Rocky Arrival

Posted by James

How do you figure out what to pack for a 6 month trip? I'm used to traveling for up to two weeks, on vacations and business trips, and there I know exactly what to pack. Obviously, at least two weeks of cloths, and of course all the books I'll need for my teaching job. But what about my favorite shampoo or chewing gum? Space in my suitcase is limited, as you can see in the photo above, so prioritization is essential. I've got only one carry on, one large red, to-be-checked suitcase, and of course my computer bag. Normally when I fly for business trips and even for vacation, I never check any baggage because chances are it will get lost. Since I'm usually not in any one place long enough for the lost baggage to catch up with me, it makes more sense to travel light.

In the end, I managed to figure it out and, after a long flight over the North American continent and the Atlantic, landed in Frankfurt. My connecting flight left out of Terminal A so I followed the signs to Terminal A and ended up...on the wrong side of the security boundary. Somehow, they had directed me out of the transit area and into the area for arriving passengers. Fortunately the lines were short and there was lots of time between flights so I quickly negotiated the security check and made my way to the gate.

On the way, my phone buzzed. Text message from United: my Lufthasa flight to Berlin Tegel would be late. When I got to the gate, another buzz: the gate had been changed to A24.  At gate 24 yet another buzz: flight delayed yet again ("leaving at 1:30 arriving at 12:50", how do they do that? Some kind of time machine?). Shortly thereafter the plane arrived and a stream of dazed passengers stumbled off the aircraft. The agent came on the intercom and made an announcement: a special cleaning crew ("Sonderreingungsteam" in German) needed 15 minutes to clean up the plane because the arrival at Frankfurt had been rough. Actually, our arrival had been a bit bouncy too, but apparently conditions had worsened and Lufthansa no longer provides air sickness bags.

The cleaning squad got the plane in order and we boarded. The flight attendants announced that they had closed the doors and we should shut our cell phones off. Then we waited for the plane to leave the gate. And waited. The pilot came on the intercom and announced that the flight would be delayed. The airport had shut down one of the runways because of high winds and the takeoff capacity was reduced to 20% of normal. Fortunately I had an Ian Banks science fiction novel to keep me busy. Over the next three hours, the pilot kept us informed of progress, but around 4:00 conditions finally improved and the pilot received permission to push back from the gate and take off.

Our takeoff was a bit bumpy but not particularly bad, nothing compared to one flight I had quite a while back to Arizona where the plane was moving up and down by several hundred feet. The landing at Tegel was also not bad again a bit bumpy, and nobody got airsick. But the airport authorities at Tegal had effectively closed the airport due to high winds and they had to round up a ground crew to get us a set of stairs so we could disembark.

Eventually, we made it to the terminal and baggage claim. I called our landlord, who was waiting since noon for me to arrive. She and her partner had been planning to leave for Thuringen for the summer. I told her I would be there shortly. But it was not to be. The luggage didn't show up and didn't show up and finally a woman from the baggage handling service came buy with some forms and was verbally assaulted by irate passengers from 3 flights that had landed after the airport had closed. She told us that we had to fill out a form and receive a tracking number, but she had no forms. Meanwhile the passengers waiting around for their bags were getting more agitated and starting to yell at the bagge handling agents. The airport security arrived and several of the passengers began to argue with airport security.

My carry-on had enough clothing and such to last for two weeks, so I waited around for more forms to arrive, then filled one out and tried to hand it to one of the baggage handling agents. But since they were surrounded with arguing passengers, I decided instead to leave the baggage return, find the Lufthansa lost baggage office, and turn my form in there. Once outside in the terminal proper, the Lufthansa lost baggage office was easy to find but there was a line of over a hundred people waiting to get in. At that point, I gave up and took a taxi to the apartment, where my landlord and her partner met me. It was too late for them to leave for Thuringen, so they stayed overnight in the guest bedroom.

As it turns out, there as a major storm in Germany just as I was arriving, a hurricane with 120 kph winds, what the Germans call an "Orkan". Many trains were cancelled, so it is surprising that I managed to get to Berlin at all. The airport at Frankfurt had shut down baggage loading and my suitcase had been stranded in Frankfurt, according to the United baggage agent who I called on Thursday.

In any event, on Wednesday afternon I returned to the airport and the lines were much shorter. I reported my claim to the Lufthansa agent and he said they would bring the bag to me. He gave me a tracking number, but when I checked the tracking number on the Lufthansa web site, he had indicated the airline as "VA" and not "UA", so I had to call the baggage department and request they fix it. But finally, yesterday, my bag showed up none the worse for having spent three days with Lufthansa.