Flight To Kabul

My second flight to Kabul was delayed.....After flying over 200,000 miles without any problems, back and forth to places in the Middle East, I finally had a delay. This led to my nonstop flight to Dubai taking off without me.

It was a bright sunny day in San Antonio, but it was pouring in Atlanta, where my Delta flight was connecting to my flight to Dubai. Because of the rain in Atlanta, we were about two hours late in boarding. Finally, we headed out to the runway when the pilot told us Atlanta was on a ground delay or something like this. So we pulled back to the gate. I just knew this would somehow affect my flight to Kabul.

The flight attendant announced that she would find out how many miles we would get for the trip to the runway and back. Ha ha! At least she had a great sense of humor so that helped to cope with just sitting on the runway. Her name was Christian and she is based in Atlanta, so she was just as eager to get going as the rest of us.

After an hour we took off. The flight was smooth and so was the landing. As we waited on the runway in Atlanta for a gate to disembark from, my flight for Dubai took off, which means my flight to Kabul got postponed by one day.

But no problem. I had called the airline while waiting in San Antonio and protected myself on a flight that left the next day. Only the flight was going from Atlanta to Paris and then to Dubai. Only then could I catch my flight to Kabul.

I have never experienced the chaos created by a late flight arrival at an airport so late at night. I had heard about these things from frustrated customers when I worked as a customer service agent for American Airlines in San Antonio, but never had the actual experience. Now my flight to Kabul would be delayed by at least 24 hours. (And can you believe that my company made me pay for the extra cost involved to change my ticket because of flight delay?)

I got off my plane and went to the first counter I could find for my airline. No one was there but the customer service rep. She told me to go down to gate 18, where customer service was located and they would help me there. I got as far as gate five when I ran into a line.

It did not take me long to realize that this was the customer service line to gate 18. So I decided that I would just get a hotel and call from there to confirm my reservation on a flight to Dubai and eventually a flight to Kabul. Actually, I did not need to call. When I got to the hotel, I turned on my computer and went to their website. They had booked me on another flight already.

Now to find a hotel. I went to baggage claim figuring I would find some sort of rep for a hotel. Down there was a board with phones and numbers to all the hotels. I called some of the cheaper ones. No vacancies. So I called one of the higher priced ones and made a reservation. (I got to pay for this, by the way, not the airline.)

They told me they had a shuttle and to follow the signs to where the shuttles were. I started out to find them. I turned the corner to where the shuttles were located and it looked like pandemonium had broken out. What a zoo! What chaos! There were nine spots for the 20 some odd hotels running shuttles. So my shuttle could turn into any one of them. I walked down the length to see if my shuttle was there. It was not. So I went to the number three spot so I could watch for the shuttles coming in.

By now, it was 11:15pm. For fifteen minutes I watched people claw and fight their way to the shuttles. The drivers were even stuffing people into the baggage compartments when possible.

At 11:30pm, the news started spreading that most of the shuttles closed down at 12:00 midnight. It was obvious that not everyone was going to get a ride to their hotel. Things really got bad from there.

I am surprised that brawls did not break out. There was no security to try to keep control of the situation. The shuttle at the number three spot where I was standing left. I was hoping that my shuttle would pull into the spot for there was no way I could get to it before it filled if it parked futher down--this was based on what was happening around me,

Finally, I noticed my shuttle pulling in. I was hoping it would pull into the number three spot where I was standing. It did. Thank God. But, I guess since I was staying at a higher priced hotel, there was not a mad rush of people to get on the shuttle. Only three of us.

So we got to the hotel around 12:14am. There were three major hotels there together and nowhere to get anything to eat. There was not even a snack machine in the hotel I was in. Breakfast was at 6am so after calming down a bit, I finally went to bed. I had a good breakfast the next day. The trip to Paris had no problems and the flight to Dubai was perfect as well. I would make my new flight to Kabul in time.

I was in the back of the plane. I like to sit in the back. Not because if the plane crashes, I have a better chance of survival, but I like to be close to the restroom.

When I was working for American Airlines, people would call in and insist on a seat here or there saying that if the plane crashes, there is a better chance of survival. I would laugh to myself. If the plane drops out of the sky, it does not matter where you are sitting, it is over. All you can do is hope you are prepared for judgment day.

As I was saying, I like to sit at the back of the plane close to the bathroom. Once the flight attendants start doing their drink/food service, the aisles are pretty much blocked. So if you are sitting at the back, then the aisle is only blocked for a few minutes. If you are in the middle, not as bad. But if you are in the front, and nature decides to pay you a sudden call, well then....

In the the back of a plane from Paris to Dubai, (and eventually my flight to Kabul), was an Arab woman with her child. That child fussed and carried on most of the way. He cried and was loud and very disturbing to the rest of us. I figured she was traveling alone. When we got ready to disembark, I found out that she had a husband. He was sitting in first class and never once came to check on them. What a jerk, but it is the normal, Arab male attitude towards women.

When we arrived at passport control in Dubai, no one was in line. I could not believe it. I got to my hotel around 9pm. I like to stay at the Traders Hotel--it is really nice. I ordered a dish called "china beef", ate and went to bed.

When flying out of Dubai, there are two terminals: one and two. One is for flying everywhere but to a few of the Middle Eastern countries. Terminal two is where people catch flights to Iraq, Afghanistan and other similar places. Terminal two has undergone some changes but it is where I would still catch my flight to Kabul.

First of all, they have put in security and line organizers. Before this, it was a scramble to get checked in. Especially with Arab men. They do not have the sense of fairness when it comes to waiting in line like we do in America. It is their country and they tend to force their way to the front. They cannot do that now with the line organizers. Checking in was a breeze compared to the past.

However, I like to get there several hours early and they would not let me pass through the first check point until about an hour before my flight. So I had coffee in the new Starbucks they have there now. Also, they were not allowing people to have more than one carry on. And it could not weigh more than about 20 pounds. Anything over this and you have to pay for it.

The flight to Kabul went off without a problem, except the plane we were on gave passengers very little room. Once arriving in Kabul, we went to the passport line. Once again, no one was in it. It was great.

I was in and out of the airport in ten minutes. I went to the parking lot. Our security guys were there waiting for me. I was back on base in about 15 minutes, and in my office a few minutes later to face a stack of paper work that had accumulated in the 30 days I was gone.

I hope my next flight to Kabul from home is much less adventuresome.

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