Heads up to other rookie travelers: check your airline confirmation well before your departure.
I booked our tickets for our April trip to Barcelona back in August when prices were particularly good. The flight is not direct and we are scheduled to make one connection. I'd learned my lesson on an earlier trip to book all legs with one airline so I booked through on Lufthansa and was feeling pretty comfortable. However, all was not well when I checked online today. About 5 weeks out, one leg of our trip was canceled! Red letter notice of cancellation on the airline website was a little scary, I have to admit. When I called the number provided, the first 'travel specialist' assured me that the trip was whole, but he could not explain why it did not show up on my itinerary. Sent me two additional emails with flight information, none showing the missing leg. Baffled, he told me I would have to talk with Air Canada, the 'travel partner' airline, who was actually managing the flight, if I wanted a confirmation. This seemed really crazy to me, since I had booked with Lufthansa, but I figured I would jump through the hoop. Wait time for the Air Canada call was over 30 minutes and the agent there said, as I expected him to, that since I'd booked with Lufthansa, Air Canada couldn't resolve the issue. Back to Lufthansa and a very efficient, friendly agent who straightened up the situation in about 5 minutes. Wish I had gotten him the first time! So glad that I checked a month out instead of the night before - or worse, at the airport! I may not have saved any headaches, but at least I have time to recover before our trip. I shudder to think what the situation at the airport might have been trying to straighten this out during the trip. Whew!