johnbernstravelblog

“I am sorry sir, but the weight limit on checked baggage is 50 pounds each. If you want to check these you will have to pay a $100 overweight luggage fee per bag” said the man behind the check-in counter at Frontier Airlines.

“Frontier is the carrier for domestic segment of an international flight. I connect in LA with China Airlines to fly to Bangkok. The weight limit for international flights is 70 pounds per bag. Call your supervisor if you don’t believe me.”

Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. Nothing had been easy about getting on this flight.

I had originally booked my flight for Thursday May 12th, but as hard as I tried, I could not get everthing I needed to done on time. So on Thursday, I re-booked the flight for Saturday the 14th, but China Air could not immediately confirm the Denver to LA segment on Frontier and had told me to call back. When I called back, China Airlines reservation system was down and stayed down for 2 days. Up until the time I was supposed to leave for the airport the system was down and I could not get them to confirm I was on the Denver to LA segment.

So, since I didn’t want to go to the airport with my massive load of luggage and NOT get on a flight, I told them I would call back to rebook for a later date.

“I am sorry sir, all flight are booked until next Saturday, the 21st. The high season fares start then and we have more seats available.”

“Can you put me on stand-by?”

“Yes sir, I can, but there is a long list. I don’t know if you will be able to get on the flight though.”

“Put my on stand-by anyway, I will take my chances. I can’t wait a week.”

I spent all day calling and searching online for an alternate flight, but there was nothing availablee. With college letting out and students traveling home and fares about to go up for the high season, everything was booked. Nobody had a cheap flight to Bangkok.

On Monday morning I called the China Airlines reservation desk to see if I was confirmed on the flight.

“Yes sir, you are confirmed from Denver to Bangkok. The tickets you were issued before will be valid for this flight.”

I was good to go.

I had already called China Air and confirmed that Frontier would accept the 70 pound bags. I confirmed that I would not need to have tickets reissued. I confirmed that my bags could be checked all the way through to Bangkok. I made sure everything was in order.

So here I was, at the Frontier Airlines counter, telling the man behind the counter how to do his job.

Ten minutes and a few phone calls later he was back.

“I am sorry sir, you are right. We can check your bags.”

One bag weighed in at 69.5 pounds, the other at 75 pounds.

“That bag is to heavy sir. We can’t check it.”

“It’s just five pounds. Can’t you let it slide?”

“No sir. It’s not fair to the baggage handlers.”

So I took out three large books and put them in my carry-on baggage. Yeah, better that I haul that five pounds around through four airports than a luggage handler lift if from the conveyor belt onto the trick one time.

“Let me ask my supervisor how to book these bags all the way to Bangkok. I will be back in a minute.”

He came back, tapped on the keyboard a bit more, called over a colleague twice to confer on how to book the bags and, a few minutes later the baggage tags came off the printer.

“Wow, it looks like it worked!” he beamed.

That didn’t exactly inspire confidence…

Once the bags were tagged, the agent thumbed through my tickets.

“Sir, there seems to be a problem, these tickets are for the 12th of May, today is the 16th.”

“I know. I am booked on this flight. The tickets are valid. Check your reservation system. I should be confirmed on the flight.”

He tapped away at his keyboard for a few seconds.

“Yes sir, I see you are on the flight. But I will have to call China Airlines and confirm it.”

So I waited another 10 minutes.

Finally, the bags were put on the baggage conveyor belt and I was issed a boarding pass.

I was off to Bangkok. I felt great.

It was somewhere around Vail, listening to Four Strings’ “Let it Rain” on my iPod when it hit me: A wave of emotion rolled through me and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

I was off on a new life, a new adventure. I was off to do something fun and exciting. I was starting a new life that really didn’t suck.

In LA I checked in for the flight to Taipei where I would connect to Bangkok. The trans-pacific segment is a long flight, almost fourteen hours and I had seat 32J: a middle seat. The flight was full and there was no chance of changing it.

At the security screen I was pulled aside. “Please go over here sir.”

I spent the next 15 minutes be wanded, prodded, and sniffed.

Once I boarded the plane and sat down, I realized how grim it was going to be. Not only did I have a middle seat, but there was not legroom. None. None at all. I was so tightly wedged I could not even move my legs.

For fourteen hours I sat in exactly one position without moving. I could twitch my legs a bit but there was only one position that I could sit in. Forget sleeping, I could not move my body to any position where sleep was possible.

On Arrival in Taipei I rushed to the boarding counter at the gate and requested a seat on an emergency exit isle and was lucky enough to get the last one available. At least I could stretch my legs oh the last segment of the flight.

On arrival in Bangkok, my bag with all my computer gear was one of the first to appear on the luggage carousel. I expected my other bag to appear shortly—after all, how far apart could they be?

20 minutes later I was the last person standing at the luggage carousel. A baggage handler peeked out from behind the curtain and shook his head. There was no more luggage coming from the plane.

All my clothes, toiletries and shoes were missing.

I walked over the China Airlines desk and told the man that I was missing a bag. In a matter of minutes he was able to locate the bag—still in LA—and arrange for it to be on the next flight to Bangkok. But until the next evening, I would be without a change of clothes.

With my carry-on and one checked bag in tow, I cleared immigration and headed to customs.

At customs, the inspector pulled me aside. “Please open bag sir.” Beneath a sign that said “all undeclared items subject to confiscation” I unzipped the bag. Prominently displayed were the boxes for my computer and my LCD monitor. The boxes were like new and even sported an obvious price tag.

“You buy new in Singapore!” he announced.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

“No, this is used computer equipment I am bringing for a project.”

He pointed to the price tag on the LCD Monitor. “No it new. You just buy.”

After 24 hours on a plane and one lost bag, I was tired and frustrated. But I knew better than to get surly. I said to him, in as polite a manner as I could muster “No, it is all old. It is all used, let me show you.”

I started to open the LCD box and he stopped me. He must have seen the exhaustion and frustration and had sympathy for me. Or maybe he was eager to find somebody more willing to pony up for a bribe.� “OK, OK. Nevermind. You go now.” and pointed towards the exit.

I tossed the bag on the cart and made my escape.

In a jetlagged blur, ran a gauntlet of touts offering taxi services (a new and unnecessary annoyance, as there are plenty of metered taxis conveniently located just outside the door of the international terminal), stopped at an ATM to get some cash and got a taxi to the Woraburi Sukhumvit Hotel. I checked in about 3:00am, took the hotel tuk-tuk to the end of the soi, walked to Foodland on Soi 5 and bought toothpaste, a toothbrush, some deodorant and a small bag or laundry detergent, walked back to the hotel, showered, hand-laundered my socks, underpants and sweaty shirt, hung them to dry and, almost 36 hours after I woke up, I fell into my bed.

As grueling and long as the trip was, it felt good to be back in Bangkok.