Entry dramas

The flight from the U.S. to Australia was pretty uneventful.

I flew Qantas for the first time, and they were not too shabby. The coach seats were, as usual, cramped together, but Quantas was better than United in several ways:

• each seat was equipped with its own private viewing screen with a little wired remote that was in the armrest. There were games (including the hit the bricks with the little ball and make them disappear game into which I get hopelessly sucked) and a selection of movies, each playing on one channel over and over again, so if you fall asleep during the flick you just have to wait for it to repeat
• they gave out a little baggie with socks, a sleeping mask, and a little toothbrush and toothpaste
• They were very good about keeping us hydrated and gave out a bag of snacks for us to enjoy throughout the flight.

These things were only standard issue in United's business class cabin going to Australia.

Upon arrival we exited the plane, waited in the long line through customs, and then had talk to an immigration officer about my visa (some confusion over whether I got the proper one, but in the end no dramas...yet). I was allowed in the country and went to the baggage terminal and picked up one of my suitcases and waited for the bigger one that had most of my belongings to drop on the belt.

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And then the belt stopped. There were a couple of bags that looked like mine on the belt, but none that actually were mine.

Shit.

Not really what I needed after being on a plane for 14 and a half hours.

I went to the little Qantas desk and found that I was one of about a dozen others who had suffered the same fate. I gave them my information and they told me that it was likely that the bag did not make the transfer from my domestic flight to the international leg of my journey.
Since my layover in LA was 4 hours long and my other found me, I doubted that. I figured that someone grabbed my bag in error.

But they gave me a lovely bag of toiletries to ease my sorrow, it contained shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, a little laundry detergent, a mini-hairbrush, lotion, and a snazzy white cotton t-shirt and shorts outfit emblazoned with a qantas logo. Also included was a little card which assured me that they were doing everything they can to locate my belongings and that they were sorry for the inconvenience that I'd been caused (nice use of the passive voice on that one to make sure they don't infer that they may be in any way responsible for any troubles).

And, as it turns out, they weren't responsible. Someone had grabbed my bag by mistake.

So, two days after I arrived, I got my suitcase (which contained everything I remember putting in it Stateside).

Now, I know that the big black suitcase looks very similar to other big black suitcases, so to help clear up confusion, I had attached a bright green name tag to the luggage.

I also know that there are many brightly colored name tags on luggage, so to help everyone out, I wrote my name on the name tag, thinking that anyone grabbing the suitcase may take the time to read the name to make sure they have the right bag.

To help clarify things even further, the airline even helped out by putting my name on the sticky handle barcode tag no less than 3 times.

So, as a public service to anyone traveling with checked baggage anywhere, when getting your luggage from baggage claim, take that extra 5 seconds to actually read the name on the name tag and be sure it matches the name that you have come to identify as your own. That extra 5 seconds saves hours of inconvenience and worry for you and the person whose bag you took by mistake, and also saves you from being considered a complete idiot by the person whose bag you took.

If my message helps just one person to refrain from taking the wrong luggage, I'll feel like my plight was worth it.