July 20, 2008 | about me
Sorry for being bad blogger. I’m in the bosom of my family, and all things internet are pretty slow here in this bosom as we only have dial-up.
Anyway, the flight was fine if tiring. I was pretty peeved on arrival; although the airline staff in the UK had assured me that I could get my pushchair on the gate in the US, in fact they put it in the hold and it came out with the baggage, which meant that I had to carry a cranky 30-lb toddler and two bags through the entire airport and through passport control, with no help.
But all aggravation was worth it, and we’re happily here now and Fecklet is having a brilliant time running around everywhere yelling “Go! Go! Go!”
Ellen says:
Glad to hear you made it safely and that no one lynched you for having a noisy toddler. Or did he behave???? Sometimes you just want to beat someone over the head when they tell you one thing and do another, don’t you.
Jessica Raymond says:
Ugh, what a nightmare. Write a letter of complaint when you have the time! Things will never change otherwise and you deserve something nice in return for all that hard work (other than toned biceps).
Glad you’re having a lovely time!
MichelleStyles says:
Sounds familiar. Been there, done that — try it with 3 children. They always take the pushchair and don’t return until the baggage. And generally you have to collect it from a different place.
It does get easier as they grow. Promise.
It is good that the fecklet is enjoying himself.
carolc says:
Julie,
Enjoy the family holiday, sounds like you’re having a ball.
Even worse than your pushchair story is the time we checked leaving the plane for our pushchair, were told it would be at baggage collection, but did the airport, passport control trek and were told it was back at our departure gate.
Grr… Took a long for someone to bring it to us as we discovered you can’t go backwards through passport control.
Kate Johnson says:
Next time, when you get off the plane, get hold of a member of staff and ask them for your pushchair. Wait around until they bring it. If you took it to the gate and it was stowed as you boarded, it should be in the forward hold, and perfectly easy to get to. This is where the crew put their own baggage, for that reason.
They shouldn’t put it with the rest of the normal baggage (it might be damaged by the belt system, but it’s much more likely to actually cause damage to the system, which of course is in no one’s interests). Fragile and out-of-gauge luggage is usually brought up by hand–and if they can carry it to Arrivals, they can carry it the much shorter distance to the gate!
This is much easier on a plane with steps (as opposed to a jetbridge) as they’re unloading right onto the tarmac where you’re exiting. Score one for cheapskate airlines!