The moment i heard that i had to go to San Francisco by BA(British Airways), i got terrible concern for the safety of my baggage. Couple of my friends got their baggage after 1-2 months...BA is notoriously famous for missing baggages. Its hard to survive in different country without most of your stuffs for so long...i had no choice than to travel by BA. All i had in my control was to plan..keeping in mind worst. I kept pair of cloth in my cabin bag and also some important stuffs.
BA welcomed me on Bangalore airport with regretful announcements of delay for an hour. This was enough to make sure that i was going to miss my connecting flight from London to SFO. So BA routed me from London to Denver and then to SFO. One extra routing increased my concern for baggage further.
I landed to Hithrow airport and was amazed to see the sheer size of airport..indeed its one of the biggest airport. Flight got delayed again for an hour due to some problem in engine. This means i was going to miss my connecting flight again from Denver to SFO as there was gap of only 2 hours. Any way, i had no choice than to resign peacefully to my destiny. I was so much concerned about my luggages that i was doubly checking the status of my luggage before entering flight every time..thankfully i was getting reply, on the way :). I got one more surprise from London to Denver flight but luckily it was very pleasant. God or rather say BA smiled on me and gave business class ticket...just out of courtesy. I will never forget this part of journey until offcourse i travel again in business class. But, first experiance will remain first. The kind of hospitality i got was royal and very personalised...thanks to BA for this incredible experience. They offered a wide range of food and quality was on par with 4* hotel. After tight meal i unfolded my seat completely and slept tightly for 4-5 hours.
I landed on Denver airport and completed my US custom formalities. Then i went to BA officials for planning my last leg of journey..Denver to SFO as i had missed the flight which was originally booked for me. It was around 9pm local time. BA offered voucher for one night stay in hotel and meal as there was no flight for SFO until next morning. I was so much irritated with all these delays, that i wanted to reach home somehow the same night. I gave them option to book for San Jose which is closer to Cupertino instead of SFO. There was a flight for San Jose the same night. So i persuaded BA officials to talk to United airlines and arrange for my ticket to San jose. It was not so straightforward as my original ticket was to SFO. But lastly United airline agreed for the same. But i got one more shock when security found that my boarding pass was actually of Apoorva Kumar...i had failed to notice as last name was same. United airline official had issued my ticket on wrong name.
So this means i was again going to miss this flight as there was not enough time. I ran back and forth between BA and UA officials. I any how wanted to go on the same night. UA finally issued boarding pass for San Jose. My urge to travel the same night had increased further thinking my luggage would have gone by the previous flight. UA some how managed to get a standing ticket for me. This was like news to my ears...standing ticket in flight :D. Though the journey was just of around 2 and half hour but i had never heard the concept of standing ticket till now. So my boarding pas had number S03...third standing passenger. But when i entered the flight some how they managed to get a seat for me. Thanks to God...i finally landed to San Jose. Later i came to know that this was the same flight which i had missed due to wrong name. It was again delayed due to some reason...but for the first time for my good. I called my roomie after reaching to San Jose to pick me up. And lastly everything went fine as i received both of my checking bags.
It was indeed a power packed journey... bollywood masala movie can be made on this journey. It had all the elements of a masala movie..suspense,thrill, and a good ending. Got so many experiences to take home from this journey.
3 comments:
Hey Dude ,
what a experiance man !! , as you said BA is always famous for missed baggage, being with BA for more than 3 years now, I know how you would have been treated Inflight in business class , that should have wiped off all your bitter ones... we cant imagine affording a business class in BA , atleast for the near future .. :-) isnt it .. !!!! so kp supporting BA haha hah ha :-)
hey, nice to see your comment...oh great, you working for BA :)
ya..all i remember now is the business class journey of 8-9 hours...rest everything is history.
Overall it was unforgettable experience.
hey, u knw we went thru a similar ordeal but thank god we spotted it quite early that the boarding pass issued to my hubby was of somebody else .....hota hai hota hai....
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