One random summer day and the family was ready for a much-awaited family vacation to Italy. Bags were packed and we were en route to the airport. There were six of us – our family of four and my in-laws. We confirmed our flights and boarded our plane for LaGuardia. Lesson One – avoid LaGuardia.
We departed a bit late but nothing that would endanger our connecting flight to Rome. We landed with plenty of time to spare and sufficient time to stroll to the International Gates and our connecting flight. That was until we spent the next 45 minutes encapsulated in our plane on the tarmac without a gate. Once we rolled into the gate and departed our plane, we had just over one hour to make our way to the International Terminal and our connecting flight. LaGuardia was a confusing airport and one that none of us frequented. We found our way but arrived at the desk to check in for our international flight with less than one hour before our scheduled departure. Lesson Two – run, don’t walk.
We were politely informed that we could not board our domestic airline for Rome because we arrived less than an hour before the flight. We were directed to the Italian airline, however, who would be happy to accommodate us and they happily booked us onto a flight. Actually, the flight was direct to Rome, an advantage over our original flight that required a layover in Paris. I worked with the agent at the desk to ensure that our bags were located and ordered the transfer to our new flight and we were then directed to the gate area to await boarding. Lesson Three – politeness does not equal effectiveness.
In the gate area, we noticed our original Rome flight on the domestic carrier had been delayed more than two hours. Funny, we thought, since we were not allowed to board it even though it was probably known at the time that the flight was not taking off as scheduled. Oh well, we thought, we will arrive in Rome earlier on this new flight. Aren’t we lucky? Lesson Four – don’t count your chickens.
We arrive in Rome. The airport is chaos with bags and people everywhere. There are lines at every counter it seems and too few agents in charge. We approach the baggage area and begin to look for our bags. We see our flight posted and bags coming off. Our six bags are no where to be found. After about 30 minutes, we approach one of the long lines at the airline counter in baggage claim. The person speaks little English and we speak no Italian. We communicate through tickets, hand signals, smiles, and ultimately angry faces. We are directed to a large warehouse space with luggage as far as one can see. This apparently is for luggage disconnected from its owners. After walking through the area, we file the paperwork indicating our hotel and how to reach us in Rome and head off in a taxi for the hotel. We have been at the airport nearly 2 hours.
At our hotel, the tour operator provides us with some basic toiletries and directs us to a shopping area to purchase a change of clothes. The in-laws are better prepared and have a change of clothes in their carry-on. It is 90+ degrees outside and we try shopping, returning terribly overheated for dinner at the hotel. In the meantime, my husband has been calling the Italian airline in the US. The airline places blame squarely on the US carrier for not transferring the bags as requested and states that we must deal with the original airline to locate our bags. We call the US airline. They have no record of the bags nor of any transfer request. They do not have the bags in their system and no knowledge of where they might be, suggesting that perhaps the bags remained either on our original plane or were transferred to our original flight to Rome where they might be in LaGuardia, Paris or Rome. Lesson Five – patience is a virtue, but no one you have when your bags are missing in a foreign country.
The next day, we have a scheduled tour of Rome. I carefully hand-washed our original clothes and laid them out overnight. We hoped to rotate outfits for the day, a hot one, and return to find our luggage had been delivered to the hotel. No such luck.
In a last ditch effort, my husband met with the tour guides, one of which was an Italian. He wrote instructions in Italian and directed my husband in English how to take a route back to the airport via local bus and then return hopefully with 6 bags in tow via taxi. It was early evening and my husband ventured out into the night. We estimated that the entire trip would be a bit more than an hour. More than an hour passes and my youngest is in a panic. She was sure her dad was lost in Rome and that he would fall prey to the same people who had our bags – bad guys, no doubt. Almost 2 hours pass and a taxi pulls up to the hotel. My jubilant husband bounds out of the taxi and the driver opens the trunk to unload six bags. My husband tells of touring the large warehouse of lost bags and searching every luggage carrier only to, in a last ditch effort, circle through the claim area one more time, finding the six bags sitting on the floor together against the wall near a conveyor. Lesson Six – never give up.
Upon our return to the US, we filed a claim with the domestic carrier for the clothes we had to purchase as well as for the expense of the taxi and bus to the Rome airport. After almost a year, a surprise was in the mail one day. A check for our expenses and discounts for another flight on the domestic airline. My in-laws were able to file a claim on their travel insurance for their costs, albeit it minimal. Final Lesson – carry on your bags.
In the future, we will always carry on our luggage, at least on the way to our destination. We can always buy items once we reach our destination, even using shipping services to get extra items home for our return. It was a dream vacation nearly ruined but for patience and persistence.