It was supposed to be my e-purchasing debut.
I've neither needed to, wanted to, nor trusted an e-tailer with my much-closeted credit cards details but foolishly decided to throw caution to the wind.
Little did I know that it wasn't all going to be plain sailing at qantas.com.au and that the wind in my sails would soon be very much deflated.
Okay, so it wasn't quite the purchase of a lifetime. No round the world trip for me.
A last minute, cheap domestic deal to Canberra was about the extent of it.
A one way ticket no less - surely it'd be twice as easy, double quick. I'd miss the queues and make my online purchasing debut without so much as leaving my desk.
Well, I may not have left my desk but I certainly did climb the walls as one-and-a-half hours of pages timing out, blank screens and error messages ensued.
I was reluctant to give up having got so far - all I had to do was confirm flight details and key in my much-coveted credit card details - and afterall it was an Internet bargain not available from a bricks and mortar outlet.
So I called the Internet booking help desk and sat on hold for 30 minutes as the flight confirmation and credit card details page failed to download in front of me.
My online purchase would've been in the bag, so I was told, was it not for the Web site's unexplained intermittent downtime - not to mention incorrect flight availability displays.
No worries though, "we don't usually do this" an Internet support staff member told me, "but we'll process the payment over the phone".
So the grand finale of my two-hour trauma was that my e-tailing extravaganza was a flop. My credit card details were dispatched over the phone.
So much for an "Internet only Qantas red e-deal" the good old telephone operator saved the day.
I will make my online purchaser's debut, however, if it's the end of me. Travel insurance for an overseas trip is next on the agenda.
Bon Voyage!
