Why We’re Never Flying with American Airlines Again.
One of the good things about travelling to Brazil is that
each passenger is allowed two pieces of
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| I wish I could say this was ALL the luggage... |
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| Gratuitous photo of Pretzel |
I've been to some airports where the check-in process has
been very well thought out and efficient.
This was not the case with the American Airlines’ departures at San
Francisco International. There were a
lot of people waiting to check in, about two open check in desks and a staff
member running about asking people to check in at the self-check-in
terminals. This was clearly the person
to ask about how to check in our cats but when I asked, she told me she would
get someone then promptly forgot and continued to run around trying to advise
people where to go. It would have been
funny had I not actually needed information.
Eventually I found someone who took the cats to the check in desks and
told me to join the end of the check-in assistance queue.
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| Quite a short queue when you think about it. The mystery is why it took 40 minutes... |
Everyone has had those days at the airport when the check-in
queue barely seems to move. The queue
grows longer, tempers fray and people complain about the woman that has been at
the check-in counter for over 30 minutes.
It’s annoying, but to be fair, I’m sure that woman is just as
annoyed. Time passes, we inch our way
closer to the front of the queue and eventually extra check-in staff are
called. After 40 minutes, we reached the
check-in counter and take our turn as
those-annoying-people-that-seem-to-take-forever.
Most of that time revolves around checking the documentation
for the cats, filling out extra forms and – of course – paying the extra
fees. The check-in agent was friendly
and patient and helped to ensure that all the ‘I’s were dotted, ‘t’s were
crossed and that there was nothing untoward that would prevent the cats from
reaching our destination. Next came the
carrier inspection, the cable tying of the carrier and the cats were taken away
on a trolley.
Done! Now comes the
easy part…
Time passed, the usual airport tedium, then we finally
boarded the plane. Everyone was seated
and settled in, my headphones were out of my bag, my book in my hand when I
noticed two flight attendants carrying a fairly large grey box up the
aisle. A faintly familiar grey box. A slightly more familiar grey box with holes
in it. A really familiar grey box with
holes in it, ‘live animal’ in green writing on the side and my cat Pretzel
sitting inside.
Sheila followed the flight attendants to the rear galley,
where they placed the carrier.
Apparently there was not enough room for two cats. Eventually we found out that there was a
problem with the pressurisation of the hold, so both cats had been taken to the
cabin; Kiwi in the front (first class, no less) and Pretzel in economy class
with us. Fair enough, it gave us a
chance to try to calm down a stressed cat and give her some water. Over the course of the 5 hour flight, we
popped back a few times to comfort her and were relieved to see the flight
attendant firmly holding on to the carrier for landing. Then things became complicated.
To be continued (and I promise I'll explain the title of this part)
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| Who doesn't pass time before a flight by messing with an iPad? |
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