So I’m pulling a Mandy and I’m blogging from the airport. I don’t want to be blogging from the airport, but I’m stuck here. You see, I should be close to Boston by now. Instead I’m in DC… very far from Munich. Here’s some highlights:

• Apparently when I booked the flight in March they told me it was a non-electronic ticket and I would need paper tickets. I got those tickets in the mail, and filed them away – somewhere really convenient. They couldn’t print me a new ticket, even though they were the ones who created the ticket in the first place. So this whole thing was a no-go unless I could find those tickets.
• I had given my apartment keys to Joni just before I left, so I called her and she started heading toward my apartment to find some tickets.
• Meanwhile, I learn it’s a moot point: my flight to Boston is so delayed that I’d miss the connecting flight to Munich. So now what?
• Had to wait for the tickets. Luckily Joni found them, and it turns out they weren’t so convenient.
• With the tickets in hand, I was able to move to a different flight. Now I’m headed to Philadelphia then Munich. As scheduled, I’d only get into Munich 10 minutes later than my original plan. But apparently nothing is going as planned…
• The flight to PHL is delayed, and the plane coming into PHL that will go to MUC is delayed. So what I’m gambling on is that my flight into PHL is less delayed than the flight out of PHL.
• Currently:
  • Arriving in PHL: 9:02 PM
  • Departing PHL: 8:20 PM
• Continuing…

There are delays and cancellations all over the place. The good news? When I checked in my bag the scale was broken, so they didn’t know it was probably overweight due to my books. Also, even Mr. Fancy with his 2-man security detail can’t get on a flight. 

UPDATE

I’m back home now. I have been completely defeated by US Airways. Any sense of autonomy or freedom I once had in regard to air travel is now gone – given up so casually when I dared buy a ticket from US Airways.

I realized at some point that I wasn’t going to be making it onto the Munich flight. Luckily, I had just heard this announcement:

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, IF EVERYONE CAN JUST QUIET DOWN FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING YOUR FLIGHTS. (the terminal goes silent) We are doing all that we can under these circumstances to deal with the delays. And you can get in line to speak to us at the desk, but you will miss your flight because you’ll be in this line that long. So instead, please call our 800-number. I’m going to give it to you now… here it is

So I called, like everyone else. Luckily, I was able to go for option ’5′ which is for international flights. I don’t think many others were doing the same, because – surprisingly – I was soon talking to someone. Someone who barely spoke English. I finally explained what was going on, though I never did get them to understand that I was still in the airport in DC. Her offer was to put me on a flight with a different airline. Great. Checking…ahh, yes…one tomorrow… 5 minutes on hold while checking… nope, no seats. Sir, the soonest I can get you out of Philadelphia is the 29th – two days away. Well, that’s no good for me – and I had now conceded that I was, in fact, in Philly. So that phone call ended with no resolution. I wasn’t going to take the option on the 29th.

I sat down with my laptop and started searching for new flights with different airlines. (Also made me some instant friends because I was a better source of flight information than anything else at that airport – screens and gate agents included.) Turns out there were flights available. So I’m not sure which “other airlines” she was searching but I have a feeling it was only their select partners. But these remaining flights were hot! People were tearing through them like kleenex at a snot party. 2 SEATS REMAINING. 1 SEATS REMAINING. 0 SEATS REMAINING. -1 SEATS REMAINING. I knew I had to act fast or was going to be missing the first day of class. So I called US Air again – this time they understood that I was actually still in DC. She did her little search. The next flight was no longer the 29th… it was the 30th! Can you believe it? I was scheduled to fly on the evening of the 27th. I had bought my tickets in MARCH. But a small weather delay, and they can’t accommodate me until maybe the 30th. I asked what my options were. As soon as she said refund, I said DO IT. But guess what… I am a paper ticket passenger and no changes can be made on the phone. WHAT? Nevermind that I never wanted to have a paper ticket in the first place. Nevermind that when I was rerouted through Philly, they were able to print a new ticket for me (but couldn’t re-print my original). Nevermind that this is the 21st century. So I’ll have to call the refund office. Which is now closed.

Fine. I just wanted to book A flight, ANY flight that was headed my way. US Airways seems to be headed nowhere – unless bankruptcy is a destination. I figured I would secure something, then worry about US Air. So I now have a flight with Delta departing tomorrow around 1PM, going through Atlanta then on to Munich. Whew.

But what about my luggage? I had checked it hours ago. I knew I wasn’t going to be flying out of DC tonight, so I left the terminal. I found the receiving desk for luggage purgatory and joined the queue. Forty-five minutes later this was the conclusion: my bag is going to Munich without me. It probably made it onto that flight to Philly. If it did, it will sit in Philly until….. it leaves. The theory is that it will head to Munich on the same flight I would have been on – just a day later. So in theory it will arrive in Munich the morning of the 29th. Happily, that’s when I expect to be arriving – courtesy of Delta. I’m a little blown away that there’s no stopping the progress of my bag. Once checked in, it moves to its destination. Apparently the luggage system is just a big black box. You throw luggage in one end, and it pops out the other – and US Air knows nothing about it until it shows up somewhere. I thought we had the technology to track things in transit.

So, in summary… totally failed in making it to Munich today. I’m going to try again tomorrow. My suitcase may or may not be in Philly, and if I’m lucky it will show up in Munich around the same time I do. It will be a happy ending to this otherwise sad story. If not, my next post will be entitled: How to say “lost luggage” in German – or – The Brotherhood of the Traveling with no change of pants.

 

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