I flew out of Rome, Italy on October 30, 2010 and would be entering Bangkok, Thailand the following day—with time change. Of course, with my perception of time things didn’t go as planned. My plane would be departing at 11:20am and I didn’t leave my hotel until 9:45am--despite the fact that I had already missed a flight during my venture in Europe and apparently hadn’t learned from my mistake (lol). The airport was 45minutes away via train, and I sprinted to the train station. I found the corresponding train and reached into my pocket to buy the 12Euro ticket only to realize that I was short 3 dollars—AHHHHH. I looked up at the man with a look of dismay and necessity and said, “Do you think you could float me 3Euros? If I miss this train I will miss my flight.”
With a disgruntled look on his face he took out his wallet and shelled out the remaining balance. I thanked him and hopped on the train nervous, sweating and basically thinking to myself, “was that extra 20 minutes of sleep really worth it?” I think we all know the answer to that......or do we (lol).
The train arrived to the airport at 10:45 and I was lucky that I had already been to Rome’s airport previously so I was somewhat familiar with the layout. I took my bags and ran to check in—this is where shit really hit the fan. I moved to the front of the line seeing that the clock read 11:05—25 minutes till take off. I informed the poorly English speaking employee that my plane would be leaving in 25 minutes to which he responded, “no problem, we will expedite you through security to ensure that you reach your plane on time.”
At this point, my heart beat slows and I think to myself, “I have made it!” However, this assertion proved to be premature since the next words out of the man’s mouth were, “Umm, now I just need to see your proof of ongoing flight out of Thailand.”
“OHH SHITTTT.” What he meant by this is that he needed proof that I had a flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Now I did but the problem was that I booked with Air Asia and they never sent me my itinerary. In Europe I tried and I tried to email them, call them, enter online chat and all of this proved to be futile. I couldn’t get the itinerary sent to me and I was just going on pure hope that I wouldn’t be asked for it upon check in; as you now know, this wish feel short and here I was stuck, with no ongoing ticket and now 20 minutes till take off. I am going to miss yet another flight on my travels to which the ticket is once again non-refundable—or am I?
At this point a kind gentleman whom worked at Sri Lanka airways accompanied me to Thai Airways and informed them of my predicament. They acknowledged the quandary to which they responded, “It is going to cost you 250euros to buy a ticket right now from Bangkok to Phnom Penh.” Now, this is very expensive since the ticket (whose itinerary I didn’t have) that I originally bought only cost me about 50euros. I sighed and accepted the proposition seeing as that my options were limited and time wasn’t on my side. However, at this point one of the employees from Sri Lanka came over and informed me that my flight had been delayed—some good news.
So now I am standing at the desk and feeling quite confident that I am going to make my flight out of Rome, Italy and into Bangkok, Thailand. Ten minutes must have passed when I finally addressed the Thai Airways employee and asked him how much longer it would be. I knew my plane was delayed but I hadn’t been informed by how much so although some of my anxiety and stress had been alleviated, it still remained to be quite prominent. Upon addressing him, he glanced up from his computer and basically said nothing—actually not basically, he did say nothing.
Finally, after another 5 minutes he prints something off—which I can only assume is my ticket-- turns around to his co-worker and laughs—“what,” I ask?
“This is a fake ticket so you don’t have to pay anything. Just show it to Sri Lanka airways and they will let you on the plane.”
Wow, what a relief. I quickly snatch up the ticket before he changes his mind and race to the desk to check in. I get there and everything goes smoothly. I go to security sneak under the velvet rope to the start of the line and get through security and to my gate at 11:35. I am then informed that my plane is delayed an hour—go figure (lol. At this point I bum around the airport, and purchase some ridiculously overpriced Italian pizza and wait for my flight.
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