Prague Journal

epilogue: July 30, 2005

Our landlady, her husband, and son came to pick us up with two cars at 8am: one car for luggage, one for people. Vojta led the way to the 10-minute free drop-off point with our luggage. We arrived at the airport at 8:20am. We thought we'd have plenty of time at the airport, since our flight was scheduled at 10:30am and there was hardly a line at the Lufthansa desks. But this day would be a very long series of aggravations. First, we spent 20 minutes trying to check in only to be told that we could not be booked because our e-ticket from United was not in the Lufthansa computer. Fortunately, I had the original e-ticket confirmation as well as the printout verifying our flight today from Lufthansa's computer, which I had gotten -- just to insure that our booking was OK -- several weeks ago.
The next 1 1/2 hours was spent at the Lifthansa office desk, mostly on hold to United (in the US, I think), to get a valid ticket number so we could be issued a boarding pass. As the time ticked away, we became more anxious and I finally became assertive and told the agenct -- at the desk and the voice at the end of the phone -- that they needed to get us on the plane. At 10:20, we were told that the flight was delayed until 11am, so we had some breathing time. But at every turn we were told that yes, our reservation was in the computer, but that there was no ticket number and hence, no boarding pass could be issued. The Lufthansa agent, who after an hour of shrugging her shoulders, confessed that this was not an isolated occurance--that United and Lufthansa each have separate computer systems which do not communicate with each other. Finally at 10:45, the agent was given authorization to issue us an "emergency" boarding pass, but only to Frankfurt. The agent said that she would send a telex to Frankfurt so that we could get Frankfurt-to-Denver boarding passes when we arrived at the departure gate. We ran to the check-in counter, where we met the first (and only) person who took our side from the first and expedited our boarding. She checked the bags, assuring us that they would be checked through to Denver . Two of the three bags were overweight (33 and 36 kilos respectively, with an official weight limit of 32 kilos) but she said that that was not a problem, that we had been through enough. She gave us our boarding passes and escorted us to the front of the passport control line, and told the passport agent to get us through quickly. She went with us to the security screening and did the same there. We ran to the plane and got to our seats, which were middle seats separated by three rows. The stewardess, the second nice person of the day, asked the man in the aisle seat next to me if he would mind moving, so Rick and I could sit together for the 50-minute flight to Frankfurt. The seats were terrible--right in front of the exit row so they did not recline. But the flight was uneventful and we arrived in Frankfurt with 1 1/2 hours before our flight to Denver was set to depart.
So, again we thought we had plenty of time. Not so. It took an hour to get through another round of security before we arrived at the designated departure gate. There we met a surly agent who said that she had received no communication whatsoever about our situation and that we should have talked with United, since it was "our problem" that we didn't have a proper boarding pass. Despite her insistence that we were to blame for the snafu, she managed to get an approprite ticket code to get us on board with only minutes to spare before the flight was set to leave. This time we were given bulkhead seats, so we had some legroom. Again, we were able to exchange one of our seats so that we both ended up together. I even had a window seat!
So, we settled down to a pleasant 9-hour flight. The flight crew were very courteous and the food -- we had two meals-- was fine. We even got chocolates and extra drinks on request. The flight arrived in Denver on time. We knew we were in the US as soon as we were greeted with a warm smile, even by the passport officer. (I should mention that we were in the US-passport line, not the line for foreigners visiting the US, who may not have been greeted so pleasantly.) Then the DIA "welcome host" directed us to the appropriate baggage carousel. After waiting for over an hour, it became clear that our bags had not gotten on the plane, depsite the fact that our names were not on the list of "missed" bags. We didn't have to figure out what to do next, however, since the baggage agent escorted us to the claims desk as soon as it became clear that all the bags had been unloaded from the aircraft and ours was not among them. Filling out the claim form took less than a minute. We were assured that our bags would arrive the following day and they would be delivered to our house between 6 and 7 pm. Going through customs was also quick and friendly.
Next, we boarded the rental-car bus to the appropriate lot. I had made an online reservation, but had had our good friend Vivien call so that we could get a AAA discount, which could not be done online. however, when we got to the rental car desk, we were told that no discount had been entered and none could be given at the time of rental. I must say, however, that the young man at the desk was pleasant and offered to upgrade the car for us.
So, we drove to our house and foolishly expected that (1) it would be ready for us to move in and (2) that Matt would meet us for dinner. On the second point, Matt had decided to go to a Rockie's game, so he didn't show up until after 10pm. On the first point, the house was in terrible shape -- mostly dirty but lamps and chairs were broken and all the furniture we had left set up (dressers, desks, bookshelves, etc) had been disassembled and put in the storage room. All but four of my houseplants were gone; the remaining ones were skeletons of their former selves. Even the telephone had been taken out of the wall outlet. Matt's drum set had been dismantled and was stacked in several boxes on top of the furniture in the furnace room. We felt pretty demoralized. Fortunately our neighbor lent us her vacuum cleaner and some bedsheets and pillows and let us use her telephone. We went to the grocery store to get paper towels, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies. Then we went out for a quick bite to eat until Matt arrived.
Sunday was a day of cleaning and moving and unpacking necessary items (kitchen and office stuff, sheets and towels). I set the sprinkler system to water the parched lawn. Our wonderful friends Jim and Vivien came by around 11am with coffee, tea, and cookies. They helped us set up tables and move furniture. Just their moral support was enough to brighten our spirits. We went to their house for dinner: scrumptous steaks on the grill, salad and ice cream (and beer, but not nearly as good as what Rick had gotten used to in Prague). Our bags finally showed up after 11 pm.
On Monday I called the phone company to reinstall a phone line to our house. Our computers are connected, thanks to a neighbor's wireless. We are slowly cleaning and unpacking. We went to Walmart to buy lamps, more cleaning supplies, light bulbs, wall spackle, etc. Right now it's Monday evening and Matt has arrived after a long day at work so that we can have dinner together--pizza delivered to our door. We'll move more furniture--and unpack a few more boxes-- this evening.

posted by JWinn @ 7:14 PM