Our luggage was tagged, placed on the conveyor belt and off it went. And that's when the fun started.
According to the lady at Delta, we were booked on the flight but had no tickets. She kept saying something about the tickets being reissued, but all we had was the copies of the itinerary as provided by the travel agent. He told me that's all we needed. But according to the Delta computers, the original tickets had been reissued but there was no record of the reissue number. After 2 hours, numerous phone calls and tears, a solution was arranged. We would fly out of LAX at 10:45pm.
Now, for the purposes of comparison, here's how it was originally supposed to go;
11:59am - fly out of LAX (June 6)
7.19pm - arrive Atlanta Georgia (there's a 3 hour time difference....Atlanta is 3 hours ahead)
8.30pm - depart Atlanta.
9.34 - arrive Columbia South Carolina, our home for the next 3 weeks. (June 6)
Now, this is the flight plan;
10:45pm - fly out of LAX (June 6)
6:01am - arrive Atlanta Georgia
9:35am - depart Atlanta
10:39am - arrive Columbia. (June 7)
As you can see, a major pain in the ass! But! If it was Bernie and I, we'd catch a bus to LA, wander around a bit, and eventually make our way back in time for the flight. But with 2 kids??? Amy's old enough to amuse herself, but Tara isn't, and let me tell you, an airport is no place to try and keep a child amused for 10 hours!!!!!
So a plea was made for help on FB, as we couldn't call the Flight Centre emergency number (note: I debated with myself about putting the name of the company in the blog, but I'm a firm believer of name & shame. So the debate was won by the positive side). Our plea was answered and soon I was talking to a customer service rep from there. But due to the time difference, we had to wait until the store opened before someone could look into it for us. After numerous calls, the conclusion was - Delta blamed the travel agent, the travel agent blamed Delta and we were still stuck in the airport. A further call told us that Flight Centre was going to pay for us to use the Delta Sky Lounge, as their other suggestions were us paying for lounge or hotel, and then 'applying to be reimbursed'. No way Jose!!! So after a small argument with a condescending Delta staff member, here we are, still in the lounge and still in LA. But the light at the end of the tunnel is that our luggage enjoyed its flight to South Carolina where it was picked up by my nephew.
The day has been full of drama (my pet hate) and boredom all round. But to look at it through the right eyes, a boring day stuck in LA airport sure as shit beats a day at work! But with a number of flights still to go in this epic adventure, I'm skeptical that the rest will be smooth sailing!! We had the same thing happen when we left Adelaide for Sydney, but the problem was resolved in time for us to get on our plane.
I've heard other people rave about airport lounges, but here's my take on Delta. Apparently the first beverage is complimentary, unless its a spirit. After that, pay the man. The food is ok, but its nibbles - chips, dip, cheese etc. and it was our dinner. Mmmmm.....celery & ranch dip. Yeah. If other lounges are better, then I'm changing airlines. They tried to talk me into joining for 30 days, but as I said, I don't fly often, and Delta doesn't operate in Australia. So it'd be pointless!
For now we just have to ride it out, board the plane in about 2 hours and deal with it as it comes. If you don't laugh, you cry.
I did however, experience the 'magic' of being patted down by airport security....while I was barefoot. The dozens of people who told me airport security is strict weren't wrong!! They even searched under my watch band!!!! Hopefully the rest of the night will pass without incident and we can arrive in SC tired, but glad to be there. I'm sure our luggage misses us and will be pleased to see us!!!
Song of the day: You Can't Always Get What You Want
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