Bitter and Cynical

It has been quite some time since I created a post in my blog. It has been a really long week. I always knew I was bitter and cynical but I never knew I could get worse and clearly, I have been proved wrong.

I left 71 Leuvensestraat Den Haag on Saturday (the 22nd) around 0230 hrs, taking a hofstadtaxi to Den Haag Centraal and was feeling nostalgic about the innumerable rides to the Centraal station. We never appreciate the value of our daily routine until it ceases to be one. The taxi driver was very nice and wished us (my boyfriend had come along, to send me off - he is a star!) happy holidays. He did not know that I was leaving for good. Waited for the train in the freezing cold, boarded, reached Schipol safely. Everything was fine. Behold! Not so easy! That was my last smile in two days.

It all started with the penalty I had to pay for having my ticket advanced to an earlier date, since I wanted to attend my graduation on the 24th. Paying the penalty at the airport desk would save me thirty euros, I was told. Being the ever stingy intern, I chose this option, of course (Don't you agree, Neela and Rashmi??). What we saw there was just about enough to freak even Buddha. There were about a hundred and fifty people in the queue at 0500 Hrs and my check in was supposed to close at 0645 Hrs. Above all, the KLM desk would not open until 0530 Hrs, we were told. I fail to see the logic. If they expect people to pay penalty prior to boarding their flight, wouldn't they know that there are flights even during midnight? Worse, there were no separate queues for different purposes - booking, cancellation, information, penalty, et al. No sir, we dont have them. Everyone is equal, so just shut up and stand in one big queue until two of our seventeen booths are open and two beautiful women sit before one computer (after they finish their espressos) to work. God, how could this airline be making profits? Have they heard of the term customer service/satisfaction? Do they even realise that a ticket office is not just for booking tickets?

I somehow weasled out of this situation by calling up the emergency line at ICC and getting the problem sorted out. Even there, I had a problem. The woman at the travel desk did not accept cash - she wanted a credit card! The banks in the Dutch land do not give credit cards to foreigners that easily, yet they want every single expat to own a credit card. Why would a 22 year old intern/student hold a credit card? If I pay in cash, wouldnt a receipt for it be an equally good evidence of payment?

Then started the whole process of going through baggage check-in, security check, et al. There again, the queue for the security check was a complete joke. Airline staff kept moving in and out of these queues with baggage loads, this and that. We never knew where the queue was, half the time. After all this, I reached the gate finally and in time. Whoa! How happy I was! Alas, only for a few minutes. We were told that the staircase was covered with ice and had to be defrosted (de-iced, as they announced) before we could board. Staircase covered with ice? The engines and the wings I can understand (this was a problem too, later about that) but the staircase? Wouldn't you imagine that an airline would have additional/spare staircase, especially in countries such as these when you very well know what the weather conditions are going to be, in December? Okay, that took about 45 minutes. I was still convinced the flight would reach Paris in time giving us just about enough time to catch the connecting flight to Chennai. No sir, that did not happen.

Once we boarded the flight, fastened our seat belts and had yeuck lime juice and crappy biscuits, the pilot very kindly announced that there was ice on the engines and the wings and that we would have to wait for another half an hour for them to be de-iced. He was quite proud of the fact that our flight was the first in a row of flights to be de-iced. Half an hour became forty five minutes and eventually, after about two hours, the flight took off. No news about our connection flights. Nothing.

Luckily, I found a group of young tamilians who were travelling to Chennai in the same flight. They proved to be very helpful and friendly. It is always nice to have good company to undergo such agony. We ran to the transfer desk at CDG, Paris (I never ever imagined that I would, one day, hate Paris!). It took forty five minutes for every person to get their connecting flights sorted out. But I realised that the Air France staff at the transfer desk were very efficient - in the sense that they checked out every possible option available to get the passenger to his/her destination as early as possible. When the guy who was handling my transfer told me I had to wait until sunday evening, I almost cried. I had to explain to him that I had to be in Chennai on Monday, early morning, for my graduation. He took pity on me and somehow managed to get me on to a flight to Bangalore on Sunday (23rd) and then to Chennai. It was too close, but it was something!

The hotel where we stayed - the less written about it, the better. I had this fancy dream of staying in a luxury airport hotel. Whoa! It was anything but that. The food was even worse. However, I met a lovely English couple in the restaurant and we found a place together for dinner. It was one of the best dinners I have ever had in my life (in terms of company and not food -definitely not!). The way the woman told the waiter to smile (she actually made him bend, took his face in her hands, taught him to smile!) while he served food was hilarious yet brilliant. She enlightened me as to how I should sneak out the food coupon and mail it to AF :) Anyways, I did not have any lunch, so I intend to send my coupon along with a complaint letter sometime this week. It was so refreshing and heartening to see such a lovely couple!

0700 hrs - 23rd - woke up, ran to catch the shuttle to the airport, made good timing, finished every single check and reached the gate at 0900 hrs - the flight was at 1100 hrs. Well, boarding was announced. Got my boarding pass. Got on to the shuttle that would take us to the flight. 5 mins - an AF employee gets on to the shuttle, announces that we have to get down and 'de-board' - there was a technical problem. After half an hour, we were told that 3 toilets were not working. I must mention here, that every single announcement was made in French twice and once in English. When we asked for the announcements in english to be repeated, it was refused as a matter of fact. They did not even tell us 3 out of how many toilets were not functioning - but we were told that the Pilot would not take the flight off until every single passenger agrees. How are we supposed to gauge what possible damage could occur unless we know 3 out of how many werent functioning? Above all, what drove me crazy was the remark of an AF staff! He switched off the microphone and turns to his colleague to say - the business class passengers would not like this - they will not want economy passengers to come into their cabins to use the toilets! I couldn't believe I was hearing it! They were ready to cancel the flight because economy passengers shouldnt use business class toilets! And he was commenting on indian toilets and how toilets were important for them there. We had to literally fight to get that plane off and we did that, didn't we!

Landed in Bangalore - almost missed my baggage - retrieved it eventually and ran to the domestic airport - the jet airways flight took off on time (thankfully), reached Chennai, ran home, showered, raced to the convocation venue, slept off through the chief guest's speech, had to be woken up to get my medals, got them in a daze, got the hell out of there, had an awesome lunch at saravana bhavan, came home, switched on the air conditioner and slept off. Have been doing that for the past five days.

Anyways, it was all worth this - http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/25/stories/2007122555080600.htm

Will come up with something cheerful soon - may be about the song that I am recording now! Ciao until then!