The Long Way to Fly to Madrid – Not Recommended

As I write this post, I’m sitting in the airport in Istanbul, on my way to Madrid. Confused? Yeah, that’s fair…let me back up and explain.

As we’ve said before, we like to travel, and one of the neat ways I get to do that is, well, by doing my job. Some universities give their students the opportunity to travel abroad while taking courses from that university (meaning their faculty teach the classes), and these programs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are 1 – 1.5 weeks long, some are full semesters, and others go during the summer term. One I’ve participated in a few times takes this latter form: it sends students to Italy for about 5 weeks, then they get a week off, then they go to Spain for about 5 weeks. All the while, they’re taking a series of classes to earn a minor in business (or, if they’re business majors, they get a jump start on some of their required classes). Neat, right? Right.

The Original Plan and First New Itinerary

When I initially booked my flight, my itinerary went from Springfield à Chicago à Washington, DC à Brussels à Madrid. What the heck, right? Honestly, I don’t remember what I was thinking when I bought this flight, and yes, Tasha told me it wasn’t a good idea. Anyway, that’s not the point: that was my schedule. And all was fine, until I woke up the morning of my flight and had a text message from United saying my flight from Chicago to Washington, DC had been cancelled. Seems odd they didn’t have more planes in Chicago to accommodate this, but such was my situation. As United often does, they had automatically rebooked me on a different flight from Chicago à Louisville à Washington, DC, and from there my itinerary picked up as originally scheduled. Or at least, that was the plan.

The Second New Itinerary

So, I boarded my flight in Springfield and get to Chicago uneventfully. The next flight, from Chicago to Louisville was equally uneventful. Unfortunately, once I landed in Louisville, my flight to DC was delayed and then canceled, and this is where things got a little crazy (what was going on in DC?). The folks at the gate in Louisville were super helpful in getting people rebooked, even though there really wasn’t much they could do that we couldn’t do ourselves. They even told us as much, showing everyone a sheet with a QR code we could scan that would take us to the United customer service page where we could call or text an agent to get rebooked.

This I did, and after waiting for about 15 minutes, connected with an agent (Call #1) who, over the next two hours, pulled off what was nothing short of a miracle…or so I thought. While I was talking with her on the phone, Tasha was searching frantically for different itineraries that would get me to Madrid reasonably close to my original arrival time. I was doing the same. What this meant was that when I spoke with the agent, I had very specific flight numbers she could look up to check for availability. That sped things up considerably and made her job a little easier, I think. Most of those didn’t pan out, but Tasha found a flight on Turkish Airlines. Trouble was, it left from Chicago, not Louisville. Fortunately, there was another flight going back to Chicago that the agent was able to book me on. However, because the flights after Chicago were on a different airline, they couldn’t give me boarding passes, but instead said I needed to go to the gate once I got to Chicago and they’d print them for me. Sounds easy enough, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.

Chicago to…Where?

Because my flight in Louisville had been cancelled, that meant I had to exit the secure area of the airport to pick up and recheck my bag. Then I had to go back through security (Time #2) and go back to the gate where I’d been waiting since my flight to DC was cancelled. A little running around, but the airport isn’t huge, so not terrible. I boarded the flight to Chicago (in a first-class seat!) and all seemed to be going well.

Here’s the thing, though: the new itinerary had me going back to Chicago and then I had a 10.5-hour flight to Istanbul and then a 4.5-hour flight to Madrid. Yes, I flew very close to Madrid on my way to Istanbul (parachute?). *sigh*

As it turned out, Tasha found another flight with TAP (Air Portugal) that went to Lisbon with plenty of time to take any of three connecting flights into Madrid. The flight from Chicago to Lisbon was only about 7 hours, and was East of Madrid, meaning I wouldn’t have to backtrack to get there. So, after landing in Chicago, I got on the phone with United again (Call #2) to see if they can get me on the new itinerary. Nope, something about TAP wouldn’t let it happen. So, they said to get my boarding passes for the flight to Istanbul, just so those were certain, and then go to the United lounge where they could try to get me on the other flight. I had three hours at this point before the Turkish Airlines flight. Okay, sounds easy enough.

