On Friday I took the long flight from Utah back to Germany. So long, in fact, that I didn't get home until Saturday after dark. And I did it all with a 4-month old baby. And let me tell you: a long flight with a baby was the easy part.
Dealing with the airlines was difficult!!
(It wasn't my proudest moment when I almost lunged across the counter to strangle a guy in the Paris airport. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Story to follow.)
Just a little background-- for international flights, even "lap children" need tickets. But for some reason they can't fully process them electronically (online, or on the phone.) You have to physically get a ticket in the airport.
That being said, here are my airline complaints:
- When I picked up Tiago's ticket in Nuremberg at the start of our trip, there was nothing in the system, so I had to wait 30 minutes while they input all of his information again. Then they wanted to overcharged me $50. It was either pay, or miss my flight. Really tough choice.... [not!] So I paid.
- A few days before my return flight home, they cancelled one of my flights. I was particularly looking forward to that itinerary because it only had one layover, instead of the normal 2+, and it was overnight. When I called the airline to reschedule, the lady kept offering me flight itineraries that were way worse. (Longer, more stops, etc.) I finally said, "I scheduled that itinerary for a reason! Book it for me on another day."
- At the Salt Lake airport I stood at the ticket counter for over an hour while they tried to figure out what the deal was with Tiago's ticket. I thought I'd get my $50 refunded, but eventually they told me I had to call customer service after the flight. Not sure what the hang up was, but at least the lady walked me through security so I didn't have to wait in line. Otherwise I definitely would have missed my flight.
- For some reason they couldn't print my second boarding pass in Salt Lake, so when I got to Paris I went to the ticket counter. They had no problem printing mine, but they told me that Tiago only had a ticket for a different date. (...our original fly date. Ironically the ticket was for a flight that had been cancelled. ?!) He had no ticket, and I had an hour and a half until my next flight, and I waited and waited and waited. Meanwhile, everyone behind the counter is speaking french, so I have no clue what's going on. I kept asking, "Can you fix this? Am I going to miss my flight and have to sit in the airport for 5 hours with a crying baby?" The guy's response? "Maybe." And the baby was hungry, but I couldn't feed him while I was waiting at the ticket counter. So I let him cry, and secretly got pleasure out of it because it probably bothered the employees. With 20 minutes until departure, they finally told me to head down to the gate and they hoped to fix the problem before I got there. And by "head down to the gate", I really mean "take a 12 minute bus ride to a different building entirely." I showed up just as the last passenger was scanning their ticket to board. And apparently they fixed whatever the problem was with Tiago's ticket, because when they scanned my ticket I just kept on going and they didn't stop me...
- [I still haven't been refunded the money. I have to wait two weeks for an email response to my request!]
The icing on the cake is that after getting to the airport, taking the metro to the train station, and finally taking a train back to my town, my car battery was dead. A kind stranger jumped it for me, but I had to drive around for 20 minutes while it recharged, and I wanted nothing more than to get home. Sleeping in my own bed never felt so good. [Except maybe when my husband isn't deployed and I don't have jetlag... But it was still pretty great!]
It was actually great to have this kid's smiling face with me throughout the trip to remind me that things aren't so bad. He was a great traveler. Which is good news, because I foresee many more flights in his future. :)
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