*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

Travel Woes

Backtracking a little, but just thought I'd share a tale of my travel woes...

I left Germany on the morning of 22 Dec whereupon I boarded a train at Würzburg early in the morning at 06.37. That was the beginning of a 10-hour train ride which saw me stop at Stuttgart and Zürich to change trains to get to Milan. I like German trains best and the way Deutsch Bahn runs trains is top-class. The ICE (Intercity Express) German trains are the best! Fast, comfortable, clean and it has power sockets where you can plug your laptop into. Someone told me it also has wifi...but I didn't try 'cos usually I just like to look out of the window or read a book.

By the time I reached Milan, it was 17.00 and my legs were screaming for a stretch. I had actually booked a room at a budget hotel which was quite far from the central station, but decided to forgo that for a hotel that was nearer the station as I had to have a early start the next morning. Feeling in need of some pampering, I decided to splurge on a nice hotel that was near the station. I went to one of the hotels and splurged on a 120 euros per night room. Yes, it was pricey, but it was what I needed - a little bit of luxury.

The next morning, I woke up at 05.15 to get ready to leave for Milan Malpensa airport. After having breakfast at the hotel, I checked out and was out of the hotel by 06.30 intending to walk to the bus stop just two minutes away to catch the 06.40 coach to the airport. In Milan, you can't take a train to the airport from the Central Stazione. It's ridiculous. So most people take a coach from the station. The journey takes about an hour. There are two operators and the coaches are supposed to depart every 20 minutes. I was intending to catch the 06.40 bus, but I was soon to learn that Italian time is always flexible time. Instead of leaving at 06.40 sharp, the bus driver kept waiting till the coach was full before he decided to leave. That really frustrated me as come on, I have a flight to catch! Eventually, at about 07.00 the driver decides to leave as the coach was almost full. I'm every sure that if that was in Germany, the bus would have left at 06.40 sharp even if there was only one person on board! That's what I love about German reliability and efficiency.

But that was just the start of my travel woes for the day.

When I arrived at Milano Malpensa airport, it was only to find a horrendously long queue at the check-in counters for the AlItalia flights. They seriously need to do something about their queue control. I ended up waiting close to an hour before I got to the counter. Then I'm told by the woman serving me that I don't have a reservation. And I'm like "What do you mean I don't have a reservation? My travel agent emailed me the confirmed itinerary."

I guess the screw-up occurred when there was a change in flight. Originally I was supposed to fly direct from Milan to Tokyo. Then a few days before I left London, I was emailed a new flight itinerary by my travel agent. Apparently AlItalia cancelled that direct flight and now I would have to transit in Rome to get to Tokyo. Somehow that change didn't make it into AlItalia's system and I was left with no reservation. I was horrified!!! In the end, after standing for about 45min at the counter, all I was given was a stand-by ticket as the flight was overbooked. Then I was told to go to another queue to wait and see whether I could get a seat.

When I got to the other queue, there were probably about 20 other people before me and the queue wasn't moving at all. A Japanese couple in front of me was in the same situation as I was, except that the woman had confirmed seats but her husband didn't . Instead of waiting around (there were many others in front of us), he went to buy two tickets from Swissair each costing 1000 euros. I wrote that option off the moment I heard the price.

My flight was scheduled at 10.30. At 09.55 I was still standing at the counter. I was never so stressed out in my entire life. I mean, missing a short-haul flight sucks, but it's still not ssoooo bad. But this is a long-haul flight we're talking about. I was on the verge of texting my friend to say that I probably won't be able to meet her in Tokyo!

Just as I was going to resign myself to the fact that I would miss my flight, a massive stroke of luck and alertness on my part saw me dashing to a member of the ground staff who was calling for people on stand-by to Rome. I know there were others in front of me but they probably thought it was safer to remain in the original queue. However I thought there was nothing to lose and so I dashed to her. And as if I had struck lottery, she gave me a boarding pass with a confirmed seat number!

With my boarding pass in hand, I sprinted to through the departure gates, only to find myself faced with a long security clearance queue. Thankfully it moved along pretty fast, but my watch was already showing 10.15. After I cleared security, I dashed to the boarding gate and for once, I was thankful for a flight delay!!! They were still boarding passengers and you can't imagine the relief I felt when I finally sank my ass into the plane seat. Seriously, I've never been more stressed out and traumatised!!!

But that's not the end of it. When I arrived in Tokyo, I saw my name being held up on a piece of paper by a member of the ground staff as I was exiting the plane. And I'm thinking, "What now??? I'm not expecting any limo service so this can't be anything good."

As expected, it wasn't.

My luggage didn't arrive on the same flight as me because I had checked in really late. In the end, they sent it to my hotel the next day but with my combination lock missing! As a security measure, they had asked for the code because I think customs must have wanted to check to make sure I had no drugs, weapons or banned substances in it. But they forgot to put the lock back!!! Pissed off.

Anyway, with this sort of crap service, it's no wonder AlItalia is now being bought out by Air France-KLM. If I can help it at all, I'm never flying with them again!

Posted by DSD at January 19, 2008 12:37 AM