Missing the flight

Ten days on the road is a little long, especially given the intensity of meetings and the many time zones crossed.   So, it was a relief to settle into the flight east from Minneapolis: no upgrade, and older plane without media, but a comfortable seat and eight hours to decompress.  I did a bit of reading, a little Dutch study, a little reorganization of disk files.

We landed in Amsterdam about 2 pm; my onward flight on EasyJet wasn’t until 6.  So I crossed Passport Control (questions about my expired residence permit), picked up my bag, and camped out t Starbucks to sort through emails.  4 pm, check into EasyJet, back through passport control, more questions.   Lots of time,so check into the KLM Lounge, find a quiet corner….

… and fall asleep.

I always dread the thought of missing a flight, so it was horrible to wake, check the monitors and find that my plane was no longer listed.  EasyJet has no transfer desk, so…

‘back through Passport Control (explanations…),

conclave with EasyJet (they can get me to Luton),

sort out how to get my bag (offloaded and adrift in Schiphol).

Offloaded baggage is handled by Menzies, a cargo handling company that resides in Baggage Claim.  So, back through Passport Control (weary explanations), then to four desks looking for the rep.  A walkie-talkie consultation revealed that my bag had been delivered to Carousel 20 where I found it tagged alarming orange.  Back through security, check in with EasyJet (again), back through Passport Control (the agent knew my name as I approached).

I took no chances and propped myself up at the entrance to H concourse to wait for the flight.

It could have been much worse: it cost three hours and 75 euro.  And I took the hint to get a good night’s sleep and take the weekend off.