The flight from hell

The endeavor games were a great experience for me, I learned a lot and made some new friends, the event was fun, the flight home was another story. I flew home on Sunday, I checked my fencing bag, my fencing chair and a small suitcase. This came to a grand total of $185.00. I understand paying for my fencing stuff, however the small suitcase makes no sense, I'm not being lazy I'm traveling on my own and don’t want to heft a suitcase thru the airport. With the money that the airlines make on baggage fees I think they can make an exception for a person with a disability, hell the state of California doesn’t charge people with handicapped placards parking fee's, all I'm asking is one bag, I don’t think that is asking too much.

After checking my bags I made my way thru TSA, the officers were pleasant enough, what cracked me up were the able bodies individuals who were complaining about the pat-down search, folks, even before the new procedures were enacted I have always been subject to pat-downs by airport security, its all part of flying. So I make it thru security and find my gate, the plane is delayed ,so I settle down with an e-book and wait. A friendly gate agent called me to the desk and asked if i'd like to switch to a flight that got me into Atlanta earlier, I jumped at the offer and asked the gate agent if my bags would be transferred to the new flight, I was told the would so I took the new flight. I made my way over to my new gate and as is my normal procedure I took advantage of a low in the traffic and asked the gate agent to go ahead and place a gate claim tag on my chair. I have flown quite a bit in my life and placing a gate check usually means a day glow pink tag gets placed on my chair, I roll down the jet way to the aircraft where a ramp worker takes charge of my chair and safely tucks it in the belly of the plane where it rests comfortably until we are reunited at my destination. Apparently a gate check to this particular gate agent meant that I was supposed to give up my chair and sit on a seat in the waiting area for over an hour. My wheelchair is like my legs, actually it is my legs, yeah I don’t give up my “legs” for any period of time I keep my butt in my chair until it's time to get on the plane. I don’t know how many of you have flown, but when you hear the announcement that states “ airline X would like to offer pre-boarding services for those individuals needing a little extra time, or those traveling with small children” I qualify as one of those individuals who needs a little extra time down the jet way. That has been policy for as long as I can remember and has been the way every airline has boarded me in the 80 plus flights that I have taken, apparently that policy changed on Sunday, because when it came time to get on the this flight it was decided that I could board the plane with the herd of other travelers, now I am all for equal treatment but there are times when safety take precedence over equality. I managed to get to my seat after waiting for the travelers ahead of me to wrestle with a stroller and a few bags and getting jostled all the way to my seat.

The flight to Atlanta was uneventful I enjoyed a few more chapters of my e-book watched the sunset from window seat and reflected on the things I learned at the tournament. I made my way from the gate to baggage claim and waited for my bags to appear on the carousel, and waited and waited. After 30 mins had passed and no bags had appeared, I rolled over to the baggage services department and asked the obvious question, “where is my stuff?” The baggage services personnel located my bags and informed me that they were still on my original flight! They offered to deliver my bags to me Monday morning but at the time that flight was only an hour out so I figured i'd stick around and wait. So after enjoying an airport hamburger, fries and a coke I made my way to the baggage carousel where my bags were expected to arrive. I received my first bag without incident, then it was off to the oversized baggage claim area to pick up my fencing chair and my gear! My fencing chair arrives on the conveyor belt fliped over upside down, and damaged, the gear was ok thank god, but it was time to head back to baggage service and report damage to the fencing chair. I have been waiting for a claims specialist to contact me since Monday, still no word. I'll keep you all updated on how things turn out, until then I'll trade you cookies for funds for a new fencing chair!