6.25 SATURDAY-Part II ZURICH BOUND

OR

So We Hope…

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You should have, what do you want the phone number of the Ship for?”

“You needed the nap… but Um….Erh… Well ya see… it seems that I….”

Wait for it…

The baggage pull and half-hearted Farewell to the bleary eyed Ships Officers – including the  Lovely Hana of the still dazzling smile – went well.  The subsequent “Short” walk to the bus and the 1 ½ hour trip to Basel Airport were also pretty uneventful.

As we pulled in, a Viking Rep boarded calling our name but we were already on the departure curb looking for Renee’, our van driver who was then introduced by the Viking rep and after retrieving our LUGGAGE, led us through the airport, and down to his Van for the Trip to Zurich.

A little over halfway there is when I lurched from my nap to the opening dialogue that was completed with…

“I…Uh… seem to have left my camera case and jacket on the bus.”

“W.T.F.!!! No Way! –Ya gotta be kidding me, you shoulda woken me long before we reached the point of no return, we coulda gone back for them!”

“Yes way – and you needed you're nap!”

“Not as much as I needed your camera and jacket here, and not in Basel!”

A call to the Ship got Lovely Hana of the - ok, you know – who assured us that she would ensure the items were retrieved and shipped back to us. 

And just in case… I called Bojan’s mobile number as I knew he was still in Basel awaiting the arrival of down the Rhine passengers - who had know idea they would miss Basel in lieu of a bus ride to Strasbourg.  Bojan  confirmed that he had found our stuff and had run through those departing without anyone claiming them when, Hana, of the… Enough Already… called and alerted him whose it was and all would be handled when they get to Cologne.
{And now you know why the Pics from Strasbourg on are delayed for the NOWAT and the Picasa album}

Ok… That crisis averted, so to speak, now on to Zurich and a hopefully uneventful flight home.  I just want my own bed tonight.

Wishful thinking…

“Ding”

Went my phone, up pops an alert from… DELTA Freakin’ AIRLINES!!! 
Flight 408 is delayed 2 hours now departing at 1543 hours. .

W T F !!! - NO –

DOUBLE WW-TT-FF!!!

This means we will miss our connection to MIA and that was the last flight today!!!

A call to DELTA got us the “We'll Call you back Message” - which came in 3 minutes and we were still on hold for 10 minutes.  Nothing was accomplished as we were advised to check in at Zurich terminal and they could handle it from there.

NOT!!!

As Renee’ dropped us at DELTA departures, and Chucky’s anxiety level was climbing the scale, we found Delta Customer Assistance agent Marie, who nervously weathered Chucky’s Not-So-Calm presentation of the issue and proceeded to try and find a solution… of which there was no immediate one for today.

Ok… lets work on tomorrow, and:

“DELTA WILL arrange for overnight accommodations near JFK since DELTA, not we, caused this fiasco… YES?”

“Yes Sir, we'll handle it – the agents in JFK are aware of the situation and will have reservations for you and vouchers.”

Marie began looking for flights when my phone “Dings” again advising me that DELTA’s system had automatically booked us on the first flight tomorrow –a 6:00AM flight from JFK to Atlanta with a 3 hour layover and connection to MIA having us traveling 10 hours to get home instead of the original 4 – longer than the flight from Zurich!.

UNACEPTABLE!!. 

Marie gets the message and now tries to undo that mess, finding a direct flight at 11:30AM, and makes reservations for two - but can only see one seat.

WHAT?!?

How can you book 2 passengers and only one seat – Who gets to stand all the way to MIA?!?

She assures us that more seats exist, just the system hides them from her, but they will be awarded at the departure gate in JFK – no guarantees they will be together.

Lovely…NOT!

“But an overnight room and transfer vouchers will happen at JFK YES???”

“Yes Sir, they already know about it and my notes in your file reflect that, so yes, all will be OK.”

Why does he have a sinking feeling that it wont be?

We decide to check bags rather than carry on and even the check in agents - way over there - know us on sight and by name now [guess she did make good notes].
Next, time to find a spot to squat for breakfast [the only thing decent was a “Sports Bar”.

Hey, beer has all sorts of cereals in it, Hops, Rice, Barley Malt… along with a Breakfast Wrap.

And then a spot to charge our electronics. My spare phone battery is in - you guessed it... the camera case.

3 hours later, time to traverse Swiss Customs and Security – which didn’t like the way we packed our “Liquids”. 

Hey… TSA Pre-Check said I could leave them in the bag [apparently that doesn't count in Zurich]

Then the train ride to another terminal, up 2 floors and a 1/2 mile trek to the departure gate with a relatively uneventful flight home.

Little sleep was had by Chucky so he watched a movie or two - DL of course can sleep in a battle zone - and we arrived on time in NYC.

What… you think the DRAMA is finally  over …

Fat Chance.

Stay tuned for our arrival at the DELTA Re-Check Counter at JFK and the next installment of:

Chucky and the DELTA Agents... 

[note the plural]

Or Sumpthen’ like that. 

Ciao für Jetzt

Uncle Chuck & The “Oh Please Let This Be Over”,

Dragon Lady