I was all set, packed up for the journey 'Saath Samundar Paar' with heavy luggage which would have been heavier if I had not convinced my Mom that there would be edible things available in Nigeria.
There were 2 other batch mates going along with me as we had planned to take the flight from Mumbai together. I had planned to take the last flight of the day from Bangalore to Mumbai, so I would have 4 hours to transfer to the international airport to join them and then go through the airport formalities.
We(family) left a good 2.5 hrs before the flight assuming that I would reach the airport an hour before flight time. We had traveled for just about 20 minutes when it started pouring, first a slight drizzle that continued to grow and became a waterfall on the windscreen. Along with rain in Bangalore, the traffic comes free. So, anxiously hoping for light traffic ahead we hit the airport road finally with just about an hour left. Long story short , I stepped at the gate with 15 minutes left for the last flight from Bangalore to take off.
I was not allowed enter the airport because the plane was already taxing and even though there were 4 more passengers who joined me later asking the flight to be stopped for 10 more minutes and calls made by the airline representative requesting permission to hold the flight for some more time, nothing worked.
And so I found myself someone who had not missed a bus or a train in my life, missing a flight. And missing this flight meant that I wouldn't make it to Mumbai in time for the international flight. A whole lot of emotions ran through my head at this point, anger that I had some how brought this situation into play, disappointment with the airline which left its passengers to hang out in the rain. I even imagined that this was a sign of fore-boding but after shaking away all these thoughts I still had to catch the flight from Mumbai in 6 hrs.
The communication board told me that the next flight to Mumbai would be an hour after the international flight had left. Out came my laptop and the dongle that I for some reason had carried to the airport.
I had tried various permutations and combinations of getting to Lagos and since it was not possible to get in time to Mumbai started searching for options to get to Dubai so that I could join my friends there. And there it was the early morning flight to Dubai from Bangalore. Now the problem was that the tickets had been booked by an agent and it was now midnight. The airport offices are closed too and there was no counter for the airlines at the airport.
The connection to the internet helped in getting the customer helpline and after a long verification process when it was just about to take another 5-10 minutes to finish the ordeal , my phone decided it had enough of overtime and promptly shut itself down. I borrowed a phone from my dad and began the whole process again and finally after waiting for 45 mins for the consumer helpline to wake up people in Mumbai and make the necessary changes, my flight ticket was transferred to Bangalore. I had already informed my friends that I would be boarding my flight from Bangalore instead of coming to Mumbai. It was 2:30 am and I bid goodbye to my family for the 2nd time in 4 hours and then turned towards the gate to be denied entry for the 2nd time as the ticket in my hand was for the Mumbai flight and the passenger records for Dubai had not been updated with my name.
Another call to the helpline and I was asked to contact the Air-India cabin to help me in getting me into the airport. Finally I could breathe a sigh of relief when I was seated in the plane. When the plane took off I hoped to reach in time for the morning flight to Dubai as my 2nd flight had also been changed to afternoon, cause the arrival time of the Bangalore flight wouldn't allow me to catch the morning flight. I din't sleep much having spent most of the flight with the in flight entertainment system. As soon as we landed I found the gate for the Lagos flight and walked as fast as I could to reach there and reached the gate with 20 mins left for the flight. I asked if there were empty seats on this flight and was told yes. Next I asked if I could be transferred to the current flight. The officer was ready but after consulting the supervisor said that they could have sent the baggage later and allowed me board the flight but since the destination was Lagos they would take any chance with the baggage and so I had to go along with it. And thus began a 7 hour boring wait for my flight.
And finally after more than 24 hours of leaving from my home I landed in Lagos.
There were 2 other batch mates going along with me as we had planned to take the flight from Mumbai together. I had planned to take the last flight of the day from Bangalore to Mumbai, so I would have 4 hours to transfer to the international airport to join them and then go through the airport formalities.
We(family) left a good 2.5 hrs before the flight assuming that I would reach the airport an hour before flight time. We had traveled for just about 20 minutes when it started pouring, first a slight drizzle that continued to grow and became a waterfall on the windscreen. Along with rain in Bangalore, the traffic comes free. So, anxiously hoping for light traffic ahead we hit the airport road finally with just about an hour left. Long story short , I stepped at the gate with 15 minutes left for the last flight from Bangalore to take off.
I was not allowed enter the airport because the plane was already taxing and even though there were 4 more passengers who joined me later asking the flight to be stopped for 10 more minutes and calls made by the airline representative requesting permission to hold the flight for some more time, nothing worked.
And so I found myself someone who had not missed a bus or a train in my life, missing a flight. And missing this flight meant that I wouldn't make it to Mumbai in time for the international flight. A whole lot of emotions ran through my head at this point, anger that I had some how brought this situation into play, disappointment with the airline which left its passengers to hang out in the rain. I even imagined that this was a sign of fore-boding but after shaking away all these thoughts I still had to catch the flight from Mumbai in 6 hrs.
The communication board told me that the next flight to Mumbai would be an hour after the international flight had left. Out came my laptop and the dongle that I for some reason had carried to the airport.
I had tried various permutations and combinations of getting to Lagos and since it was not possible to get in time to Mumbai started searching for options to get to Dubai so that I could join my friends there. And there it was the early morning flight to Dubai from Bangalore. Now the problem was that the tickets had been booked by an agent and it was now midnight. The airport offices are closed too and there was no counter for the airlines at the airport.
The connection to the internet helped in getting the customer helpline and after a long verification process when it was just about to take another 5-10 minutes to finish the ordeal , my phone decided it had enough of overtime and promptly shut itself down. I borrowed a phone from my dad and began the whole process again and finally after waiting for 45 mins for the consumer helpline to wake up people in Mumbai and make the necessary changes, my flight ticket was transferred to Bangalore. I had already informed my friends that I would be boarding my flight from Bangalore instead of coming to Mumbai. It was 2:30 am and I bid goodbye to my family for the 2nd time in 4 hours and then turned towards the gate to be denied entry for the 2nd time as the ticket in my hand was for the Mumbai flight and the passenger records for Dubai had not been updated with my name.
Another call to the helpline and I was asked to contact the Air-India cabin to help me in getting me into the airport. Finally I could breathe a sigh of relief when I was seated in the plane. When the plane took off I hoped to reach in time for the morning flight to Dubai as my 2nd flight had also been changed to afternoon, cause the arrival time of the Bangalore flight wouldn't allow me to catch the morning flight. I din't sleep much having spent most of the flight with the in flight entertainment system. As soon as we landed I found the gate for the Lagos flight and walked as fast as I could to reach there and reached the gate with 20 mins left for the flight. I asked if there were empty seats on this flight and was told yes. Next I asked if I could be transferred to the current flight. The officer was ready but after consulting the supervisor said that they could have sent the baggage later and allowed me board the flight but since the destination was Lagos they would take any chance with the baggage and so I had to go along with it. And thus began a 7 hour boring wait for my flight.
And finally after more than 24 hours of leaving from my home I landed in Lagos.
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