the tale of a cancelled flight, a lost baggage and a night in manhattan (when I was supposed to be in Boston)

this is going to be a good read for everyone.

i guess the title explains it enough. i had one of the most bizarre nights i can remember. and you know whats funny, im not really upset at all, im just like laughing everything away and just taking it so casually. im surprised i have become someone like that, because not too long ago, i'd be pissed off so bad, i'll start ranting.

anyway, let's get to the story, shall we?

so i left my office at 3, catching the bus to the train station just in time, as a matter of fact, i reached much earlier than i expected. and as it is the independence weekend afterall, there were tons of people heading for the airport. i had BT, Paul Oakenfold, Oasis from iPod keeping me pretty good company.

from my various trips from atlanta, i have gotten used to 2 minute check ins, thanks to he self checkin machines with e-tickets. on occasional instances though, they will ask you to see the customer rep, which is never good news. i tried to check in at US Airways, and found out my first flight to Philly was going to be delayed, which means i will be missing the connecting flight that would take me to boston. great. (the direct flight would have cost me in excess of US$400, and if i took a one stop both ways for about an hour wait, i saved about $100+, so i was willing to stop over at philadelphia)

so i approach the desk, but the person was already attending to someone else, and after god knows how long, she asked me what my problem was, and i told her the same old story 'oh, i tried to check in with the machine, but it told me to go talk to one of you' and she checked the database. after about 5 minutes, she told me all the direct flights into boston were maxed out (which i was hoping that i'd get, coz the last time this kinda thing happened, they managed to get me a direct flight to chicago) so the only option was to go to charlotte (in North Carolina) and wait there for 2 hours before the connecting flight to boston. i would be reaching about an hour later as compared to my original flight schedule, but since it was the only option, and not a bad one at that, i decided to take it. i didn't have much to carry, i took one duffel bag, which happened to be a little bigger than the maximum size allowed as a carry in, and since most of my stuff happened to be clothes, i decided to check that in, carrying only my ticket, ipod and the 'globalization and its discontents' book (the whole trip would be about 3 hours at the minimum, so i brought it as a just-in-case thing)

so i called those who were expecting me in boston that night that i will be late. and then the most absurd thing happens about 5 seconds after i hang up. the flight's canclled. as i look outside, its a thunderstorm around atlanta. i figured the bad weather's probably the reason for the postponement of my original flight, and it was so bad this one had to be cancelled.

everyone scrambles to get in line to talk to the people at the gate desk. i join them. i bought my ticket using orbitz, and they usually do a good job of notifying me with status updates. as of 3pm, everything was on schedule. within two hours, there was a thunderstorm, a postponed flight and a cancelled flight. i was seriously doubting if i will be flying out anytime soon.

so i manage to get to talk to the attendant at the desk after about 15 minutes, and asking if there is any other route available to go to boston. after about 5 minutes, the worst case answer: there is no open seats on any flight, you won't be able to go to boston tonight. that was already at 5:30pm, and i wasn't gonna stay in the airport for 6 hours. that's enough to get me to west coast. so i insisted that she find something, because they always have something. no chance.

after a while, as i am thinking, i ask, 'is it possible for me to go to new york?'

the reason why i asked that is, the most ideal plan would have been to fly into new york, meet my uncle and my cousins, and then drive to boston with my other cousin. and then after the 4th of july celebration, i'll return to new york with my cousin and fly out. the flight's shorter and cheaper. but as it is, that way of more expensive and not viable. but, my cousin was kinda caught up with work that he decided to leave on saturday morning. since he was going to leave the next day, i thought i might as well fly into new york, crash at his place and then leave with him, since that seems like the best alternative to this already fucked up situation.

after calling around to make sure that was ok, i told the attendant to get me to la guardia, after being advised that flying into JFK international would be a serious bitch. remarkably, there was a flight scheduled to depart at 6:30pm, so i took that. and she made an entry into the baggage section to re-route my bag to this specific flight on delta airlines. she tells me to go over to a delta desk to make sure i got a seat in that flight. i go over, and then after a while, with a confused look, she tells me to go to another terminal, at the gate where that particular flight will board its passengers.

