I was to go to Washington DC from Hyderabad. I got a ticket confirmed after roaming around the Air India office for around 2 weeks. I was glad that the ticket was confirmed just 2 days before my departure. Little did I know that it was just an indication of how bad the journey would be.
I was standing at the checkin counter at the international airport in Hyderabad, India, hoping that all the bags I had checked in would not be overweight. They were not. But then the person sitting accross the counter said, "Sir, you are not allowed 3 baggages from Frankfurt onwards.
Anyways, after arguing with the Air India staff that this was cheating and all that I anyhow turned up paying for that extra baggage. I boarded the plane, changed flights at Mumbai, and was off to Frankfurt, Germany.
Once at Frankfurt airport I was told I would get the boarding pass at the gate. And the gate for that flight would open around 1 hour before departure only. So I waited 6 hours at the airport. Finally when it was time. When I stretched out my hand at the counter for the boarding pass, I was shown the finger!! Very politely though. They said they weren't able to find a booking in my name on the flight. I had to roam around to all the offices that were there. And let me tell you, Frankfurt airport is very big. My legs started to ache after roaming around for 2 hours. Anyways, I went to the airport help desk. Back to the gate. Then to the Lufthansa ticket counter. Who told me to contact people from Air India itself. Air India office was outside the airport. I couldn't go out into germany without a visa.
There was this person whose job is to assist people at fraport. The "May I help you" person, if you know what I mean... She saw me running around so much and asked me how she could help me. I told her so and so is the case. She got the number to the Air India office and called them. She offered me a chair to sit too! She probably got scared seeing the amount of sweat on my face. So finally I contacted them, they told me they would put me on standby on another plane to chicago. I couldn't make it to that too as the plane was already overbooked. The next available flight was on the next day to New Ark. I was given vouchers for food but no accomodation.
How ever I thanked everyone and went to McDonald's to eat. I just wanted to forget everything that happened and pass time. I had to spend the whole night on the seats which are there for passesngers to sit. I slept on them.
The next day I was again caught up as they couldn't find any booking. I called up Air India and finally I caught the 8 and half hour flight to New Ark, went through the customs and off to the local departures to board the flight to Washington DC. I had to roam a lot there too along with 75Kgs of luggage on a trolley. Finally I reached the United Airlines ticket counter. Here I was told that the flight number on my new ticket was wrong!! I talked to the guys at the gate. They somehow gave me my boarding pass after asking me to wait for some time. Sat beside a "wow-so-beautiful" girl on the flight and finally landed in DC without any more trouble.
At the end of the post, I would like to thank all the wonderful people who helped me on the way.
At Fraport:
The "May I help you" lady who offered me a seat and helped a lot. She even gave me wet napkins to clean my face.
Mr. Singh from American Airlines who took my ticket directly to the counter, jumping the line. Still I couldn't make it.
The sweet (and cute) McDonald's girl who said she couldn't give me change for the voucher and gave me extra burgers and fries even though I asked her to keep the change.
Roberto who was at the gate for the New Ark flight who went out to Air India office to get my new ticket.
At New Ark airport:
Ms. Greene who allowed me to check in the baggage even though it was over weight and the flight number printed on the ticket was wrong.
Mr. Gandhi at the gate who gave me the boarding pass after telling me to wait for some time.