Except for the fact that when I got to Chicago, I didn’t have those boarding passes, you know, because I needed to go to the gate to get them like I’d been told. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the gate without my boarding passes. You see the problem? What ended up happening was I, once again, left the secure area of the airport to go to Terminal 5 via a train. Fine. But, when I got to Terminal 5 and the Turkish Airlines check-in area, I was met with a line that was as slow-moving as it was long. Oh, and at this point I had two hours until my flight left – not boarded, left. *heavy sigh*

While standing in line, I jumped back on the phone with United (Call #3) to see if they could speed up the process. No luck. Finally, I got to the counter, handed them my passport, and then gave a blank stare when they asked for my confirmation number. I had one for United, but not Turkish. *heavier sigh* So they took my passport (!) to investigate. I was still on the phone with United, so they were able to call Turkish at the same time and get my flight confirmed. Cool. When the agent finally came back with my passport (! again) they got me my boarding passes, whereupon I turned around and saw one of the longest TSA security lines I’ve seen in maybe ever. Oh, and they didn’t have my coveted Pre-Check lane, and only had one agent for the entire line. Oh, did I forget to mention at this point I only had an hour until takeoff? Takeoff, not boarding. Nice. Except no…no it wasn’t.

Back on the phone with United (Call #4), where I told the agent I was certain there was no way I was going to make this flight (despite the Turkish Airlines agent’s insistence I’d be fine). The agent on the phone told me to remain in the security line and that she’d added the TAP flight to my reservation in case I missed the Turkish flight (why didn’t that happen earlier?!), as it took off an hour after the Turkish flight.

As slow moving as the line was, by some miracle I did make it through security and to my gate with about 25 minutes to spare before the door closed. On the plane, I finally caught my breath. Unfortunately, that was about all I could catch, as I was in a regular economy seat and not the Premium Plus seat I was supposed to be in from Washington to Madrid (at some point United had rebooked my itinerary to go directly from DC to Madrid, not sure what happened to Brussels, but I wasn’t complaining). Yes, yes, I know: #firstworldproblems . But that’s what I (ok, the University) paid for. *pout*

A Turkish Experience

The flight on Turkish Airlines ended up being pretty nice; the staff were super friendly and helpful, the seat was about as comfortable as an economy seat can be, and the food was better than I was expecting; they even gave us menus. Like, on actual cardstock. There were the usual two options (chicken or pasta), but it seemed fancier because of the menu. They also passed around amenity bags for everyone, not just the folks in the premium cabins. That’s a first for me, folks.

We arrived in Istanbul about 40 minutes early and pulled into the gate and got off the plane. Because Turkey isn’t part of the EU, I didn’t have to go through customs there, but would do so in Madrid. Sad I didn’t get a new stamp in my passport, but thankful I didn’t have another line to stand in. That meant I had a few hours to wander around the airport, and it is a pretty neat airport. Everything was super clean, and for as many people as I saw, the airport never seemed overly crowded. There were so many duty-free shops it made my head spin. Seriously, there were more duty-free shops than there are Starbucks on a corner in New York City. If you don’t know, that’s saying something.

Anyway, nearing the point of exhaustion, I finally headed back to my gate and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I wasn’t hungry but didn’t figure I’d have time to eat after I got to Madrid, as my plane was scheduled to land just after 10pm. McDonalds looked…interesting, so that did the job. I know, I know: what an American, right? Actually, this is something I encourage my students to do when they travel abroad. Yes, I think it’s good for them to try local foods and new things, but it’s also good to compare familiar things when you see them abroad. For example, my chicken sandwich in Istanbul tasted different from when I have it in the US, even though it’s the same sandwich. Neat, right? Try it the next time you’re abroad, just don’t make that’s you’re only food source (because…ew).

The Last Leg: Getting to Madrid

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like forever (it really wasn’t that long, but I was tired and ready to be done), the gate agent called the flight to Madrid. No cancellations, rerouting, delays, or anything else. Just Madrid. Finally! So, I got on my 5^th flight (because I knew you were counting, too) which, thankfully, ended up being as uneventful as my flight out of Springfield. We arrived in Madrid shortly after 10pm and, after making a pit stop, headed down to Customs, Passport Control, and, finally, baggage claim.

Everyone I came in with was tired and ready to no longer be in the airport and on their way to wherever they were going. And so we waited patiently for the luggage claim belt to start turning. And turn it did, bringing everyone their bags. Everyone, it seemed, except one: yours truly. Yep, after the belt stopped spinning and the doors on either end closed, I was left staring at an empty baggage claim: my bag was nowhere to be found.

More on that, next week.