Messed-up shenanigans

[Vlad!]

So I have a friend who flew to London on Monday. British Airways, in their own inimitable fashion, lost her bag. Well, not "lost" lost because they knew where it was, but it wasn't where she was. Unfortunately, all her clothes and (rookie mistake!) her cell phone charger were in her checked luggage.

So she's staying in the Fairway hotel. The courier for BA delivers her bag (today, after they finally got it to London) to the Fairways hotel, a different hotel, a couple miles away. And so begins the failtrain:
* BA calls her friend, A, telling him that her luggage has been delivered
* She checks with the hotel. No luggage
* A calls the hotel. No luggage
* A calls the Fairways hotel. They haven't heard of any such person and certainly accepted no luggage
* A calls BA. The courier confirms that he delivered it to the wrong hotel, because he is retarded and can't read
* BA calls Fairways. They claim that she came and picked it up (!)
* My friend calls A, and before her battery is exhausted she confirms that she has not received her luggage
* A calls BA and confirms that the luggage was not received by the rightful person
* A calls Fairways again just to be sure. The hotel manager says that this is the most screwed-up situation he's ever seen. We all agree.

I think that's about how it went down and where it is right now. My theory is that some muppet at the Fairways hotel desk realized the gaffe and has now taken possession of the luggage. A thinks that the courier intentionally misdelivered it and then had an accomplice claim the luggage. If I were my friend, I would march over to the Fairway, speak to the highest-ranking person in the place, and demand a full search of all employee areas and vehicles. Obviously A and I are both cynics and believe the worst about humanity.

What I find amusing is that my friend is a much more experienced traveler than I am but failed so hard. Personally, I take the philosophy of "never check anything you wouldn't mind losing". If I check baggage at all--which I try very hard not to--it's generally just a big bag of clothes, and I have at least one set of clothes in my carryon.

(As I type this, A marched past my cube, said "I need a drink", and the guy across the aisle from me pulls a bottle of liquor and a shot glass from his filing cabinet and said "pull up a seat". Personally, I sympathize).

[bethany]

It's difficult not to check at least one bag, with all the liquid restrictions these days. Unless you don't mind buying new shampoo/conditioner/contact solution/moisturizer/whatever else you need at your destination (which can be quite costly if you're flying international). I usually try to avoid checking bags, but I've never had anything that effed up happen before.

Incidentally, with all the fees being levied on checked bags these days, it seems like almost everyone is trying to carry on their luggage instead, which is sensible. But it makes boarding take forEVER. Everyone is dragging suitcases and duffel bags that are too large for the overhead compartments, and then they stand in the aisles blocking the flow of traffic trying to stuff their huge suitcase in the bins.

There's no good solution unless regulations change...air travel is becoming increasingly unpleasant. It's gotten to the point that I would definitely rather drive 10 hours to visit my family than fly for 3.

[Vlad!]

It's difficult not to check at least one bag, with all the liquid restrictions these days. Unless you don't mind buying new shampoo/conditioner/contact solution/moisturizer/whatever else you need at your destination (which can be quite costly if you're flying international). I usually try to avoid checking bags, but I've never had anything that effed up happen before.

I don't carry any of those things with me. The only thing that could potentially cause trouble is toothpaste, and I have a special travel-sized container specifically for that purpose.

Incidentally, with all the fees being levied on checked bags these days, it seems like almost everyone is trying to carry on their luggage instead, which is sensible. But it makes boarding take forEVER. Everyone is dragging suitcases and duffel bags that are too large for the overhead compartments, and then they stand in the aisles blocking the flow of traffic trying to stuff their huge suitcase in the bins.

Yeah. I have a duffel bag that fits in all overhead compartments of planes I've flown in (and I flew out of the tiny Roanoke airport for a while, so I've flown in some small planes). It holds a week's worth of clothes and my toiletries just fine. If I'm traveling for business I'll generally use my laptop case as my personal item (which may mean that I need to store books in the duffel bag as well), otherwise I'll use a backpack that holds my books, electronic gadgets, and laptop.

There's no good solution unless regulations change...air travel is becoming increasingly unpleasant. It's gotten to the point that I would definitely rather drive 10 hours to visit my family than fly for 3.

It would take a fairly cataclysmic event to get me to drive 10 hours by myself (which, since I'm not married, is the default option). Southwest Air has a major hub in RDU so I can often get a cheap flight where I'm treated like a human being. Last time I went up to visit my mom's family, over 8 hours away, I think it cost me under $300 round-trip. Able to kick back and read for a few hours instead of battling my way up I-77 for half the day? Yeah, I'm a fan. A pair of noise-canceling headphones and a couple of good books and I'm good to go.

[bethany]

Part of the reason I'm loath to fly anywhere is that South Bend isn't a hub of anything. If you get a flight out of here...well, chances are it'll be cancelled and you'll be screwed. But if by some miracle it actually flies out, you have to transfer at Chicago or Detroit anyway. So we usually end up driving to Chicago to get a flight (about 1.5 hr drive), which means we have to park our car somewhere. Not to mention the cost of two people flying versus driving....driving is just easier for us.

[Vlad!]

OK, so our pessimism was unwarranted, except for the fact that there are a lot of retarded people involved in this situation.

* The courier, being retarded, dropped the bag off at the hotel next to the right hotel
* The desk clerk at the Fairways hotel, being retarded, said that the bag had been picked up when in fact he had never had such a bag
* We, being retarded, didn't think to check at the neighboring hotels

The bag has now been retrieved.

[Vlad!]

Part of the reason I'm loath to fly anywhere is that South Bend isn't a hub of anything. If you get a flight out of here...well, chances are it'll be cancelled and you'll be screwed. But if by some miracle it actually flies out, you have to transfer at Chicago or Detroit anyway. So we usually end up driving to Chicago to get a flight (about 1.5 hr drive), which means we have to park our car somewhere. Not to mention the cost of two people flying versus driving....driving is just easier for us.

Well, yeah, if you have to deal with freaking O'Hare then definitely I can see why driving would be more attractive. I live five miles from RDU, which is large enough that they have a decent number of flights but small enough that it's not a zoo, so air travel is a no-brainer for me. Unfortunately Southwest doesn't fly into McGee-Tyson, the nearest airport to my parents' house, and most other airlines would fly me around to Dulles or Atlanta or even (I'm not making this up) O'Hare to get me to Tennessee, and I'm not paying for that crap. So I still hit the road whenever I visit them.