Portland Redux - Part 2

August 31, 2007

Continued from previous post…

The customs line at Dulles was massive but brisk moving. I still was not worried because of long layover time. I was most amused by the fact that we had to pick up our check-in baggage only to drop it off at another station about 30 meters away after another line. I guess this was because they might want to do a search in between the two places. With so many people and with delayed flights, it did not look like they were going to do very many searches but what do I know? I was back in the concourses before 4 PM local time. My next flight was scheduled for departure at 5:57 PM, but there was already a call for delayed departure time of 6:18 PM.

Even in a flight lasting 5+ hours, the only meal being offered was for purchase. I figured that the fare inside the plane was going to rate as choice so I decided to find something better in the airport. After going through essentially the all of the concourse, I settled on a place called Potbelly Sandwich Works – it sounded like a decent bet, and it was pretty good. I had a something called Spicy Italian with extra meat (Salami, Pepperoni and another spiced meat) with Provolone cheese, which was toasted first before toppings (in my case mustard, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickle, Italian seasoning and some oil. It was a little greasy but not too much so. With drinks, it all only cost $5.50. I took the sandwich and drink to the gate adjacent to mine (because there were fewer people). Feeling quite sated I got up and went back to my gate. It was now 5 PM local time or 10 PM in England.

My flight was cancelled. Now what? I was told to go to one of the information booths. The line nearby seemed very long so I went to the other one. It was even longer. I checked the automated machine to see if I could figure out quickly what my options were. My default option was to take another flight leaving tomorrow morning at 6 AM. Another possibility was to get on a standby for a flight (not a direct flight) that would not arrive in Portland until after 1 AM. Oh great. I decided to go back to the original information booth. The line had grown even longer. Perfect. I decided to get on the line and wait.

I was on the line for over two hours. I passed the time talking to a guy next to me. He was travelling to Portland also but coming from New York. We talked about backpacking and other hiking and mountain climbing trips we had. We also talked about Boston where both of us had lived at about the same time. Other topics included grad school, law school, experiences in Thailand, India and England. I also got boxed in my ears by an 8-year old flailing around while being carried by her father behind me on the line. Between his phone calls to his friends to apprise them of his situation, he lent me his mobile phone so that I could make a short call to my parents to let them know that I’m stuck in Dulles and that I might not be able to get on another plane until tomorrow morning and that I will try to stay with them overnight instead of going to a hotel.

When I finally reached one of the desk I tried to get two things from the airline right away. First I asked if I could fly out of Baltimore (BWI) instead of Dulles – it would be more convenient starting from my parents’ place. No problem. Second I wanted to see if I could get an upgrade in seats in lieu of expenses for hotel and taxi. Instead they gave me a $100 discount voucher for another flight to be used within a year – extendable for another year. I’m not sure if I would ever get around to using this voucher – I would have preferred an instant gratification instead. That’s the short story. The woman who was helping me was quite inept so even after half an hour, we were not close to wrapping things up. She was spending a lot of time talking to pair of adolescent girls playing next to her – one of the girls was the one who boxed my ears earlier while I was waiting in the line. It took a second worker, who was much more efficient, to finish the work in another 5-10 minutes. If I had the second person from the outset, I’m pretty sure the whole thing could have ended in half the time. Finally the last thing on the item was my checked-in baggage. She told me it was in San Francisco. Don’t ask me how. Hopefully it will be in Portland when I get there tomorrow afternoon.

When it was all over it was 8:30 PM. My parents were not answering their landline phone and I couldn’t call their mobile phone using my credit card or by collect call. Only after taking another 30 minutes to get out of my terminal and reaching the information booth at the baggage claim I was able to call them on their mobile phone. They had blindly ventured to Dulles without any information and were on their way back home when I finally reached them. Half an hour later they found me, and another half an hour later my journey for the day was over. No Salsa.