so i cross over to the other terminal. i was kinda unsure because in a situation like this, they tell you something that is of possibility, but never a certainty, and as i understand, they tell you what you want to hear, not necessarily not whats guaranteed to happen. so i already was thinking, jeez, my bag would not be re-routed and i will be told that i wont be getting a flight anyway.

i briskly walk over to the desk, show my papers and tell them to get me a guaranteed seat. after a while, while i waited tensely, she pops me the question 'window or aisle?' which takes me completely off-guard. just a few minutes ago, i wasn't sure if i was even getting a seat, and then she asks me that. at a desperate moment like this, does it matter? all i want is to get out of atlanta and be as close as i can to boston. but i quickly regain my state of confusion and instead of blasting 'i honesly dont care, just give me a god damned seat!', i slowly ask 'you mean i have a choice?' to which i am greeted by a blank look from the attendant.

it seems like there was quite a number of seats available and before she could rant off whatever that she intended, i quipped 'window.' i felt very relieved after that, knowing that i had a seat in a substitute flight. and i made sure that this flight was going to take off in due time, to which i was told that i would.

so i sit down, calling whoever concerned about my confirmation of my flight status. before long, the flight is delayed by 30 minutes, to which i was ambivalent, coz i honestly didnt care. it took much more than 30 minutes, but soon enough, they started boarding people into the plane, so i wasnt really worried anymore.

it took about an hour before we actually took off, as the weather stranded many planes at the airport and there was a long queue for the planes to take off. i had never seen a sight like that, as we were speeding before taking off, i saw like 15 or so planes all lined up waiting in the taxi lanes. it was like looking at planes jammed in an interstate. surreal.

the flight was supposed to be about 2 and a half hours, but it was much shorter than that, and to my relief, i reached la guardia airport at 10. la guardia is a really small airport, and its really easy to get out. so it was only a matter of picking up my baggege and hailing a cab. i had already prepared myself not to see the bag, so i continued listening to oasis while i spent about 30 minutes waiting to see if i would see my bag.

if you have been reading until now, or even not, as the title suggests, the baggage never appeared. i walk into the baggage claim office for delta and queue up. people infront of me are raising their voices and getting all pissed off, which im standing there, smiling to myself and just finding the whole night pretty comically ridiculous.

there was this guy infront of me who's just snapping at the person, saying he flew from 10:30 am in the morning, but kept getting re-routed from wherever to cincy, to denver, then to atlanta and to la guardia. somewhere along the way, he insisted that the people make sure that they deliver the baggage to wherever that he goes to. and obviously that didnt happen.

now, if you ask me, its not gonna help getting pissed off at the people in la guardia. sure, i guess it helps you to relieve you off from the stress by letting it out, but its not gonna change anything. the task was up to whoever that was in denver, not the ones in la guardia. being in the supply chain and logistics industry, that is very clear.

airports are a perfect example of 'the chaos theory.' a delay of a few minutes in a start point could end up being few hours of delay at the end point. hartsfield-jackson (atlanta) and o'hare (chicago) are the two main culprits of the never ending delays and congestion that the whole of united states go through.

anyway, its my turn, i kindly explain to her that i know what the problem is, that when i checked my bag in, they tagged my bag with the numbers for a flight that was cancelled, so it could not and should not possibly have been flown out of atlanta. even though they had more than enough time to pin point my bag and put it in my flight, there's like a million bags, how are they gonna do that? i tell her its either in atlanta or new york, and she tells me in cases like this, the bag is automatically sent to my original final destination, which is boston. great. i could pick it up by the time i arrive there then. they said that if it does get to boston, they will automatically deliver, so i gave them my cousin's address.

