June 18, 2007
The Odyssey of Flight 3462
I just returned from an extended weekend in Houston. Overall, the trip itself was fine. Rachel's parents both did a great job of making me feel welcome (her dad played us a few choice episodes of Star Trek and The Twilight Zone from his collection, and her mom almost killed me with delicious food), and the wedding itself was at its best touching and at its worst tolerable. However, the flight home was so frustrating that I can barely find the words to talk about it.
The first half of the story can be told with a picture:
Yes, our flight got into St. Louis five hours late. Apparently, we got caught in the "domino effect" of delayed flights. And as you can imagine, after spending almost 7 hours at the airport, our nerves were a little raw. This sets the stage for the second half of our story: the losing of the luggage.
First there is the customary hour or so of anxious waiting, watching that carousel with ever-growing dread as the realization slowly dawns that our bags aren't going to arrive. Then, there is new hope, as the Continental baggage claim representative reassures us in a charming Jamaican accent that the missing bags from 3462 ended up on flight 3442, and that flight's luggage is about to hit carousel M6 any second. Then there is another hour of anxious waiting and slowly dawning realizations. Only this time it is accompanied by an accute rage and a vague sense of the absurd meaninglessness of life. Rachel and I return to the Continental service desk, only to find the office empty and the door locked. I note Rachel's extraordinary calm as she refrains from smashing the glass door open, and we follow the instructions on the door and go upstairs to speak to a ticketing agent. Fists clenched, we climb the stairs and approach the ticket counter. It is completely deserted, and Rachel and I both discovered new heights of anger. I think I blacked out for a few minutes at this point. I hope I didn't kill anybody. When I regained consciousness, we were back downstairs at the Continental baggage claims office waiting in line as the Jamaican lady explained to the room full of irate travelers that there was a mix-up, and some of the bags intended from 3462 might have been on 3402, and that one was just arriving. Rachel informs the woman that, "We are not waiting again." I guess the woman did not like Rachel's tone, because she shot back with an angry, "Did I ask you to wait?" and repeated it for emphasis. Suddenly I find her accent much less charming. Rachel points out that she asked us to go back out and wait last time and the bags never showed up. Another guy in the room explains to the Continental woman that we have been traveling for over 8 hours at this point and suggests that she adjust her attitude a little. This advice was not given its due consideration. Finally, Rachel leaves the office to go call her mom, and I stay behind to file the claim, and we go home.
As of 10:30 this morning, the bag has still not been located. Of course, I leave for the airport again in about 15 mintutes for my flight to Minneapolis, and I'll have to replace a number of missing items once I get there, but I take comfort in the fact that my flight today is not with Continental.
Posted by michael at June 18, 2007 09:30 AM
Comments
OMG! Thats horribly terrible!!!! I have true respect for you and Rachel...you guys didn't resort to physical violence for settling things. Hope you get your bags back.
Posted by: Nisha at June 18, 2007 08:25 PM