chumlies" ahead of him, he was unprepared for the ensuing debacle.

TWA soon revealed the important tidbit that Mr. Laaker would not be flying out at 14:30 EST, but rather "sometime after that." Pressing for further information, he was able to discern that his flight was indeed delayed, and he would be sent out on a later flight, and then catch an even later flight out of St. Louis.

Grumbling about "stupid TWA," Mr. Laaker attended to his lunching needs, and slowly made his way down to the terminal he was to leave from "eventually." He was shocked to find out half an hour later, 15:00 EST, that he was to have checked in half an hour earlier, as this flight was now full. His attendant also muttered statements to the effect that his first attendant "doesn’t know what she’s doing," as the flight he was to be on wouldn’t allow him to catch his St. Louis connection. She then encouraged him to never use priceline.com as he "wouldn’t be in this situation right now" if he had never used them. He thanked he for her insights and proceeded to grow a bit agitated.

Mr. Laaker then waited. And waited. How much time passed while he sat uncomfortably on the floor, he was unsure. What was sure was that he was not too happy. His original ETA in Pittsburgh was 19:05 EST, allowing Mr. Steckelberg and himself the ability to see old hometown heroes, the Kansas City Royals, and local favorites, the Pittsburgh Pirates, play off in the lethargic event of baseball. His new ETA in Pittsburgh was 21:45 EST, not allowing Mr. Steckelberg and himself the ability to see old hometown heroes, the Kansas City Royals, and local favorites, the Pittsburgh Pirates, play off in the lethargic event of baseball. This was rather disappointing.

What proved more disappointing, however, was fact that he then again did not leave on time from St. Louis. Rather, 3 hours passed as TWA politely allowed its managers to inform its customers it was unable to service their flights through the tried and tested methods of yelling, huffing & puffing, and low-key remarks about the customers. To the shock of the TWA employee trainers, many of the customers did not respond with the planned chuckles and sighs of content informedness. Instead, tensions in the St. Louis airport mounted quickly. Mr. Laaker was finally able to escape this situation by weaseling his way to the complete other side of the airport and slipping out on a 22:00 EST flight, arriving in Pittsburgh at 01:00 EST Saturday morning.

Mr. Laaker and Mr. Steckelberg proceeded to have a very short period of time to hang out/in with several of Mr. Steckelberg’s friends and hangouts.

Sunday morning’s alarm proceeded not to ring, causing quite the stir in the Steckelberg household. Indeed, Mr. Laaker had just missed his flight by at least a half-an-hour. A quick call returned Mr. Laaker to a world inhabited by befuddling TWA employees. Trying to figure his best options, he pressed the agent on the phone to assist in getting back to New York in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, the employee informed Mr. Laaker that a direct flight with plenty of available seats was leaving in half an hour. (He helpfully shared this information after holding Mr. Laaker on the phone for 25 minutes trying to find a roundabout, multi-stop flight.)

Mr. Steckelberg fired up the Civic, and he and Mr. Laaker made a mad, but law-abiding, dash towards the airport. This dash proved unnecessary, as the plane left the runway as Mr. Laaker approached the flight gate. Several missed flights later, Mr. Laaker was granted standby access to a 14:30 EST flight to St. Louis, after listening to the TWA employees informing him that he should have learned his lesson by buying through priceline.com. Mr. Laaker was excited to almost be home and put away his anxieties for the flight, as well as his sarcastic comments for said employees.

These anxieties were quickly retrieved when St. Louis proved to be overcrowded with angry, delayed customers who densely populated the gate with service to La Guardia. Being the resourceful gentleman he was, Mr. Laaker snuck to the JFK gate to find a friendly TWA employee eager to assist his final flight needs. A quick boarding pass was printed, and Mr. Laaker was about to be on his way.

Problems arose when Mr. Laaker arrived to the gate and was informed he had presented a boarding pass, not a ticket, and must "not return to the line until you have a ticket." Additional important information, such as where to receive this magical ticket, was unable to be revealed by this attendant. Mr. Laaker quickly darted over to the original employee who had earlier been so helpful. Having endured several yellings by disgruntled TWA passengers, she stressfully pointed him to TWA Customer Service.

Upon arriving at the service desk, Mr. Laaker noticed a small gathering of 60-70 odd angry passengers milling around. As his flight was about to leave, he was desperate; desperate equaling cunning. Without much consideration, Mr. Laaker entered the TWA Premium Elite line, and unloaded his story upon the attendant. Sensing his pain, and most likely bored, she expediently serviced his request and got him on his flight, where upon the entire passenger body waited for another 45 minutes as flights were again delayed due to bad weather.

Mr. Laaker finally arrived in New York City at 21:30 EST Sunday a very grumpy man. His cab ride proved quiet and uneventful, and he quickly forgave and forgot all those who had caused him so much stress just hours before. Except for priceline.com and TWA, both of which who he vowed to never use again, as well as discouraging others’ usage of such providers.

Mr. Laaker is still "mad bitter."

Would you now use priceline.com, knowing this calamity could happen to YOU? Let priceline.com know! Visit their feedback form here. Tell them I said hi, and that I appreciated using their customer service line that only let me check the status of my order! Great stuff!

Would you fly TWA, now knowing their intrinsic evils and poor employee training/support? Let them know! Also encourage them to submit to union demands so that their employees can get some sleep and training that will better prepare them for stressful situations.