(Apologies for the lack of photos in this post. As you read, you’ll understand why there are only a couple of photos. We were really not planning on writing about this, but felt that people should know what can happen when you travel)
After many wonderful days exploring Italy, it was time to start our journey home. Leaving is always a bit sad, but we knew that one day we would be back to visit and see more of the sites we missed. In the meantime, it was time to get back to our lives back home. I’d booked a taxi to the airport using the FreeNow app the night before. The driver was on time and loaded our luggage into the vehicle. Our driver was great and pointed out some things during the drive that we wouldn’t have noticed. We arrived at the airport four hours before we were scheduled to depart.
Arriving four hours early was actually a good thing. The line to check in and drop bags for Air France was very long. I made sure to prepay for the added bag prior to our departure. Doing this saved us about $20. Fortunately, the line went pretty quick and about 30 minutes later, we were heading through security to the terminal. We boarded the flight on time and with no issues. They did make us check one of our carry-on bags that had a lot of fragile souvenirs, but I was confident that my husband had packed the hard-sided bag well. Since my carry-on had camera equipment and lithium batteries, I wasn’t able to check it.
The weather online showed a possibility of thunderstorms, but other than some ominous clouds in the distance, the sun was out and it looked like planes were landing and taking off pretty consistently. We took our seats and awaited our takeoff, knowing that there was a 15 minute delay, which was okay as we knew they could make it up in the air and we would still have enough time to get to our connecting flight. The delay continued and 15 minutes turned into nearly two hours due to luggage being loaded onto the aircraft that wasn’t supposed to be on our flight. This resulted in them having to unload all of the luggage to locate the bags and reload everything on board. At this point, we knew there was no way we would make our connection. The flight attendants on the plane reassured passengers that someone would be waiting to assist us when we arrived in Paris.
As soon as we landed in Paris and had the all clear to use our phones, I saw we had been rebooked to a new flight that left the next day. This meant a delay getting to San Francisco of 18+ hours. The new flight took us to Seattle and then to San Francisco. The other issue is the time between the flights once we arrived in Seattle was only a little more than an hour. In the United States you have to go through customs at the first port you arrive in, so an hour wasn’t going to cut it.
We departed the plane and kept an eye out for someone to assist us, but there was no one in sight. There were no people to ask in the area where we arrived. You would think they would at least have someone there to direct you where to go next, but there was nothing. A group of us that all missed the connection started walking and found a nice lady that pointed us in the right direction. We made it to the Air France customer service desk. I tried to relax and destress while we waited in line. It seemed like others who had been on our flight were trying their best to be positive and hopeful while waiting as well.
Once we got to the counter, I knew nothing good was going to happen. The agent was not friendly at all. We explained the situation and even asked if it was possible to get a different flight. I had looked on the Air France app and saw there were other options going out of London. According to the agent, those options were not available to us and the flight we had been booked on was the only one. He said our flight had been delayed due to weather and we couldn’t cancel. We then tried to explain that we needed to go through customs in Seattle and an hour wasn’t enough time. The agent scoffed and said “You’re American. Just show your passports”. He gave us a voucher for a hotel, two shuttle vouchers for the trip to and from the hotel, and two food vouchers for the airport.
After this, we were on our own. We had no change of clothing or toiletries. We were offered nothing by the agent with Air France. We stopped at the stores we could find to pick up a couple things to get us by before leaving the airport. It took a long time to find our way out of the airport and to the bus, but we eventually made it. The agent didn’t give us any directions and made us feel as if we’d inconvenienced him with our presence. My husband had asked if I wanted to head into Paris for the evening, but at that point I was too tired, hungry, and upset. I just wanted to get to the hotel and eat.
Since the bus was full of people in the same predicament, I knew there would be a line at the hotel. The staff at the hotel was friendly and checked us in quickly. They explained how dinner and breakfast worked. At this point it was 5:30 pm and dinner wasn’t served until 7pm. We decided to head to the room and relax a bit. After having spent more time in the plane than we should’ve and having been up at 5am to make sure we were ready to go, we just wanted to try and relax and decompress a bit. The thought of a bed and air conditioning was welcome, the only thing that would’ve made it better were snacks.
