We should have known there were going to be issues from the minute we checked in. First, let me admit that, fortunately, our travel is typically uneventful. For the most part, we get where we need to go with all of our personal belongings in tow. Considering the fact that we travel two or three times a year, I guess we were due for a snag.
So, let's go back, shall we?
We had a 5 pm flight out of MSP. It's so nice to not have to get up at 3 am to get ready to go to the airport! Instead, we were able to have a nice, leisurely morning. Andrew went to the range to put holes in target men. I took Cowboy & Peanut to meet Jeanne & her pack for a nice, long walk. It's cold in Minnesota right now. Air temperature was 0 degrees Fahrenheit at 9:30 am. It's been windy, too, with windchill temps in the minus twenty range. This morning, however, the wind was fairly calm and the sun was shining. We thoroughly enjoy the almost four miles, and agreed that we were even a little overdressed.
After the walk, it was home to do some housework. Don't you love coming home to a clean house after you travel? Clean bathrooms, floors and sheets are waiting for us when we get back! Stacy (Kindred Spirits Pet Care) came to pick up Cowboy & Peanut for their two weeks at Camp Basset. They were so happy to see her and couldn't wait to be out the door. While I'm thrilled that they love Stacy & are excited to go with her, I'll admit that I secretly hoped for a backward glance from one of them. Nope.
The car service arrived right on time to pick us up for the airport. Because it was the middle of the afternoon, traffic was light and we arrived at the terminal about 20 minutes later. Seems like things are going swimmingly, no? Here's where that changes...
We had first class tickets for this flight. It was only a couple of hundred dollars more than the economy ticket to upgrade, and included free luggage, free access to the sky club, and free cocktails on the flight. Yes, yes - I know. "Free" is relative. Whatever. We trotted up to the Premier Access ticket counter and proceeded to try to check our bags. First issue was that they tagged my bag all the way to SAP (San Pedro Sula, Honduras). We noticed that and asked the ticket agent to change that so that we could pick up the bags for our overnight in Houston, which she did. Then it was Andrew's turn. After typing and swiping and clicking for quite some time, she told him that there would be a $40 charge for his second bag. What? Isn't the allowance for first class two bags per person at no charge? You're not in first class, sir. What? Here's my boarding pass - seat 2B. Turns out, there was a gentleman named Jacob Bruemmer on the same flight, sitting in coach and paying for his checked bags. Carolyn, any relation? After we straightened the names and seating arrangements out, she tagged Andrew's two bags and we were on our way. We spent our time waiting for our flight (which was an hour late) in the United Sky Lounge munching on pre-wrapped sticks of cheese and chex mix.
The flight to Houston was perfectly lovely. The flight attendant was very generous with Andrew's scotch. I had a lovely gin & tonic. We landed at 9 pm and trotted down to the carousel to pick up our luggage. One bag came out right away. It happened to be the one that we loaded up with food for the house in Utila (groceries are expensive on the islands so we bring things like peanut butter, Crystal Light mix, spices, condiments and snacks). That initial happy feeling you get when you see one of your bags arrive slowly fizzled as we watched the conveyer belt go around and around for about 20 minutes with no sign of the other two bags. A review of the baggage tracking stickers quickly revealed the issue. The two bags that Andrew checked did not get re-tagged to Houston as we had requested. Did I mention that these happened to be the bags with clothes in them? We talked to the lost luggage lady who filled out a form so that a bag handler could retrieve our bags from some cart in the international terminal. "It will take one to two hours" we were told so we went to pick up our rental car and find the hotel & some dinner. Two hours later (and without dinner - we got a little lost), we returned. Groundhog Day! The lost luggage lady filled out THE SAME FORM again, handed it to a bag handler, and told us to have a seat. After about 45 minutes, the gentleman came back to say that he couldn't find the bags. A lengthy (and surprisingly terse, on her part) explanation from the lost luggage lady indicated that they were in some TSA limbo and unretrievable until the next day. They handed us a baggie with toothbrush, comb and deodorant and sent us on our way. Sigh.
Hungry, tired, and wrinkled, we got back in the rental car to find something to eat. We hit the pillows in the hotel about 1:30 am, with alarms set for 5:30 am. I guess we'll sleep in Honduras.
When we checked in for the second leg of the flight this morning, we were assured by the ticket agent that our bags would "probably" be in Honduras when we arrive. "That's the way it's supposed to happen", he said with a smile. I'm feeling less than confident, but I'm willing to concede that it's a possibility. Stay tuned...
