Woman Books Flight from Wrong San Jose, Learns Mistake at Airport and It Costs Her Thousands

A woman lamented her bad luck after accidentally booking a flight out of San Jose, California, instead of San Jose, Costa Rica, costing herself thousands of dollars in the process and stressing herself out to no end for a retreat she planned with some of her friends in another country.

She documented her travel woes in a series of TikTok videos in a long-form storytime that was filled with ups and downs. Her first video about the ordeal clocked in over 1.6 millison views, with subsequent clips garnering hundreds of thousands of eyes on them

"Oh Rin you really f---- up this time. So you know how I'm supposed to fly to Thailand today because I'm hosting a group trip out there and the group trip literally starts in two days? Yeah well I'm flying from San Jose Costa Rica all the way to Bangkok and I arrive at the airport in San Jose today and I'm flying through Alaska Airlines but I was walking all over this ho and I couldn't find the Alaska Airlines like check-in gate."

Naturally, Rin, like any air commuter, would immediately think that there was something amiss and she decided to look into the situation further, "So I'm like what is going on like I know I'm not too early for check-in. So I go to the information desk and I'm like bro why isn't there an Alaska Airlines check-in desk yet, my flight's literally in two hours."

She brought the issue up to the Alaska Airlines representatives who, initially, had a bit of difficulty trying to figure out the TikToker's dilemma until they found the root of the issue, and the news wasn't good: "They like can't figure it out for a while. Five minutes later they look at me and they're like: oh, we figured it out. And I was like, don't say it like that."

She continued, "Don't tell me something bad right now. Bro I booked my flight from the wrong San Jose. I booked it from San Jose California, not San Jose Costa Rica. So now my entire flight is wrong. I'm gonna miss all my flights."

There was one silver lining, however, in Rin's situation and it's that she elected to buy purchase protection on her tickets: "Thank God I bought the insurance on those flights though so hopefully I can get the money back. I'm feeling defeated and the day hasn't even started. It's literally 5 am."

Rin also opined about the similarity with the airport code names between San Jose, California and San Jose, Costa Rica. "Why would they make the airport codes so similar bro? SJO and SJC is too similar when they're both called San Jose you can't do that to me. This is not my fault," she ruminates.

Unfortunately, the situation started looking even worse for Rin's wallet: "Update I'm currently on hold with the booking company but I was looking at new flights to Thailand a one way leaving today is $3,000 bro. I may get royally screwed on this one. Stupid, stupid," she says, slapping herself on the forehead.

It didn't take Rin long to discover that flight insurance isn't always worth the cost — oftentimes the insurance claims are handled by third-party companies who have no problems with taking your money up front, but they can be total scumbags once it comes time to actually refund your ticket.

"B--- what is the point of getting insurance on your flight if it was a $1,200 round trip flight and the only refund they'll give you for canceling the flights is $300? Why did I pay $100 for the protection plan if I'm only gonna get $300 back?"

At this point in her debacle, she decided to buy some grub and mull over what happened with some food.

"Might as well go get a snack," she says, before the camera transitions to her wigging out over some dessert. "Nothing a good cake can't fix," she said, taking a bite of the treat. "Now focus Rin, make a plan," she said before the video cut out.

In a follow-up video Rin says that while she was sitting around and waiting for her new flight out of San Jose, Costa Rica to Thailand and stressing about the money she lost and boat load of cash she had to drop to get to Thailand, she received a message from a brand that was going to give her around $10,000 for a deal and she expressed her karmic gratitude for the money "coming back around."

It seems like Rin was able to make it to Thailand in one piece, as she detailed in a video where she rode a bicycle with her friends but lamented the fact she left her sneakers back in Costa Rica and was left traversing the country with "cheap slides from Amazon."

So although she said that she was under a tremendous amount of stress due to the error she made while booking her flight, and the tears she shed over losing a water bottle while at the airport.