Fly
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008Sometimes you just feel the fates have decided that you’re in for a very bad day. I’m writing this from South Carolina, where I’m covering the “World Cup” of fishing. Thank goodness I wasn’t competing. It all started at Heathrow, where BA’s baggage transporter had broken down. The place was chaos, a heaving mass of angry people. When eventually I reached the head of a queue, I discovered why. The choices were stark: drop your case in left luggage; send it cargo (no guarantee when it would arrive) or repack to get it all into hand-baggage. What would I do with my case, then? The woman shrugged.
The queues for left luggage and cargo were unimaginable. If I joined the end of either, I would miss the plane that I thought I was nice and early for.
I had another thought. Fly business! Great idea, though the queues here too were daunting. And yes, I could indeed fly business class and they would take my case. Phew!
The bad news? It would cost an extra £2103. Was that return? No, one-way to Chicago.
Pointing out that I wasn’t trying to buy the airline, I scrapped that masterplan. Two grand just to turn left on the plane — and one that didn’t even take me all the way to my destination? For a fishing contest? Fortunately, the harassed clerk did offer an alternative: fly United to Washington on a flight five hours later. It meant I landed in Greenville at 11pm
and got to the hotel after midnight (5am our time) but it was better than the other choices.
Support your national airline? It’s not easy, when it does things like that and doesn’t seem to care a fig. I thought the hassle meant I had suffered my punishment for sins unidentified. But God hadn’t done with me yet…