On Friday I had the pleasure of experiencing the joys of delayed baggage courtesy of Delta Airlines. I went to Chicago for Alpa Chino's graduation and I booked a flight that would allow me enough time to arrive in Chicago, change my clothing, freshen up, and then head to the graduation ceremony.
I should have known my trip was doomed from the start. The first sign of Delta Airlines madness began a while ago when I first booked the flight. From the time when I booked the flight, the departure time from New York changed about 3 times. My flight was originally meant to arrive at a time that would allow me almost 3 hours to get ready for the graduation. By the time Delta had made all their stupid changes my head-start was cut short to 1.5 hours.
But, it was all good. As I made my way to the security checkpoint on Friday I was in a good mood. We boarded the plane and I was very happy
to learn
that the normally 2 hour flight would take only 1.5 hours because of a great tailwind. Not only that, the seat next to me was empty so I could stretch out. Hurray. I knew that I would be arriving in Chicago with about 2 hours to spare before the graduation ceremony began and going over the outfit I had selected in my head I figured that would be enough time to change and get ready. The weather was great, we left JFK on time, everything was peachy.
We arrived at O'Hare Airport 30 minutes early but our arrival runway must have been in the hinterland regions of the damn airport because--despite landing early--the plane had to meander its way to the actual gate at O'Hare and this took some time. But, I was still okay. After all I still had time to get ready for the graduation.
We de-planed, and I walked over to baggage claim to wait for my luggage to appear on the conveyor belt. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. I held out hope. After everybody else had left the claim area and only a few bags remained on the conveyor belt I began to realize that my luggage might actually not be appearing after all. I walked, in a state of disbelief, to the Delta Baggage Services desk. At JFK I had checked in a full hour before we boarded the plane so there was no way this was my fault for "late" check-in. I walked to the Delta Baggage Services desk to calmly ask if I had perhaps been standing at the wrong baggage claim for the last 20 minutes. Turns out I was in the right place--unfortunately my luggage was not. After my boarding pass was scanned, the lady behind the desk informed me that there was no record of my luggage being on the flight from JFK.
I asked her calmly if perhaps she was mistaken. She was not. Somewhere between the check-in counter at JFK and the airport tarmac my luggage just did not make it on the plane. It is still a mystery to me how this happened. Perhaps when my luggage went through the scanner some intelligent TSA employee confused my bendy rollers with pipe bombs and the extra security check led to my luggage not making it on the flight? Maybe on the way to the plane my luggage decided to take a stroll around the airport and walked off the baggage truck for a quick jaunt? Perhaps the baggage staff from another airline got jealous of all the luggage being loaded on to the Delta plane and decided to prank Delta by taking away passenger luggage. The possibilities are endless.
Either way, there I was with no luggage and therefore no outfit for the graduation. The only reason I had even taken the trip in the first place and it turns out I would not be dressed for it. As I glanced down at my travel clothes (my pair of scuffed "comfy" flat boots, leggings, a black and grey top) I felt a wave of anger come over me, the kind of rage that starts at your head and works it way down your body leaving you clenching your fingers.
As I yelled at the Delta representative (every other word I used was a curse word), the airline representative began to click away at her computer to get my luggage placed on the next flight from JFK. Another passenger standing next to me, presumably there because they had lost
her luggage, turned and said, "Can you please not yell, its not going to change anything. I don't mean to be rude."
When I heard this, if it had been possible for me to slap that woman without attracting the notice of a TSA employee, and possibly getting arrested, I would have done so. Instead I turned to her and asked, "Was I f*cking talking to you? Do you work for Delta Airlines?"
Silence.
Dear readers, I knew that yelling would not get my luggage to Chicago any sooner, but quite honestly I always feel better after yelling. I was going through the normal process of unleashing my anger
on the deserving party and if she had minded her own business I would have gone on my way. This woman is proof that some people don't have any sense of self-preservation whatsoever. She saw me literally on a rampage and she decided to
place herself in my way for no reason.
Can you tell I am still itching to find her and slap her so that next time she
will mind her own business?
In the end, I was told that my luggage would be on the next flight to Chicago--arriving at 6pm. It didn't. Turns out that flight was delayed. In the end, my luggage didn't get delivered to me until 3am.
There are a few lessons to be learned here.
First, if you find yourself in my situation where you need certain items in your luggage to arrive
with you as opposed to
after you, perhaps its best to pack these things in your carry on. I should probably have done this with the graduation outfit but I guess I had grown complacent seeing as how the last time something like this happened was almost 10 years ago on an international flight. Besides, there are cases of airlines (Delta Airlines to be exact) leaving passenger carry on luggage behind at the departure airport.
Second, don't fly Delta Airlines.
Third, if you are traveling this holiday season and see somebody yelling at airline staff it is best to mind your own damn business and keep it moving. The next person may not be as nice as I was.
Fourth, don't fly Delta Airlines during the holiday season.
