The trip back started Sunday night at Dalaman Airport. Thanks to a lovely NATO conference in Istanbul, our 7:05 flight didn’t take off until 9:00pm. With an upset stomach and a pounding headache, we arrived at the Airport Hotel in Istanbul at 11:30pm. Since 192 roads were closed in Istanbul, my mom had set us up at the new Airport Hotel to ensure we wouldn’t miss our flight the next morning. I went to sleep the minute my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, we arrived at the hotel three hours before departure, as instructed. Since we had two connecting flights, it was imperative that the flight to New York take off on time, which, by some miracle, it did. The 11-hour flight to New York didn’t grant me even 20 minutes of sleep and was peppered with several trips to the bathroom thanks to a bout of food poisoning from which I hadn’t fully recovered. We reached New York slightly early, causing Jake and I to have a moment of wishful thinking thank we could make it to the earlier, direct flight to San Diego. After six flights landed simultaneously and formed a line that went on for miles at the customs counter, we picked up our bags and made our way as fast as possible to the terminal at the other end of JFK. After waiting in the AA line, we were told there wasn’t enough time for our baggage to clear security and we were stuck with the LA flight after all. The LA flight granted me with some sleep and it was Monday night at 10pm that we arrived in LA.
At this point, I figured getting home was a piece of cake. The flight from LA to San Diego is a commuter propeller run by American Eagle. The tiny plane carries no more than 30 or so passengers. We sat on the plane, looking out the window as they loaded the bags. I worried that we hadn’t seen our bag but assumed we must have missed it when I saw it coming at the distance. The men loading had already lowered the loading ramp and so I asked the steward to please check on it since my bag was now sitting by the side of the plane. She nodded but did nothing. Ten minutes later, the men took my bag and one other bag, and put them back on the cart they came from. By now, I had been sleep deprived for three days and hadn’t showered in two. I was in no mood for a joke. I yelled for the stewardess to come back and told her that my bag was sitting there and not loaded on the plane. She finally called someone and talked for a while. She then came over and said that the plane was too heavy and they were going to put our bag on the next flight to San Diego, leaving in 30 minutes. “If you want, you can leave to travel with your bags but you have to get off now.”
She then proceeded to remove four passengers off the plane. When the gentleman in front of me asked me what was going on, she said, “The plane is too heavy. You have too many bags so we’re taking some passengers off and we’ll take some more bags off and then we’ll leave.” He asked if they were sure the plane would be okay after that and she said, “Yes, but you can leave if you want.” Literally.
Another set of passengers in front of me asked how they would be sure their bags made it to the plane since they heard that mine weren’t. The stewardess said, “It was just her bags, you should be fine.” Which I knew not to be correct since there was as least one bag sitting next to mine that also wasn’t making this flight. After another ten minutes of complaints, some official came on board and told everyone that when we arrived in San Diego, if our bags weren’t on board, they would be on the next plane and to wait for them. Of course, after twenty-some hours of flying all I want to do is wait at another airport for half an hour more for my bags to arrive.
Several of the passengers asked the stewardess to give her name so they could complain but she wouldn’t. I don’t even mind the fact that they couldn’t arrange the flight properly, with all the connecting flights it’s hard to gauge how many pieces might make it to a plane. What I did mind was her rudeness and assumption that it was no big deal for me to wait more. She wouldn’t have even told me that my bags weren’t on the plane had I not been looking out the window.
With this kind of service, the airlines deserve to go out of business.
i haven’t managed to go through the thousands of photos I took while I was away. I am still jetlagged a lot. I will try and sort them soon. Since I posted the view from the balcony, I figured i should post the view looking in as well. This is from the sea, looking at the hillside beach club.
Oh, that’s awful!Incompetence, topped with rudeness just pushes your buttons.
I have only flown once, and that time there was an irritating attendant who nearly made it impossible for us to get on the flight. Such a pity, that I’ll always remember her when I think of flying. 🙁
Anyway, welcome back! Rest and sleep, and tomorrow will be infinitely better 🙂
Oh, god, Karen. My AA flight from LA to NY (heh, we flew in opposite directions!) was just as bad. I ran into the same miserable baggage issues at LAX, missed my original connection to New York because the airport staff acted like promptness was the last thing on their minds, dealt with the same sort of utter incompetence on my actual flight–people, when I tell you I need assistance getting off the plane and am told to wait until everybody gets off, I’ll wait. Do *not* hassle me for being “slow” getting off the plane when it was your idea in the first place!–and then had a lovely time waiting for my luggage to come in at JFK.
Home, sweet home. Why does the Federal Government subsidize air–but not rail–travel again?
Ahem. Sorry for the rant; I’m jet lagged, too. Glad you’re home, though–welcome back!