Brief Rant

Ok, so I KNOW I have to pack and whatever, but dammit I am so riled up right now.

My favorite cousin (ok, so my favorite cousin in England, I also have some favorite cousins in Germany as well as a favorite brother in Houston) is getting married in England in August and I needed to get the flights booked before we go to Tunisia, or it would hang over my head.

So I went over to BA to book the flights, I like their very simple booking process and flight choice matrix. Found a flight, decent price, good times, etc etc. All good.

Then it comes time to pay. Which is where it all goes pear shaped.

Have you ever come across something called "verified by visa" when you buy something online? It's this 'extra security' thing where you have to register with your bank and go through an extra step with passwords and such, the theory being it prevents other people from using your card.

The problem is, it pretty much only keeps ME from using my card. I'd say that for every time I have had a successful usage of this FUCKING 'verified by visa program', I have had three failures. Either the java fails, or a firewall issue comes up, or the bank is down, or the bank won't recognize me as a user of their stupid service, OR my card is not tied to the information that verified by FUCKING visa has. This causes me to lose my whole flight booking and have to start over from scratch.

But, what really chaps my ass, is that this FUCKING 'verified by visa' thing is not used by all websites, only those being 'extra safe' and, if you remember, I recently had my card number stolen and used on a spending spree in Spain that I am certain the merchants of Madrid will remember for a long long time. So, honestly, all 'verified by visa' does is keep ME from using MY card. ANYONE else can use it, but ME!

Does this seem irretrievably stupid or is it just me? GAH! What should have been a 15 minute process turned into a 1 hour wrestle with pin codes and security cards (a Norwegian thing where you have to use this little calculator looking thing that gives you a temporary pin code every time you use the card or access your bank account, I hate it as it means you have to carry the bloody thing around if you ever want to access your account online, which means yet one more thing to keep track of) and Java and passwords.

I am now all stressed out on a day I should be just looking forward to our holiday in Tunisia. Sigh.