Monday, June 7, 2010

Airport Drama - Part II

In my previous post, I started to describe our airport drama. Here's what happened next...

I grab my wallet and go on a crazy hunt for a luggage store as Mr. Milk and the lady try to sort things out.

I asked the first person I ran into if they knew if and where there was a luggage store. Sure they said. Downstairs. So we run downstairs (me and one of our friends) only to find the luggage conveyor belts. We look to the left and see a luggage storAGE place. Obviously I needed to be clearer. So we run back upstairs and go into the international terminal. We look around but nothing. We ask someone else, they tell us we passed it on the left. We were clearly looking and would have pounced on the darned store if we had seen it! We start to walk back and finally see an information booth with a lady who knew what she was talking about.  All along the store was right next to us in the domestic terminal! We get to the only luggage store in the whole damn airport and start looking for a suitcase like crazy people. Lifting them up, looking at size and price. I can hear our friend yelling prices out, all ridiculously pricey. I think we found the only suitcase in the store that was less than $100! The salesperson clips off the tag and our friend runs it over to the counter while I pay.

It then became a mad rush of unlocking all the suitcases and unpacking enough items from each to balance out. Mr. Milk was thankfully still allowed 32kg, which we would have to pay $225 for. We were already paying an extra $50 for my second one at only 23 kg. But there was noting else to do. Our friend placed each suitcase on the scale and took out enough items to pass over to me to place in the new suitcase. We came out at exactly the maximum weight for each piece! I can't even explain to you how grateful I was at the time. While I would love to break that damn scale over Mr. Milk's head, I will refrain from doing so, and instead track down the manufacturer and write a very very pissed off letter of complaint! In my fantasy world, they give us back the $225 for the extra weight and $85 for the new suitcase! We knew we had extra weight and that's why we shipped 3 other items a few days before with air freight! If the scale had been accurate, we would have just sent more items that day since it was so much more cheaper than doing it this way. Oh well. What's done is done...





But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that i had a suspicion that our bags were too heavy. I've flown enough to have a sense of what 23kg feels like. While I'm no body builder by any means, I can typically lift a 23kg suitcase with one arm with mild - moderate difficulty. I needed both hands to lift these up and that was with considerable effort! I should have said something. We'd sold our regular scale, so I'm not sure what we would have done, but worst case scenario, we would have bought one and returned it. Better safe than sorry right... But alls well that ends well.

We also realized that we had less than an hour to make our connection in calgary. As if this wasn't stressful enough, we were told that it was snowing in Calgary! It's almost June for crying out loud! If there were any kind of delays we would miss our connection for sure. Luckily everything went smoothly after this and not only did we make our connection, but we made it home safe and sound, with all our gazillion pieces of luggage!

15 fabulous blogger's comments:

Salt said...

And thank goodness you will never have to do this again. Hopefully.

I had to pay a boatload for my overweight luggage when I moved too. I honestly feel like they should make a little bit of an exception for people that are only going one way!

Kim said...

Oh my gosh, I would have been flipping out! As if flying isn't stressful enough without all of the extra BS they put you through. Glad it all worked out!

Discovery Street said...

kinda sounds like one of my "when things go wrong" posts! But it had a happy ending....so glad!

Heather said...

Ahhh! Bet you're happy that's all over with!

Katie said...

How aggravating!!! I would write a huge complaint letter and give them a call, telling them you can't afford all of the extra expenses that their faulty product made you have!!

JEM - Aqua Bride said...

Airports in general and the baggage allowances in particular are so friggin annoying. Glad everything worked out for you.

Crownd Vic said...

Oh my - this is one of the MANY reasons I hate traveling on airplanes. I'm glad it worked out, if not the way you planned.

Now you can relax, right?!
breathe

Born to be Mrs. Beever said...

Oh my gosh, you poor thing! I am so sorry that happened to you. We were so grateful to not have any issues with luggage weights on our honeymoon...we were sure we went over the allowed limit but had no issues. I don't even know what I'd do if I was *moving* everything across continents! Crazy!

So glad you had a friend there to help! Did they fly with you? Here in the US, once you're in the airport, there's not much chance of getting friends or family to be allowed to get into terminals or areas where you are checking luggage or able to shop at the stores...you have to have a ticket to get into those places. At least you had some help! Glad it worked out in the end. :)

Unknown said...

HOLY STRESSFUL!!!
I would have been so mad...
I am glad that you guys got things figured out. But what a mission!

Nicole said...

Whew! Glad thats over with!! Cant wait to hear how you're settling in! =D

Mrs T said...

I have unpacked things in an airport before and it is not fun! When we were backpacking once we wore nearly all of our clothes to keep the weight in the bags down. You did well to find a suitcase for $85 at the airport!

Spare Thoughts said...

What a nightmare! Business opportunity for someone to open a luggage store in the airport no?!
Hoping by now you are unpacking and surrounded by family.

Caro said...

Getting home must of felt great!

little luxury list said...

You poor thing - glad it worked out in the end. I blame it on low baggage limits between NA and Europe. It's still a long trip so why not allow 2 bags?!
A kind, kind agent let me slide with 19kg over when she saw me throw over 5 kg away at the airport (I thought my status would get me the second bag checked). It's all about the kindness of airline employees and friends that go with you to buy luggage!

Gaynor {Our Day by Design} said...

Cant believe you had to get another case; so glad you were able to find one tho and get all your stuff with you!

Hope you are enjoyiny yourself!