Nightmare

17/1/2008

So my flight was supposed to be on Thursday and the itinerary was MNL-KUL-MLE-CMB-KUL-MNL.

I had to cancel the flight because I have an important meeting on Wednesday and I foresee that I’ll have tones of work to do after that. Come Wednesday, the meeting was cancelled, so I quickly tried to book a flight on Thursday.

Surprisingly, all connecting flights to Sri Lanka are full, whether it’s via Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, any where.

So the secretary put me on standby list for MNL-SIN-CMB-SIN-MNL. Since the flight is 8:30am, I’ll have to be there 5:30am to put me on top of the standby list. Woke up at 4:30am and got the limo to send me to the airport.

0530 (GMT+08:00)
When I reached the airport, the queue is already 25m. They have me in standby list and asked me to come back at 7:30am. Waited beside the counter until 7:30am to know that I’m 7th down the list of 12 person. How can I be 7th? Well, it seems that the waiting list has been snow balling since yesterday.

So I asked when’s the next confirmed flight and to my surprise, its 28th! Call the driver to pick me up and asked the secretary to try to book another flight to me.

0900 (GMT+08:00)
While I was in the car going back to the office, the secretary called me up to tell me there’s a flight to Colombo via Hong Kong. Informed my colleague in Sri Lanka, got my ticket and went to the airport again. This time MNL-HKG-CMB-SIN-MNL.

1300 (GMT+08:00)
During check-in, I’ve asked to tag the bag to Colombo since I’m on transit. When I get to the gate, I noticed that the gate is not ready. To my surprise, the departure time is different. When I asked the gate, they told me that the flight is delayed. I was like WTF?!?! How can I make it for the HK-CMB flight? Why did you check me in?

1345 (GMT+08:00)

They rushed me into a room, a lady listened to my ordeal and started to look for alternative route, running back and forth from her pc and the atlas on the wall. Finally, they told me that there’s a flight in 40mins and rushed me through the process. They forgot about my luggage, without me reminding them, I’m sure I won’t see it again. They hastily brief me about my connecting flight, gave me a replacement ticket and I’m off. This time MNL-SIN-CMB-SIN-MNL.

1800 (GMT+08:00)

When I reach Singapore, I vent my frustration to the officer in charge and asked for a business class. To my dismay, he can’t upgrade me because I’m connecting to an Emirates flight. He offered me a dinner and use of the lounge.

Had my dinner and went to the lounge to surf the net.

When the check in time comes, I went to the counter to find out the flight has been delayed. Went back to the lounge and lepak again.

0010 (GMT+08:00)
Finally I was able to check in and fly to Colombo.

0230 (GMT+05:30)

Reached Colombo and got my ride to the hotel.

0330 (GMT+05:30)
Arrived my hotel and checked in.

Total travel time?
[(0330+2400)-0530]-[0800-0530] = 24hours

The airlines that were involved were Malaysian Airlines, Philippines Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

I've never had any seriously bad trip in my life, may be they decided to happen together.

Why did I insist on the trip? Stay tuned for the next post.