Redeeming

Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash

Are you a coupon collector? 

I am not, mailny because I have enough paper and clutter in my life. However, I don't mind benefits that are accumulated electronically. Such as frequent traveler miles.

As we were planning our trip, it must have been in 2005 or so, my miles were about to expire, so I was determined to redeem them and get free flights. 

We ended up getting seats for the following itinerary:

Zurich - Geneva - JFK - Washington D.C. - Miami

It was a bit of a stretch, but hey, we only paid for the airport tax (with four landings it started to add up, though.) The flight back would be much better: 

Miami - JFK - Zurich.

Easy peasy. 

Or so we thought. 

The lady who checked us in, said she could only do so for the Miami - JFK part. The other flight was blocked in her system. 

Why would THAT be, please? 

Because the transfer time was less than 90 minutes. And 90 minutes was the minimum requirement to make sure the bags could be unloaded, brought to another terminal and loaded onto the other aircraft. 

OMG! I started sweating. I had chosen the shorter layover on purpose because I didn't want to hang out at the airport for hours and hours!! 

So what should we do, we asked her?

Get your bags yourself and re-check them.

Now HOW should WE be able to do this, if even the cargo guys with their fancy conveyer belt system couldn't do it???

Photo by Calle Macarone on Unsplash

Again I texted my flight attendant friend who told us to just forget about the bags and run, so at least we could make the flight. 

Nooo! My nice purchases :-( 

I had not only shopped for clothes and sneakers, but contact lense solution. A bottle in the USA contains twice as much solution, but costs only half as much!

Before descending, the captain explained he was going to need more time than usual, and the airport fire fighters were going to be expecting us. Something about the landing gear, just a precaution, nothing to worry about.

Just what we needed. Delayed arrival. Less than less than 90 minutes. We ended up not needing the firefighters, but it sure looked dramatic, all the fire trucks and police cars with their flashing lights and sirens on, were waiting for us to touch the ground.

We had decided to assign the tasks as follows: Hubby would get our bags and I should play for time at the check-in counter. Which I did, and the people there were very friendly and patient. They even called a guy who was personally going take our bags to the plane - if only they would arrive any minute now, because they needed to close the gate. I assured them it was only a matter of minutes. 

The other clerks were done for the day and were waiting for "my" team so they could go and have cocktails. It was Friday around 4 or 5pm. I so wanted to buy them drinks to thank them for their helpfulness. Hubby arrived with our bags, the check-in girl had our boarding passes and bag labels ready. She took off her high heels and said "RUN WITH ME!" 

Approaching security screening, she yelled at the officers "they are good, let them through!" This was by far the best NYC experience ever! We flopped into our seats panting and sweating, and a couple of minutes later we were taxiing to the runway.

And this, my friend, is why a 90 minutes layover is necessary to make international connections.

Now we know. Some people have to learn the hard way.

Can you relate?