When we got to the room, we were appalled by the state it was in. The floor looked like it had never been cleaned and there were burn marks in the carpet. My husband noticed small red spots on the wall that appeared to be blood, and to top it off, the air conditioning didn’t work.
We decided to stay since we were in a place we were unfamiliar with and the sheets were at least clean. The food at the hotel was okay, but I was happy when we left the next morning on the first shuttle to the airport at 5am. We had to go through customs and through security at the airport. Security at the airport flagged each bag we had and even opened my carryon and took everything out that had been strategically packed. Fortunately, they were careful and didn’t break any of the electronics, but repacking the carry-on in the middle of the airport was frustrating.
We got to the gate with several hours to spare and waited for our time to be shuttled to our plane. I spent the vouchers for food at the airport and even snacks for the journey home. Since I knew we were not going to make the original hotel reservation for when we got back I took a moment to call and see if they could change it to the following night when we would arrive. The representative at the hotel was wonderful and switched the dates on our reservation easily. That made for one less thing I needed to worry about. It was a relief when we finally boarded the plane back to the states. During the flight, I was able to access Wi-Fi free through my cell phone provider. This allowed me to book a later connection in Seattle to San Francisco, which helped relieve some stress. I focused on trying to sleep and relax, since I knew we still had a ways to go once we landed.
When we reached Seattle, we had to gather our bags before going through customs. We waited… got one bag….. then another….and another…. but one bag was nowhere to be found. There was a desk for baggage service so we went and spoke to a nice lady with Delta. The bag wasn’t on the flight and she told us to see baggage services when we arrived in San Francisco. We then went through customs, got new boarding passes and dropped our bags before going through security. Once we reached our gate, I went and got food. We hadn’t had much to eat since we left Rome and both needed something to keep us going. Our first meal back in the states, McDonalds, but after everything and all of the stress, it was a welcome taste of home.
The flight from Seattle to San Francisco was uneventful and short. We were impatient to get back home, but we still had a hotel stay before we made the five hour drive home. After we got the luggage that made it, we went to the Delta Baggage service office. The staff was friendly and they were able to see that the bag never left Paris and was still sitting there. They put in a request to have the bag placed on a flight the next day to San Francisco and we were told they would send it to us by UPS since the closest airport was a bit out of the way and we wouldn’t be able to pick up the bag due to working. We even had a piece of luggage that had been damaged during one of the flights and they replaced it with a similar piece. I was very appreciative of the staff for their help.
The next day we finally made it home. My husband went to work that night and I prepared to go back to work the next day. I kept tracking the bag online to see the status. After a couple of days with no updates, I called Delta Baggage and spoke with someone. They told me the bag was with United in Los Angeles and they would put a request to get it back from them so they could send it to us. The next day my husband called since there was no update. The agent he spoke with said they think the tag came off and it’s sitting in a room in Los Angeles or San Francisco. She put in another report and said she would keep an eye out for it. She told him what happens is someone will open the bag and document things that could help in figuring out who it belongs to. I remembered some very distinct details and he called back the next day to provide the information.
I was trying to hold onto hope that the bag would be found and we would have the things we bought in our possession, but things were looking pretty grim since it had been nearly a week since we’d last seen the bag in Rome. Then on October 7th I got an email from an agent at the airport near us. She said they had the bag there and it had been there a few days, but there was no phone number or any way to get in touch with me other than email. I was thrilled to get the email and replied that we would be there in the morning to pick it up. They had no contact information despite me providing Delta with two phone numbers and an email.
I drove 40 minutes one way to pick up the bag at 4am. I couldn’t sleep and needed to be sure the bag was the one we’d been waiting for. Once I saw it, tons of stress came off my shoulders. It was a relief. I know they would compensate us if the bag hadn’t been found, but that wouldn’t compensate for the memories and treasures that were lost. Many stories like this don’t have such a happy ending, but this one did. I still had some stuff to handle with Air France, but I can rest assured knowing we have everything back in our possession. Despite all the hassle and stress at the end of the trip, I still love Italy and cannot wait to go back for another adventure.
