I'm Home...My Luggage Isn't

Oh Airworld, how I haven't missed thee....

The past few months of trips have represented the most travel I have done in a two month span in recent memory. After traveling for work during the better part of a decade, I almost forgot what it was like to be shoehorned into full cross-country flights.

Thank you, Delta, for reminding me.

I shouldn't complain, as my ticket was free, and I was deposited to Kaua'i and returned to Boston safely. All six of my flights were on-time (yes, six flights for a round-trip. Double connections are my faaavorite!)

My ticket cost exactly $10 and 65,000 miles. But Delta managed about $20 in food from me during my flights westbound, and earned another $30 total ($15 each way) for my checked bag, which still is not in my possession. I am told that my suitcase ended up on a JFK-Pittsburgh flight somehow. Perhaps the astute luggage handlers at JFK confused the initials BOS with the equally similar initials PIT.

On the two 5 hour flights I flew today, one from Lihue-Los Angeles and the other from LA-JFK, I had window seats on jammed-packed planes, and did not get up once on either flight. Deep vein thrombosis did not kick in, and thanks to the magic of Tylenol PM, I slept for much of the overnight leg.

I had the pleasure of sitting behind a talker on the brief JFK-BOS flight, and felt just a bit bad for the couple who were seated next to this gentleman who talked for, no joke, 55 minutes before after boarding and while we waited on the incredibly busy JFK tarmac. It's never a good sign when 30 minutes after pushback, you're "number 10 for departure." I would have felt worse for them if they hadn't continued to entice him to speak with mild phrases of interest ("wow," "no way," etc.) But they did. So they bore the consequences.

The best part about having your luggage not make it onto the flight home is the waiting at baggage claim. It would be handy if they announced which customers should not expect to see their bags, but that's left for passengers to figure out after waiting for the final bag to drop 30 minutes later.

So, I'm home with a mean tan to kick off the summer, some awesome photos and memories, and a suitcase full of clean clothes somewhere in Pittsburgh, thanks to the washing machine at our Kaua'i condo, and to Delta airlines.