I wanted to have this experience of flying alone internationally without my parents or anyone tagging along with me… I was excited to visit India and Taj Mahal… I couldn’t wait.
So, I finally arrived at the New Delhi airport with my heavy book bag on my weak shoulders, a rolling handbag, and a huge purse with my passport and other travel documents that my mom had told me to keep with me all the time no matter what, otherwise I’d be screwed if I lost it… I get to the baggage claim finally after filling out all the forms with the immigration… only to find out it was a very, very small carousel and only one was working… and having an international flight with at least 170 or more people… the crew was taking and putting all the bags off the carousel and putting them in the middle in this huge pile… well I could understand why they were doing it, but did they realize how hard it was to get into the pile of bags, especially when all the bags were either blue, red, or black, and trying to find your own bag after 20 hours of flight and carrying all that other stuff that I had to carry with me…
It took me an hour to find my bags, and this idea of putting them into this huge pile just made me insane. I’m thinking they needed to come up with a better way to resolve this… thank God that my connecting flight was leaving five hours later, and did I tell you that they have two airports, one international and one national, so you have to take all your bags and get on a bus for 30 minutes and go to another airport and go through a security check point again…
I decided it is good to have somebody flying with you after all no matter how annoying they could be… at least they can help you pick up or look for your bags…
Tagged as:
baggage,
carousel
Several years ago my father adopted a stray kitten and decided to ship it to me when I was in the military stationed in Georgia. So I went to the Augusta airport to meet kitty’s flight and on the way got stuck in a massive traffic jam and was a little late.
I walked into the baggage claim area expecting to retrieve the kitty from a holding area in the back of the carousel but out of the corner of my eye, I saw kitty in her little cage on the carousel going round and round. I’m glad to say she was fine but I can’t imagine what the ride must have been like coming down the shoot!
Tagged as:
animals,
carousel,
cat,
military
Several years ago I was traveling fairly often to Del Rio, Texas to visit my fiance who was stationed there. Del Rio is a tiny little border town 3 hours from anything. Luckily, Continental had recently started flying a little commuter plane in a couple times a day. The only problem with the little commuter plane was it had severe weight restrictions and routinely luggage was arbitrarily left sitting on the tarmac. Many trips I made to Del Rio and back and was lucky enough to get back home and always had my luggage with me – until December 17, 2006.
I was living in Orlando at the time and remember getting in late that night. Orlando can be very slow getting luggage from the plane to the baggage claim area. It is not unusual to wait 30-45 minutes, sometimes an hour. So I sat there waiting and watching for the luggage from my flight to arrive. I watched all the luggage come out and go round and round and everyone claim their bags and leave the airport. I watched the few remaining unclaimed bags circle the conveyor belts until the conveyor belts were turned off. No bag for me. It was very late, close to midnight, I had to be up at 7:00 the next morning to go to work and now I have to file a claim for lost luggage.
The Continental baggage claim employee working at near midnight on a Sunday was about as happy to see me as I was to see her. What color bag? Black – just like everyone else’s. Wheels? Zippers? Yes – just like everyone else’s. Pull handle? Of course. Just like everyone else’s. I was issued my claim ticket, given the 1-800 number and web address to check the status and shoved on my way.
The next day at work I am online every hour checking the status of my claim. Coworkers are popping their heads in my office – have they found the bag? Heartbroken, I tell them no. By 10:30 a.m. I’ve decided all hope is lost and I start making an inventory of everything I had in the bag so when Continental determines my bag is a lost cause I can get all my money’s worth from them for all my worldly belongings. I start calling the 1-800 number in addition to checking the website just in case a live person knows more than the Internet. They don’t. By the end of the day I have committed myself to the realization I will never see my poor luggage again. But alas, not 15 minutes after getting home, I get a call – my bag has been found and it’s on its way to me!
Later that night, just out of curiosity, I log back onto the Continental claim website to see what the status of my claim says. Instead of saying something mundane like “resolved” or “file closed” or something like that, it says “WHO KNOWS WHERE BAG HAS BEEN.” I found it hilarious. I saved a screen shot of the page. I’d like to think my luggage had a little adventure of its own without me.
Tagged as:
baggage,
carousel,
continental airlines,
puddle jumper
This story is more about my asinine brother-in-law than it is about flights from hell. In all fairness the airline DID manage to lose his luggage on a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix.
So here we are, a few days before Christmas and my BIL, who ALWAYS drives when he visits us in Phoenix, decided to spring for an airline ticket this time. By the time he arrived here from Vegas… an hour and 10 minute NONSTOP flight, Southwest lost his luggage. Imagine that.
At the PHX baggage claim, my intoxicated BIL was too busy being obnoxious to hear that there was a carousel change for his flight, so we moved over to the other carousel and proceeded to wait for 30 minutes, while the carousel went around and around and around… not to mention the fact that there were PILES of unclaimed luggage sitting on the floor next to it.
So, as I try to tell my BIL that we can’t find his bag, he starts talking VERY LOUDLY about how he got to the airport 3 hours early because it was the holidays (and proceeded to drink tequila shots at the bar) and that his flight was nonstop and how could the airline lose his luggage… WITH Christmas gifts in it, nonetheless. OY VEY.
So we go stand in the Southwest baggage line with all the others whose stuff got lost and he continues to yell about how he got to the airport 3 hours early and it was a nonstop flight and bladdety bladdety blah. OVER and OVER. I tried to get him to go outside and smoke a cigarette, but he wouldn’t budge. Finally, airport security came over and told him that if he didn’t mellow out, they would have to remove him. They even went as far as to stand behind the counter, to make sure he controlled himself. Thank god his parents were with me, cuz I was ready to punch his lights out. I just left his father with him and mom and I went outside.
He filled out the paperwork and we left with the understanding that they would call my home phone when the luggage was on it’s way. Needless to say, I only got a very rude pounding on my front door at 2am, and by the time I got to the front door… the guy just left the bag at the door and drove off. WONDERFUL customer service.
Regardless of the drunkenness, he’s right… how do you lose luggage on a nonstop flight?
Tagged as:
airport,
alcohol,
baggage,
carousel,
holiday,
security,
southwest airlines
