Soap Opera Testing Example

A soap opera test, as I (Michael Bolton) understands Hans' definition, is an elaborate, rich and very implausible but /possible/ scenario. To me, a soap opera would be more like:

A man (Chris Patterson) and his wife (Chris Patterson) want to take their kids (from previous marriages, Chris Patterson, a boy, and Chris Patterson, a girl) on a flight from San Francisco to Glasgow to San Jose (Costa Rica) to San Jose (California) back to San Francisco. He searches for flights by schedule. He's a Super-Elite-Premium frequent flyer, but he doesn't want the upgrade that the system automatically grants him so that he can sit with his wife and kids in economy class. He requires a kosher meal, his wife is halal, the boy is a vegetarian, and the girl is allergic to wheat. He has four pieces of luggage per person (including two pairs of skis, three sets of golf clubs, two 120 lb. dogs, and three overweight suitcases), where his frequent flyer plan allows him (but only him) to take up to four checked items, but the others can only take two each. He gets to the last step on the payment page before he realizes that he has confused San Jose (California) for San Jose (Costa Rica), so the order of the itinerary is wrong. The airline cancels the flight after it has accepted his bags, and reroutes him on a partner. The partner cancels the flight (after it has accepted the bags) to San Jose (California) so it reroutes him to another competitor, who cancels the flight (after accepting the bags) to San Jose (Costa Rica) and reroutes him to another partner, who goes bankrupt after it has accepted the bags for the San Francisco flight.

---Michael B.