Executive Travel

* Name: Brent Blatchley

* Position: Accountant, Tarzana

After a recent arrival in San Francisco, I discovered I had misplaced my return ticket. Having had a similar problem a decade ago, I called the airline immediately.

“Your seat is confirmed for your return trip to L.A.,” the ticket counter worker told me. “Just show up a little early with identification, fill out a lost-ticket form, and you’ll be on your way.”

Just in case, I arrived early and waited while the counter person filled out the one-page form.

“That will be $60 to process this form,” she told me.

“Sixty dollars!?!” I complained. “The (advance) ticket is only $40!”

“I’m sorry, but we have to pay accountants to process these forms,” she told me.

“That’s totally unreasonable!” I told her. “I’m an accountant, and $60 to process a simple form is unconscionable.”

After a longer wait, a supervisor came and explained that “a ticket is just like cash.”

“I’m a CPA; I know the definition of cash!” I told her. “If my ticket is non-refundable, my seat is reserved and the ticket has no liquidity. It’s nothing like cash!”

“I’m sorry,” she told me defiantly. “You’ll have to purchase (an unrestricted) ticket. . . . That will be $140.”

I wonder how much money airlines make from passengers who misplaced their tickets and are at the mercy of the airline runaround.