My little Odyssey

Hello from Athens!

I am glad to report I arrived safely in Athens yesterday (Friday) afternoon after an adventurous trip.
So, details:
After a 13 hours waiting in a not so nice airport, I headed to my gate where my flight was set to depart. Well the airplane took off alright, but I was not in! Why?
It turned out that a person in AC (you can figure out the initials, hint: it is a carrier) FUCKED UP with my flight.
You see, when I made my ticket reservation (3 weeks ago; it was a return ticket), I got an itinery that had BOTH flights (the one leaving from Montreal, and the one leaving from Frankfurt) confirmed (status, OK) and it was so noted on my ticket.
The fact that when I checked in on Wednesday I got only one boarding pass should raise some suspicions, but the person there (AC again!) told me not to worry since I would get my pass in Frankfurt.
So, imagine my surprise and my frustration when I got my boarding pass to find out (at the gate!) that I was in a waiting list because there was NO RESERVATION under my name....
I had already spent about 13 hours in that airport, I was already tired, so you can imagine I had a really explosive reaction. Of course getting angry and swearing never helps, but anyway, I was directed to a ticket person to see what to do. It was almost 22.00, there was no other flight to Athens for the day, I was tired, almost broke (after all, I was not planning to stay in Frankfurt) and stranded in this @@**!! airport.
The person there explained me that this was not Lufthansa's fault but AC's, because they wrote down on my ticket that both flights were confirmed although the second wasn't.
Furthermore, there was more bad news since

• All 3 flights to Athens for the next day were overbooked (this is holiday season) and the lady there (the ticket person) could just put me on the waiting list for all three of them and
• Since that was not Lufthansa's fault, they would not pay for a hotel room (remember, I had already stayed for 13 hours in this airport and now I had to spend the night in Frankfurt). I have just one thing to say, thank God for credit cards!

Anyway, the cheapest hotel room in the area would cost me € 60, but what to do? I got in the shuttle bus that would get me to the hotel, checked in and told the people to wake me up early in the morning (at 5.30). You see, the first shuttle bus to the airport was departing at 6.00 and although the first flight to Athens was scheduled for 9.30, I really wanted to get there earlier to get a chance to have téte à téte conversation with somebody from AC.
I barely slept for 5 hours and got to the airport the next morning. I eventually managed to speak with somebody from AC who told me that the time I booked (and probably checked in as well), both of my flights were O.K., but (I guess somehow until I got in Frankfurt,) the status of the second flight was just "magically" changed.
She suggested to get to the first flight I was in the waiting list of, since (according to her again) I had a good chance to get on board). When I got to the gate, the people there told me that it didn't look good but they would do whatever they could...
So, I waited and waited and about 15 minutes before the flight was about to leave they found me a seat. "Thank God" I said and got in the plane happy for my good luck. And that would be all you may think...

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO and NO

You cannot even imagine the expression on my face when the captain announced us that there was a LEAK and we would have to deboard the plane......I just started laughing nervously in the cabin. I had been traveling since Wednesday, it was Friday morning and I was still in Frankfurt.

Eventually, they found another plane and we managed to leave at 11.00. After a rather uneventful trip, (well, no complaints there, the crew actually gave us champagne, chocolatebars extra refreshments, you know, to ease the discomfort from the delay) I arrived to Athens yesterday at 15.00 local time.

Right now, I am still recovering from my trip. (I will post the pictures, I always keep my promises, I even took some pictures of my hotel room). But when I fully recover, the AC person in Athens will have such a nice day. You see, I am determined to get to the bottom of this.

From the regularly warm capital of Greece (we had 34 °C today) I greet you all...