Traveling home from W.V.
On Tuesday Jan. 30th it was time for me to travel down to the Charleston, W.V. airport to head home from my visit with my friends. The weather was causing delays throughout the country, and I wasn't any exception. When we got to the airport we saw my flight had been delayed. That was ok with me though b/c that meant I was able to spend more time with my friends.
These days the airports have you sign in yourself at a kiosk, and a boarding pass with pop out. I was the only one signing in for United, and after I punched in my code a message popped up saying my code was not accepted. Oh great! I really did not want this headache. I didn't have any problems flying to W.V. and I certainly didn't want any problems leaving. The attendant asked my name, I gave it to her, and then she gave me a code to punch in. Which I did. My boarding passes printed, and she put the label on my one checked luggage.
After all that we all went to the little eatery and got a little something. We got in our last conversations and laughs. Then an announcement was made saying if you were headed for Chicago and had not gone through security yet you needed to do so. Well, that was me. So we all headed to security. I said my goodbyes, and gave our last hugs, and then I walked to the first security personnel. I handed him my boarding pass and my i.d. (my driver's license), I didn't pay attention to him, I was busy waving bye to my friends, and saying my last goodbyes. Then it was time to take off the shoes and yadda yadda. I had to give my boarding pass to the lady by the metal detector. She looked at it as I was passing through the detector, and then she handed it back to me. I put my shoes on, grabbed my carry on, and headed to my gate. Waved bye one last time to my friends from behind the glass, and then handed my boarding pass to one last attendant. He looked at it, tore off the end handed it to me.
I got on the plane and settled in for the flight. Put on the headphones, took out my book, and tried to get comfortable. As we were getting ready to land in Chicago, I thought I'd better look at my next boarding pass to see what time the flight from Chicago to Milwaukee was going to be leaving. I didn't want to miss it since there had already been delays. I was trying to think ahead, you know, be responsible. Imagine my complete and utter horror as I read what the boarding pass in my hands said:
If you missed it, the ticket says it would be flying from Chicago to SAN ANTONIO....yeah, I'm not great at geography, but I'm smart enough to know that's in TEXAS....NOT Wisconsin!!!!!I thought for sure I was missing something. So I grabbed my confirmation from Travelocity, thinking maybe I had a 3 flight connection and didn't realize it. My printout confirmed that I was just suppose to connect in Chicago. I looked at the ticket again thinking I must be going crazy. I looked all over for my name, on BOTH tickets (the stub, and the one above) and I couldn't see it. Then I realized ANDERSON/CHADR wasn't some strange code....it was someone's NAME!!! I got onto this plane under someone else's name. To complicate things just a little, I looked at my luggage ticket, and it said Charleston-San Antonio. :( Oh MY WORD!!!!!
I couldn't do anything b/c we were in our descent, but let me tell you, I wasn't descending in my head.....my blood pressure, heart rate, and stress level were accelerating at quite a steady incline!
When I got off the plane at O'hare I wondered around trying to find the service counter. Finally found it, and showed them everything -- My e-ticket confirmation, my Chad Anderson boarding pass, my driver's license, my dilemma of needing to get to Milwaukee not San Antonio, Texas! Thankfully, I had the nicest person working with me on this. She was quite disappointed in the security that passed me through.
Backtracking here a little, I had been teasing my friends, that if my flight cancelled altogether we had a problem, b/c I only had one toothbrush, I didn't want to share it. Then they were joking how at least I had enough clean underwear to go around! ;) ha ha I was laughing so hard. And we came to the conclusion that if worse came to worse we could always turn the old pair inside out! :D HA HA HA LOL
When I finally made it home at 10:30 at night, I called to tell them I made it home safely, and that they could be happy b/c at least they had a toothbrush and a clean pair of underwear! I was home....but I had NOTHING! My luggage took a vacation of it's own down to Texas!
Getting it back was a whole nother story. I had a man in India trying to help me find my luggage in San Antonio!! How's that for screwed up!? He tried telling me in the future I needed to make sure my name and address were clearly marked on the outside of my luggage. I in no nice way informed him, that the next time I flew on his airline I was going to UPS my luggage b/c at least then I'd know it would get to my destination!!!!
Oh, and get this! When our conversation got a little....ummmmm, how should I say it, heated I asked for the luggage claim department's # at the San Antonio airport. He said, "I am sorry ma'am, that is confidential and I am not permitted to give that # out." Ok, fine. I said, well, just give me the # to the airport, and I will ask to be transferred. He said, "I am sorry ma'am but I could lose my job if I gave out that number. For security purposes my hands are tied and I cannot give you that #." I said, for security reasons, you have got to be joking!!!!!! That's a nice "LINE" about you losing your job, but don't tell me it's for security reasons. This whole problem was created b/c you're airline's security let me pass through THREE different points where my boarding pass was checked and they let me pass through as a MAN, so don't even give me any story about security b/c as far as I'm concerned, you don't have any!! Then I told him I'd just go online and get the info I needed. Do you want to know his response? Thank you ma'am, I would appreciate you doing that. WHAT!??!?!?!?!?! If this info is so stinkin' "SECURE" what's it doin' online?! What a bunch of bologna!
Well, my blood vessels are all back in their proper places now, and my luggage arrived Thursday afternoon. I gave it a big hug when I saw it!! :)
So if you are one who is seeking a little adventure in your life, I'd enjoy company on any one of my trips! ;) ha ha
*Ps, as a little side note: If your name is Chad R. Anderson and I totally screwed up your flight home, I am sooooo sorry!!! But please know, my trip home wasn't a breeze either!
4 comments:
This seems to be par for the course with you lately! I can't believe no one in security realized that you could not be Chad Anderson!!!! Good grief!
Imagine the horror this man probably experienced when they told him someone had already checked in under his name!
If I were you, I would photocopy everything, type out a letter, and send it to the airline. Ask for a free ticket. When they realize the security breach, you'll get it.
I asked for reimbursement from NWA when they lost my luggage (on a direct flight from Detroit to Milw!). They promised it would be returned the next morning but it wasn't. I had to leave for a wedding in Green Bay so I had to go to the store to buy something. I borrowed make-up etc. from my mom and friends. I told NWA I would never fly them again (and I never have) and would tell everyone I knew what happened. They reimbursed the clothes and the extended parking time.
When we were flying for our survey trip, we saw a breach of security. We were waiting at a gate (that we thought was ours). Two flights were being posted on the screen. Ours and another. They boarded the other flight and three different people (one w/ a baby) got on the flight assuming it was the one they wanted. One person realized it when they got on, but the couple with the baby had gotten all settled in. The girl at the top blamed them for getting on even though she had been the one checking all the tickets (and should have seen the destination was wrong). Other customers tried chiming in that she should have double checked, but of course she didn't want to be held liable for it. It was actually a little scary to see how easy something like that could be. It ended up our gate was down some stairs, but shared the same seating area.
You sure do face a lot of adventures in life!
Thanks a lot, lady! I got stuck with your pink clothes for a whole two days; my friends thought I'd gone queer! And you need a new toothbrush! Yuck! You're so gross!!
Thanks for nothing!
Signed,
Chad R. Anderson
Anonymous:
Nice try -- but I had ONE pink shirt in there ... and seeing as my suitcase came home....I doubt you ever saw my toothbrush. ;)
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