Saturday
Sept. 29, 2001
|
Saturday Sept. 29, 2001 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
arrived |
|
I flew to DFW and had a longish layover before flying on Air France to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and on to Heathrow. I took my load of decongestants, had a few drinks, ignored the video and slept fairly peacefully in my business class seat. At CDG, it seemed my flight would be on time when I'd made my way to the gate. But when I routinely asked (having gotten a boarding card in Austin) the lady said that actually it was delayed. She suggested I wait in the business class lounge. It was crowded but they had a coffee machine that pumped out that brain-wiring strong Euro java and rewired my brain to the time zone. They had snacks, too. Much nicer than most US lounges where, by the way, they only allow you to go if you pay exorbitant annual fees. I finally started for the gate again when the display showed it boarding. The woman at the desk who had checked my ticket on the way in stopped me and said, "You must identify your baggage to get it on the plane." So, OK. There was a long queue at the gate. It stopped cold at one point. I realized later that this was because the first bus had left for the plane. When the line began again they checked in the ticket then another guy checked the passport then we went down to the steps and another guy checked the passport again. Then when the bus arrived at the plane, the captain climbed on board. "Today there was a bomb threat at Orly," said the captain. "Each captain was allowed to 'do what he felt was necessary to make his flight safe'," he added. "I decided that we should identify the luggage in the hold before flying. If you have no checked luggage, get on the plane. Then we will take five passengers at a time to point out their luggage." And so, many of us found they didn't have our luggage. "No luggage from the U.S." said a handsome baggage handler. Hmmm. So, I wasn't surprised at Heathrow that I had to fill out a lost luggage report. I was surprised when I jigged when I should have jagged and ended up in the wrong baggage hall. After a production to get into the correct luggage area, I stood in line to report the lost bag. The gal filling out claims (who kept running off to the restroom and was apparently ill) said my bag was in Paris. I presented her with a photo of the bag I'd taken with the digital camera. She was surprised.
I ask at information about the airport hotel where I was registered. I was directed to a particular bus and miraculously (since there were two hotels with similar names on different bus lines) I actually ended up at the correct one. I checked in and crashed with some mini-bar food, CNN, etc. The airlines promised to call about the bag. They gave me a phone and tracking number. The front desk promised to call me is someone brought it to me. I was confident the bag would show up for a while. I saw that the phone connection possibility looked doubtful so I used a kiosk in the lobby and sent some emails to say I was safe. I watched TV and snoozed. I did have a change of clothes and toothbrush and all that. Finally, I called the number Air France had given me. No answer. I decided to try their WEB site. Back to the lobby, drop a pound in the kiosk. I looked on the WEB site, typed in the tracking number and it said that the bag was at the airport and 'delivery initiated.' I turned around and ask a guy at the desk if, perchance, there had been a bag delivered. He opened their storage and there was my bag. "I wasn't here when it arrived," he said. That made me sleep better. That and the pizza from room service. And reading a bit and watching silly British sit coms. In the process, I communicated with some young friends and set up a plan to meet in the morning.
And so two nights away from home down and a bunch of flights, business meetings, to go. Ah, I wish I were younger.
|
|
|
airport hotel
"Imagine there's
no countries
|
|||
|
Meta: |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
???
JUST
TYPING