Journey Jotters

Ah! what I wouldn’t give to be a child again and enjoy the glorious days of summer!

The first day of our summer trip dawned slightly cool and wet, with a morning drizzle. Each family had three check-in luggage, couple of backpacks, a small carry-on, and we each carried our heavier jackets. Our flight to Boston was on American Airlines and not booked as part of the itinerary on Icelandair. After a leisurely trip to the airport and the check-in, security was done quickly without a hassle. The children, all four of them, were excited to be traveling with each other. After a quick lunch, we were on our way to Boston.

Our connection time in Boston was about 3 hours, enough time to retrieve the luggage and head over to the international terminal to check in for the Icelandair flight. As we laughed and chatted and waited, our baggage rolling in on the carousel. There were a total of six checked in between the two families and as the conveyor belt ground to a painful halt eventually, it became apparent that this trip was going to prove eventful. We counted a total of five bags, one missing with Mr. JJ’s and Sonny JJ’s clothes. I had but one change of clothes for them. Things weren’t looking good.

After a through search of the remaining luggage near the claim area, we headed over to the American Airlines baggage customer service and met with an agent named Em. He was able to tell us that the piece of luggage had been inadvertently loaded onto the next flight into Boston scheduled to land around 8 pm. Our flight to Keflavik was set to depart at 8:45 pm with a boarding time of 8:05 pm.

Agent Em recommended that one of us stay back to pick up the missing luggage. Given that we had to catch a bus to the next terminal, go through check-in and security that would have been impossible. Instead, we requested that AA transfer the luggage on the next flight at 9:30 pm to Iceland. Now since the AA itinerary was not linked to the Icelandair one, we weren’t sure if AA would oblige. In any event, Mr. JJ filled out all the relevant details of our hotel in Reykjavik and the agent promised to do all he could to get the luggage to our hotel in Iceland over the next day or two. While we were thankful he did not completely refuse to help us, his reassurances were anything but that. There were two major reasons we worried, the cold weather in Iceland and the cost of buying clothes there.

With worry dampening our spirits a bit, we headed over to the international terminal, completing all the necessary formalities quickly. The Icelandair agent, while very sympathetic to our story, could do little at that moment to help us. She did notate important information linking the lost luggage data with our tickets and the details of the AA flight it would arrive on. By this time, we were ravenous and had just adequate time to finish a quick dinner befor heading to the gate for boarding. Mr. JJ made one last effort by phone to gather information on the luggage but it wasn’t clear who would accept responsibility for transferring the luggage. Would AA come through? Or would Icelandair? Or, if we were lucky, perhaps, they would both collaborate?

Tired and with a full day ahead of sightseeing the next day, we nabbed as much sleep as possible. I wasn’t awake long enough to judge the quality of the service in flight, but did appreciate the mood lighting in the cabin evocative of Aurora Borealis. As the lights of Boston city fell away, and the beauty of the Northern lights soothed us, the worries of the delayed luggage slowly receded and a feverish anticipation flooded my brain. Iceland would soon be within my sights!