Last week I
experienced not one but two miracles in this season known for such events. Both
were travel-related and both could have largely ruined an otherwise wonderful
two weeks of family time.
Background
Last Friday
I began a 2+ week trip with 6 legs. On Friday I flew to Chicago, Saturday to
Oklahoma City, Monday to Boston, and tomorrow I will be heading to Cancun,
followed by a return to Boston then a final trip back to DC. The first miracle
occurred in Oklahoma City.
Miracle 1: The Bag
As this was
a two-week trip involving two climates and many levels of attire, I chose to
check a bag. I never do this because it adds a ton of time to check it when you
get to the airport and pick it up at baggage claim, but I do admit I’m not
entirely opposed to it because it does make the travel experience itself much
easier since I don’t have to worry about boarding early because I have no bag
to put overhead, and I also don’t have to lug it around a bunch of airports.
On Friday
flying American direct DCA-ORD I checked my bag without issue. Saturday morning
I checked it at MDW over an hour before I took off for a direct
AirTran-operated Southwest flight to OKC. The flight was 30 minutes early on arriving
– my bag was not. I went to the baggage office where I found out, along with
about 15 other people, that there was a baggage ramp failure at Midway and my
bag would probably be on the later flight.
No such
luck. In fact, no such luck for 48 hours. Unlike the legacy carriers, Southwest
is a bit behind technology-wise. Not only is there no way to track your bag
online, there is in fact no way to track your bag at all. They provide you a
central phone number to call to get information, but until the bag actually
shows up at its destination, the system doesn’t keep track of its whereabouts.
So for 48 hours neither I, nor more importantly Southwest, had any clue where
my bag was.
In the
meantime Southwest gave me $50 for toiletries. By comparison, Delta gave me $50
per day. This makes a huge difference when your bag is lost for more than 24
hours. I used Southwest’s $50 the first night on basics plus new underwear and
socks. Luckily I had already met my girlfriend’s extended family once so they
hopefully didn’t judge me too hard for wearing the same sweater, pants, and sneakers
two days in a row (including at church). After two days though I felt gross
enough in the same food- and baby-stained clothes to go to Kohl’s and buy a new
sweater, pants, and belt (my other one snapped in half when I took it off that
night).
On Monday morning,
two days after I’d arrived in Oklahoma, I put my customary call into the
baggage office and, lo and behold, my bag was on its way for delivery. It
arrived at 1pm. We left for the airport not two hours later. A Christmas
miracle!
As an aside
I took a look at the bag tag when it arrived. For some reason it had gone
through Houston on its way to Oklahoma. I’m guessing that since the only
flights from Midway to OKC are on AirTran’s relatively small 717s, and during
this time those planes are chock full of people and bags, they didn’t have
enough leftover capacity to squeeze the missing bags on. I have written to
Southwest to request reimbursement for both toiletries and clothes, and will
also write to them requesting a significant number of points for their utter
failure to get my bag to me on time.
Miracle 2: The Passport
On Sunday
afternoon, at that point still bagless, I called my family to let them know the
situation as I would probably have to head to Wal-Mart or somewhere at home
this week to stock up for the Cancun trip. My father happened to ask if I still
had my passport, which made me realize it was sitting in my desk…back in DC.
An
outward-calm, inner-panic ensued. I thought perhaps I could change my flights
and spend some points heading down to DC to pick up the passport on the way to
Boston, as well as to get some replacement clothes from my apartment since my
bag still hadn’t turned up and I figured it was gone for good. First, though, I
called the front desk of my apartment building and told them the situation.
All I can
say is, thank goodness for a young man named James. James answered the phone,
followed my absurd rigmarole of instructions on how to get into my bedroom, and
shipped my passport the next morning with FedEx Priority Overnight. Incredible
person, thank you James.
Unfortunately
that wasn’t the end of the story. The package arrived in Boston as expected on
Christmas Eve morning, but then it didn’t move. It passed the 10:30am delivery
time and it was still at the airport. I called FedEx’s 800 number and was told
there was some delay due to high volume (duh it’s Christmas…) but my package
would be delivered by the end of the day.
That answer
wasn’t good enough for me. I called again around 1pm and learned that it wouldn’t
be delivered by the end of the day, it would only get to the regional delivery
center by then so I would have to go pick it up there.
Around 230pm
I called again because it still had not moved from the airport and I was
getting nervous. This time the rep couldn’t even promise it would get to the regional
facility. With time running out my father and I dashed to CVS to print some
passport photos and then sped downtown to the Boston passport facility to beg
them to print me a new passport. It closed at 4:00; we arrived at 3:50. An
incredibly kind officer named Scott gave me an appointment time for the 26th
and helped me put my paperwork in order. Problem solved.
But if I
could avoid paying $500 for an emergency passport I wanted to. My dad and I
headed to Logan airport and went into the FedEx cargo facility where we were
told our package in fact had left
their facility and was on a truck somewhere on its way to the Needham regional
center. We called the 800 number and put a “tracer” on the package, meaning
that at its next stop it would be pulled out so we could pick it up, and then
we drove over to Needham.
Turns out we
weren’t the only ones with package problems on Christmas Eve. There was a line
of 5 people in front of us all with the same issue: their promised delivery hadn’t
occurred. And boy were they pissed. I felt horrible for the FedEx staff since
they had obviously been dealing with this all day and none of the delays were
their fault. But that didn’t change the fact that FedEx (and it appears UPS)
had royally screwed up this season and had not correctly anticipated the volume
of shipping they would be handling.
Once it was
our turn we explained the situation to a rep. She told us not only was the
package probably not there, but even if it was there it was in a big shipping
container and would be almost impossible to find until the container had been
sorted. Oh, and the sorting wouldn’t take place until Thursday or Friday. She
also questioned why we had sent it Priority Overnight in the first place, since
FedEx can’t guarantee delivery times during the holidays.
Well that
wasn’t exactly what we wanted to hear. And also the shipping guarantee is a
load of crap. How could so many
online retailers offer overnight shipping on the 23rd with a
guarantee of Christmas Eve delivery if FedEx couldn’t guarantee it themselves.
Not possible. Anyway, we asked her very kindly to have the staff look for the
package, which she did. She told us it would be awhile. We sat down, and while
we waited we watched the FedEx staff magically appear from the back room every
couple minutes with another and another astonished customer’s previously lost
package. Our hopes were up, but we were still skeptical. 15 minutes later, a
lady came from the back room and called my name. I was shocked. It was my
passport.
Now who knows
if this was an amazing delivery staff, a failed tracking system, or just bad
back-end customer service. I don’t really care. I am very grateful to the staff
that spent the time looking for my package, and I am grateful to have it.
FedEx has
already agreed to refund the shipping costs for Priority Overnight. I have also
written in to them to request reimbursement for the $25 I paid for passport
photos. We’ll see what happens there.
Happy
holidays to all!
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