A Flight Mishap

Alarm clocks have the habit of going off at all the wrong times: mine went off at 5 am this morning. Groggily, I opened my eyes to find my mom standing on my head. Damnit! no more snoozing today. Just as well. I had a 6:50 am flight to Bangalore to catch and today, I did not want to get late. I gave myself credit for being sensible enough to sleep early yesterday night and got off the bed wide awake now.

5:35 a.m. I checked the watch as I came out from a hot bath, all fresh and ready. The car was waiting downstairs and in 10 minutes (I calculated) I should be off for the airport. But then, what fun is life if all goes according to plan. I spent a little more time over the chai and toast, a little fussing over the tie-knot which wasn’t the double Windsor I wanted it to be and by the time I walked into the waiting car, it was 6:00 a.m.

6:05 a.m. As the car sped across Siddhi Vinayak temple, I smiled & reminiscined my last two flights out of the Mumbai airport. Here is an abridged summary:

Trip 1: 6:25 a.m. flight to Hyderabad. I had woken up at 5am, got out of home at 5:50 am with clear instructions to the psyched-out driver “Drive as fast as you can!” He had done the best he could in the circumstances. We landed at the airport at 6:10 am by which time, the lady at the Jet front desk told me, the flight had already been closed. But I had tele-checked in, I protested. BIG DEAL, her eyes seemed to tell me. But I didn’t care to find out and asked her for options. As it turned out, I took the next flight to Hyderabad at 8a.m. and ended up waking up at 5 in the morning for an 8 o’clock flight!

Trip 2: 9:45 p.m. flight to Ahmedabad. Swap picked me up from Haji Ali at 8:15 p.m. and we took a slight de-tour to drop some important stuff at Anu’s office. We had 90 minutes and like all conscientious frequent fliers, we had tele-checked in. Thanks to the Friday evening traffic, we were still at Mahim Causeway(about 6km away from the airport) at 9 p.m. Panic started setting in when we were still 5 minutes away from the airport and it was 9:15! We ran into the airport at 9:20 p.m. only to be told that the flight was about to be closed. Luck was on our side this time though. The front desk women deliberated and checked us in. As we headed to the security check, Swap sounded disappointed: “Damn it! We were late, the flight was full but they did not upgrade us!” “DUDE!!!” was all I could say, thankful that I had not missed 2 flights in a row from Mumbai airport, while he rattled off proud narratives of how he had held up flights on several occasions. Phew!

6:12 a.m. As I saw the glo-sign of Hotel BAWA International in the distance, I smiled to myself. 35 minutes early, I calculated. Enough buffer to ensure I didn’t have to run. Minutes later, I strutted into the Departure Lounge only to find a long queue standing outside each and every Jet counter. No worries, I told myself and stood in front of one that said “Hand-baggage only”. As I looked around to see if my boss was also checking-in somewhere, I spotted RamG in the queue ahead of me. Poor chap! he does this every Monday for a living, I said to myself. And to imagine, he could have avoided this junk and would have been selling junk bonds and making millions instead on Wall Street. Funny how we make choices in life! Anyways, I called him on his cell to grab his attention since he wasn’t listening to me while I shouted from behind the queue. What time’s your flight, he asked. 6:50, I told him and checked my watch. 6:23 a.m. Enough time to still get the boarding pass. I had tele-checked in after all!

As RamG slipped out with a ‘See you later’ and a boarding pass, I waited my turn. 2 more people in front of me. 2 mins max. Relax! You should be able to make it. It was about this time that I heard one of the ladies in a neighboring queue being told by one of the Jet Airways ground staff that the flight to Bangalore was closed!

Flight to Bangalore? Closed? WHAT! Impossible? I checked my watch as my heart sank. 6:29 a.m. But there were still 20 odd minutes left. And why the hell did they not announce they were closing checking-in? I held my ground, hoping that I had heard wrong. I was angry and desperate at the same time. A really sorry state to be in, if you ask me. My boss’ words came flooding back. Please be on time for this flight, she had quipped in jest, fully aware of what had happened last time (refer Trip 1) There is no other flight till 9:30 to Bangalore and we don’t want to get late for this meeting, she had warned in her characteristic I-may-say-things-nicely-but-I-mean-every-word-I-say manner. My mind was preparing a desperate plea to be put on the flight but there was anger lurking in the background as I wanted an explanation why they were closing the flight early without warning. It was about this time that my turn came to present the ticket.

“This flight is already closed, sir!” came the concerned yet crisp reply from the other end and this time, I was prepared for it. A mixture of anger and desperation came out in the form of a tirade which roughly resembled an incongruous combination of “I have been waiting in the queue for 10 minutes”, “I had already tele-checked in”, “How can you close the flight without announcing it?”, “It is absolutely important for me to get to Bangalore”. These sentences were uttered with such speed, volume and an angered conviction that it seemed to unsettle the poor lady at the counter and she went and spoke to another of her ilk. The two of them fervently looked at a computer screen while I was trying to think of a good excuse speech for my boss. People around me didn’t seem impressed with my outburst and were giving me derogatory glances. Hey, I wanted to shout out to them, it’s not my fault if these guys don’t follow procedure!

And then I saw it! It was the most beautiful sight I had seen all morning… a boarding pass coming out of the printing slot with my name on it! It was a different color but who cares as long as it gave me a ‘ticket to ride’.

6:33 a.m. Lady in blue came upto me with the boarding pass and a “We’ve upgraded you, so you should be happy about it” look on her face. I checked the boarding pass. They had upgraded me but I wasn’t going to show my gratitude for this one. I was right in landing 30 minutes before the flight and if they have to fly me business class for their clumsiness, so be it.

6:35 a.m. As I strutted smugly out towards the security check-in, my eyes fell on the big black board announcing flight departures. My eyes settled on the one flight of significance:

9W 411 BANGALORE 06:40 Now Boarding

I read it and then re-read it. I checked my boarding pass for the flight time. Sure as hell it said 06:40! But how can that be? This flight was supposed to be at 06:50. I checked my ticket: it said 06:50 too! I checked my watch … 4 minutes to flight departure… and for the first time that morning, I felt really embarrassed. My mind raced through all calculations that I had made regarding the flight time in the past half an hour and tried to subtract 10 minutes from all of them. I quickly willed my mind to think in another direction. It is not a happy feeling when you think about it and realize what a jerk you;ve been ! My angered outburst seemed to have won the day for me, but how misplaced it was only I knew. Anyways, there was no time for harbouring embarrassed thoughts as very soon I was being escorted through the security check-in by 3 of Jet’s ground staff, frantically shouting into their walkie-talkies that 4Charlie was on his way!
7:20 a.m. As I tucked into my Gobi Paranthas and Rasewaale Aloo on the flight, I tried to recall the name of the guy who passed some comment about, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. What a joker!