February 23, 2015

O Suitcase Where Art Thou

I might have jinxed myself. Just maybe. I took this picture and posted it on Facebook on Friday when I left Minneapolis for Dothan, Alabama. I wrote “it’s always good when you see your suitcase being loaded”. That’s mine—the red one with Travel Queen pink luggage tag along side the green smiley tag and Delta Gold Medallion member tag. (Never mind that my Delta status ends at the end of February and I will be back down to being no status).

I might have gotten a bit over confident. After all it has been a long time since my luggage went on an adventure without me. I have always gotten it back eventually. Never actually lost a bag despite one going to Australia on a totally different airline than I had traveled on. They have all been reunited with me after some fashion. So maybe I was gloating a bit too much and the baggage gods decided to take me down a few notches.

My flight to Atlanta was easy and then a couple hour wait to board the flight to Dothan where my true love awaited me. And then it happened. The flight was canceled. No more flights that night and I was rebooked on the afternoon flight the next day. Sigh. There was talk about some equipment malfunction. No one seemed to know the whole story and the Delta staff was baffled by the message that they saw on their screen. Of course it was a weird situation and not weather related so there was no possibility of getting out that night. I was not alone as all the flights to Dothan had been canceled all day long so folks kept getting bumped to later flights and we were all in the same boat.

After making a few calls, talking to a few people I decided to rent a car and drive the 3 hours and 15 minutes so I could get to Dothan that night. There was a car available so all I had to do was get my suitcase and get going. And there was the problem. Because it was early enough that it was not departure time the suitcase could not be released off the plane and there was no indication of when that would be so we decided to file a delayed baggage claim and have it come to me on the next flight out. I did all the right things, followed all the protocol, informed everyone who needed to know that I was driving instead and got my car and headed out. I stopped at a trusty Rite Aid on the way to pick up just a few items that I knew I would need that I did not have and I arrived at The Love Nest (as we call our temporary rental home). All was well.

Waking up the next morning was wonderful. The skies were sunny and warm.

The hubby wore shorts.

Knowing that the earliest flight that my suitcase could be on was at 1 pm we spent the morning running errands, buying furniture and taking care of business that needed done.

Tracking my bag became a bit of a game and the weather information system that was causing the problem at the Dothan airport was still not fixed by the National Weather Service so no flights were coming or going. The Delta app was whack. My bag suddenly disappeared from the tracking system. Delayed baggage. Lost luggage. Phone calls were made. No answers.

Sunday morning more phone calls. Flights are supposedly going out so they told me the suitcase which has been queued up for about 4 different flights is coming today. I can feel it in my bones.

In the meantime I am going to enjoy my back yard and my husband.