Saturday 21 January 2012

missed flight…

i guess those on my facebook would have known, that i missed my homeward-bound flight last night… i was such an ass!

as i stay quite near the airport (15 minutes away), i always leave for the airport 1.5 hr before departure time, instead of the standard “be at the airport at least 2 hrs before”, so that i don’t have to spend too much time at the airport waiting for boarding etc. it has always worked, but apparently one can’t be so lucky every time, right?

i guess traveling too much has made me over-confident. i didn’t take into consideration the other factors that could cause delays… such as accidents, car breakdowns, forgot to bring passport, forgot to bring my e-ticket, can’t get a taxi, road to the airport super jam etc. i thought everything will go smoothly, every time, all the time.

anyway, i failed to get a taxi to the airport yesterday night. i stood by the road, in the cold and rain (more like drizzle in m’sian standard, but it’s RAIN in the desert), for more than 30 min and still no taxi came by! in the end, i had to drag my huge luggage out to the main road to hail a taxi from there.

by the time i got to the airport, i couldn’t find the screen with my airline’s logo on it! a bit panicky, i stopped an airport staff to ask. she turned behind her and was about to point when she realized that the screens above the counters were not showing the airline’s logo. so she said, “oh, the counters have closed”. a sinking feeling settled in my stomach then… shit! shit! shit!

the airport staff told me to rebook my ticket for the next flight, but i asked her if there’s any way for them to call the airline’s person in-charge, coz i was only late by a few minutes. so she pointed me to the airport office to get help from the people there. but when i got to the office, there wasn’t anyone there! omg, time was ticking by… more panic!

i went up to another airport staff for help and he pointed me to another section of the terminal to look for the duty manager counter to get help from there. by the time i rushed over, it’s already 40 minutes before departure and i felt my chances of getting onto the plane slowly slipping by. i found the counter and again, there’s no one there! frantic, i went to another counter (access baggage payment counter) to ask the staff there and they asked me to knock on the door next to the duty manager counter. so i dragged my luggage back to the counter and was about to knock when 2 airport staff passed by and asked me what happened. i told them my situation, and one of them tried to call the airline people to see if they’ll allow me to board. 10 more minutes passed before they called back to say it’s only 30 minutes before departure and they can’t allow me on-board. shit! shit! shit!

luckily the staff who helped me make the call saw my muka kesian (malay: pitiful face) and told me what i should do next: “go up to the cafeteria upstairs and wait until about 10 minutes after the flight has departed. then go down to the airline’s office in the basement. the people from the airline should be back by then. tell them your situation and book yourself onto tomorrow’s flight. make sure they make a printout of your new flight for you.” he even added in a “good luck” before we parted.

when i went to see the airline people, at first they said there’s nothing they can do to help me and told me to call their main office to work things out. but they did tipped me to say that i missed my flight due to illness or something serious like that, so that they don’t penalise me. and they said it in a nice and helpful way, not “it’s-not-my-business-i-can’t-help-you” kinda way. but i guess my muka kesian worked again coz after a while, one of the staff said he’ll try to see if their computers can be linked to the system and then he can book me for the next day’s flight.

waited for about 20 minutes while he kept trying but in the end, he managed to secure the last seat for me! he even put in the reason for my change as, “reported to counter late due to road accident”. and i don’t have to pay any extra charges too! i’m so grateful!

*phew* so much drama… so even though i’m delayed by one day in getting home, wasted time sitting around at the airport as well as the taxi money to and from the airport, at least i’m still going home for this chinese new year! must count my blessings…

come to think about it, i seem to meet with a lot of flight related “bad luck” this year of the rabbit, huh? delayed flight, airport closure, flight turning back halfway, stranded at the airport and couldn’t check-in at the counter… hopefully the year of the dragon will be much better!

anyway, here’s wishing everyone a happy, joyous, healthy, wealthy and prosperous year of the water dragon! gong xi gong xi!

6 comments:

Biow said...

another experience to add to your life.. let's hope this 'long' year be good to us :)

Happy New Year!

stargal said...

yups! happy new year to u too! :)

San said...

Happy New Year, Sue! Seldom log in to FB, so might as well send my wishes over here. I'm not sure whether u r still around in M'sia and if happen that u r free to meet up, do let me know ya.

stargal said...

happy new year, san! so sorry i didn't call u when i was back. too caught up with all the ang-paos, pineapple tarts and tea, and just being lazy! hehehe... unfortunately, i'm back in sandland now. it was just a short trip. so didn't really meet up with any of my friends. we'll definitely meet up when i go home for my longer vacation!

gina said...

Well, at least the airline staff is so nice and put there, road accidents.. so you don't have to pay extra! That is so nice! It's like pay it forward. I guess you have done many good things in life that warrant such good luck! Also, I think you get to sit in First Class on the way back to sandland right? :D So Dragon year is a good year for you!

stargal said...

yeah, at least the ppl are nice! the upgrade was a huge bonus too! :D