I flew to the East Coast on Monday and thank goodness for my wife, I left home in time to catch my plane. There was an accident on 405 which would have really put me behind schedule. She told me about it, I took an alternate route and breezed around the accident.
As I was getting ready to leave, Heather asked me where was my suitcase. I had already staged it in the car, but I gave the smart-ass response, "Oh, these are all the clothes I'm taking for a 5 day trip. I'll just turn them inside out and wear them again." Little did I know, that smart-ass remark would come back to haunt me.
Because of weather, we were delayed arriving into Chicago, where I had to change planes. We arrived at B6 and my departing flight was at C20. I had about 5 minutes until the scheduled departure and all the status boards said my next flight was on time. So I sprinted through the airport. I did answer my phone when Heather called to say it was snowing, but every other chirp and beep that my phone made was ignored.
Much to my surprise, I made it on the plane. I didn't ask if the plane was actually delayed, since I was still catching my breath; I was just glad to be on my plane. It turns out that this plane was indeed delayed because it needed to be de-iced and we ended up getting into Dulles about 30 minutes late.
I went down to the baggage claim and as I came to the realization that my bag should have been the last bag on the plane and therefore the first one off - I realized that I should be wondering if my bag actually made it on my flight to Dulles. In this day of modern technology, United Airlines had a kiosk to check for missing or delayed baggage. And sure enough, "Your bag has been located and is delayed."
So, I geeked out while I told the kiosk where I was staying and several contact phone numbers and reveled in how easy it was to report my bag missing. No waiting in line, no irate people standing around. I'm sure that I missed out on being able to get something for my inconvenience from a real live person, but I wasn't really that put out.
I can go overnight and wear the same clothes the next day, no one will know. I can do without my toiletries for a night (plus the hotel had some to give me). I was even able to get by without my gloves, hat and jacket, but it is cold on the East Coast in winter.
My bag didn't arrive by the next morning, so I went to my meetings feeling a little underdressed. But the company I was at is on the casual end of the business casual and that is alright with me. And when I got back to the hotel this evening, there was my bag behind the front desk!
I'm excited that I get to shave with my own razor and brush my teeth with my toothpaste. But that is what I get when I am faster than my bag.
1 comment:
I've had that happen a time or two, and it sucks - hence I almost always stick with carry-on unless I'm carrying tools, liquids, or other such obviously-a-terrorist things.
It's pretty cool that they've got the kiosk thingy. Just a year ago at LAX I had to spend almost two hours waiting, double-checking, standing in line, etc....
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