i guess the only nice thing that came out of that room was that the attendant thanked me for being the only one that day who actually understood and was so cooperative. its true, its not their fault, what can they really do except to file a lost baggage report? she tells me that at the worst case, they will find out the status of my baggage by 5pm on saturday.

so i walk out, hail a cab and get my ass to my cousin's place in upper east side of manhattan.

the place where my cousin lives in is fantastic, real street feeling, truly new york. i reach there, meet my cousin, and since i havent had anything to eat, we decide to go get something to eat. we end up at a turkish place and i had some great chicken kebabs. im so unused to places being open after 8, it was kinda weird, but it was convenient for my sake. my cousin took me around the east side, walking through the much talked about central park, and then showing me some of the most expensive hotels lining up near the equally talked about fifth avenue, the most expensive shopping strip. we walked around for an hour an a half, over looking the numerous bridges that connects manhattan island to brooklyn and queens, just marvelling at everything after such an ordeal.

i realized, if you have a low expectation of everything, you really cant get pissed off, since you're not expecting anything to happen anyway. and if you do so, everything is just pleasant, funny, ridiculous and interesting. im really glad i approached everything with such an open mind and was just laughing at myself for being in a situation. hey, at least i finally have one of those stories where i can repeat over and over to my friends now. i mean, really, what's the point of getting all so worried and just stressing yourself over something that you really cant do anything about? i have really changed over the last year, due to interaction with many people and many instances, its amazing, and as i near to turn 21, i am more and more surprised by how much ive changed.

so we go back to my cousin's place and crash for the night. his couch was so comfortable, i slept very soundly, not having any pains on my back or my neck. and usually i roll from side to side (just because i do) but as far as i can recall, i only rolled twice that night. plus, i didnt wake up in the middle of the night like i usually do.

my cousin wakes me up at 8:30am, and we have to go pick up our rental car. unfortunately, we couldnt rent a bigger one, as my cousin is yet to turn 25. but we go a good enough car for the drive, a chevy. cant complain for now.

it was a pity i couldnt get to see my uncle and my two cousins, but we had to leave, and so we did. after a more or less trouble free 4 hours, with very insightful and enriching conversations about many things with my cousin, we ended up at my other cousin's place in cambridge, massachusetts. she lives very near MIT, and this is another amazing place. really good apartment, and very close to everything.

i guess atlanta is not too much of a city, as it is spaced out. new york and boston have such crowded sections, it really feels like a city.

anyway, we eat a little and get ready to go over to lowell, which was about an hour away from where we were, to meet my other aunt.

i got to meet pretty much everyone from my dad's side that i intended to meet in my first day here, except for one of my cousins, who i shall see tomorrow, hopefully. but all in all, it seems like the weekend is going to be super fun. i'll visit another of my aunts tomorrow and meet my dear cousins, which should be really cool.

ok, i just realized ive been blogging for like an hour, which means this entry have been really fucking long. but frankly, ive not experienced something like this.

oh, the status of the bag! they gave me a case number, which i can call a toll free or go online to check the status. so far, no updates on the whereabouts, so i still dont know where my bag is. thankfully, its mostly clothes in there. if i dont hear or see any update by tomorrow, i can call and request a compensation, which might be in the figures out $500, which is sweet. the only thing that sucks for now is that i have been wearing the same clothes for two days, my cell phone and ipod is running out of power very soon, and i have some stuff in the bag that does not belong to me. and to think that i actually contemplated whether to being along my powerbook and leave it in my bag as a check in! that would have probably killed me. since i was mainly coming here to meet people and go around, i decided against bringing my powerbook, and its not like the places i go to wont have an internet access anyway, and i really wanted to travel light.

so yeah... i will see how it goes tomorrow. i gotta wake up early to meet pamela for breakfast before she leaves for indonesia, and then meet the cousin i didnt get to meet, and then go over to my aunt's place in lexington.

it's all good. it's all good. its one hell of an adventure.

thank you for sticking by and reading all ive got to say, its really a short thing, but i just had to drag it on this long.

more updates shall follow whenever i have time.