The delights of long-haul travel

Murphy has a field day.

Much can go wrong on long-haul travel: flight delays, over-booking, missed connections, luggage lost, sent to the wrong destination, items stolen, etc, etc. On my travels again, something new has been added to the list. The SAS check-in computer at Arlanda refused to recognize my e-ticket and for a very long time it seemed I would never start my journey, let alone suffer the stress of other mishaps.

They were to come. The initial problem was solved when as a last resort the person checking me in crossed out the words ‘Paper ticket required’ and wrote ‘e-ticket OK’ on my boarding card for the flight to Chicago. A card for the connecting flight to San Francisco, couldn’t be issued — which was just as well as there was never any chance of catching it once the departure board showed the first plane would be four hours late leaving.

An urgent visit to the SAS information desk produced regrets and the information that onward flights could be re-booked only in Chicago. There was nothing they could do. I was given a food voucher for SEK 100, however, usable in any food outlet at the airport.

But Murphy was having none of that. Having planned when I would eat and retreated to an area well away from check-in counters and departure boards, by sheer chance I discovered departure had now been brought forward an hour, then another hour, leaving time only to get through security and go to the gate. Food? Forget it.

But would I make my connection? I might perhaps arrive a little before take-off time, but in the wrong terminal, with immigration, including finger-printing and being photographed, and baggage collection, customs etc. to negotiate it would be hyper-stressful even to try.

On the plane it was announced that passengers with connecting flights leaving up to three-quarters of an hour later than mine would be re-booked. All we had to do was report to the SAS desk at O’Hare. It was almost a relief. I could at least take it easy on the ground.

What a hope! At the SAS desk there was a seemingly endless, seldom-moving queue. Later, it also became clear that if anyone had been re-booked it certainly wasn’t me. I was finally put on a later plane and even given a phone card to make known the change and prevent anyone from meeting the wrong plane at SF.

But first I had to check in again, this time with United. I should have realised. I now had to join another queue, with a good chance of missing even the later flight. When I finally got to the gate, not having had time to make a phone call, there wasn’t a passenger there. A minute or two later and it would doubtless have been closed. As it was, I rushed up to the one official in sight, thrust my new boarding card into her hand and hurried on board.

At long, long last I could sit back and relax during the lengthy wing-dowsing de-icing or anti-freezing process — it was real winter in Chicago — until the captain announced that the temperature had fallen below the minimum allowed by safety regulations for take-off and we were returning to the terminal!

We eventually got away, but such can be the delights of long-haul travel. No wonder some people prefer to stay at home, expense and carbon footprint apart.