Sunday, January 04, 2004

Flying The Unfriendly Skies & The Perils Of Traveling Internationally With An Ungrateful Cat   Just got in from the almost two weeks spent in Texas for the holidays.  While I will write about that tomorrow or Tuesday, I first need to get a few things off my chest about my trip home.   As you might know, I’ve been trying since last summer to get my cat, Franklin, over here to my new home in Germany.  I’d originally planned on bringing him with me, but then I found out I didn’t have his medical paperwork in order, so he had to stay behind.  Then I was going to ship him over by himself, but because of the extremes in temperature, the cost, and just the fact that he’d never forgive me for something like that, I chose to leave him with Marcela’s family in Mexico and bring him back with me after Christmas.   Now, going into this weekend, I knew that the cat needed a recent health certificate with the necessary shots in order to get into Germany.  Fair enough, which we managed to get for him before leaving Eagle Pass.  Also made sure I had a pet carrier of the required specifications that United Airlines had told me about on the phone.  I even asked United Airlines if there was anything else I needed for Franklin to get into Germany.  The answer was pretty much just the health certificate and rabies vaccination.  Great.  I have that.  Let’s go.   So Franklin got shoved into the carrier around 9am on Friday and we eventually made our way to San Antonio.  Once there, we discover that the flights into Chicago were delayed because of poor weather at O’Hare, but that if I missed my connection to Frankfurt, I’d be given a free hotel room and re-booked for the next day.  Sucks for Franklin, but ok.  Can’t beat a free room.  I even asked again, “Free?”  Free.   We arrived in Chicago two hours late and I had missed my flight to Germany.  In trying to get the free hotel room, I learned that my room was going to be $61 over free and that half of the airport was trying to get into that same hotel.  It was past midnight before I was checked-in.  No dinner.  No vending machines with food in that hotel.  Just room service that everyone else was trying to order and therefore backlogging by almost two hours.  Franklin and I went to bed hungry that night.  I on top of the bed.  Franklin under.    Next day (Saturday) I arrived at O’Hare almost four hours before my flight just so I could make sure there’d be no problems with Franklin getting on the flight.  Much to my horror, I was told by the United Airlines ticketing lady that while Franklin did indeed need a health certificate, that certificate had to be translated and certified in German.   I wish she was kidding.  She wasn’t.   No one had told me about this.  Not United.  Not their website.  Not anywhere else I’d looked or anyone I’d talked to.  Basically she said there was no way he was going on that flight without it.  I asked for a supervisor, and after 20 minutes, an extremely rude supervisor for United Airlines told me that basically I was the one who’d screwed up and that she was putting me on a later flight.  She did hunt down the number for Frankfurt’s customs office and tried to call them, but she couldn’t dial internationally from her phone and refused to use my calling card.  She suggested I go to Immigration at O’Hare and see if they’d help me.   Great.   So I haul ass to Terminal 5 from Terminal 1 to find Immigration.  On the way, I stop at a pay phone and try calling Frankfurt myself.  Success.  The woman I spoke to said that the health certificate in English was not a problem.  Feeling better about our situation I hauled ass back to Terminal 1 to try and get someone to call that number and talk to that lady so I can make the 2:30p.m. flight to Germany.   To make a long story shorter, about an hour later I got someone from United Airlines to finally call Frankfurt using my calling card and confirm that customs people at the Frankfurt airport can actually read English.  United gave me a boarding pass and I rushed to the gate with a little time to spare.   Now the flight itself was interesting because of the top-notch seat they gave me (I’ve never been offered free wine and champagne on a flight before – now I know how the other half lives), but even more interesting was what happened when I got to Frankfurt.   You can probably guess that they lost my luggage.  They managed to do that with incredible ease, though while in Chicago they swore repeatedly that my bag would be on my flight.  Now they swear I’ll get my suitcase tomorrow.   But that isn’t the funny/sad/ironic until it hurts part.   Guess what happened to me and Franklin at customs in Frankfurt….   Nothing.   There was no one there.  Period.    I walked through the “Items to Declare” gate to present my paperwork for the cat, and there was no one at the tables.  No one around at all.  No one to read my English health certificate.  No one to check his rabies vaccination.  No one to confirm, congratulate, or sympathize with Franklin and I and all the trouble we’ve been through the last several months and specifically the last 72 hours.  I mean, Franklin had to have a thermometer shoved up his butt to get that health certificate.  You’d at least think someone would be there to welcome him into the country.  Give him a pat on his sore ass.  But no.  So I just walked out the next door and was in the terminal.  Three hours later I was home.   By the way, home is a lot whiter than it was when I left.  So are the rest of the homes on my street.  Franklin didn't seem to want to explore the snow, though.  Not when there are three bathrooms in this house to check out.  As I type this I have no idea where he is.  Probably upstairs.   To sum things up, the folks working for United Airlines in the airports at San Antonio and Chicago put Franklin and I through way more hell than either of us deserve.  They misled, lied, and were stubborn in their refusals to listen to what I had to say, which would have solved all of these problems much sooner.  I will say the United Airlines crew on the flight to Germany were great.  The people on the ground are somewhat less so.   So we made it home in just sixty-four hours from the time I picked up Franklin in Mexcio.  Here’s to hoping I see my luggage again within sixty-four hours.   Related Sites: United Airlines Sucks - this person went through similar problems, especially with the "free room" and rude customer service. Untied Airlines (not United -- Untied) United Airlines complaints forum 8:16:43 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.