They say all good things must come to an end – and they did.
I had a premonition of trouble when I checked in my luggage at Melbourne airport. They were reluctant to check my bags all the way through to my final destination – London City Airport. This was because my flights had been booked separately, even though they all appeared in my Qantas app. I was able to get my Emirates flights added but they refused to add my final BA leg claiming Emirates would not take the bag to a BA plane, despite all the airlines being members of the One World group.
I was told I was required to clear immigration in Amsterdam, collect my suitcase and then re-lodge my suitcase for the final leg. Despite pointing out that there was only a two hours layover, no one cared at the Qantas check-in.
Despite being an hour late leaving Dubai, I arrived in Amsterdam with two hours to spare before my next flight but then encountered the immigration queue from hell. Despite a passport with microchip and having had my photo and fingerprints taken for the new EU entry requirements, passport control was manual, so everyone had to queue up. There were several plane loads of people, many facing questioning at one of only four immigration desks.
Needless to say I was still in the queue when my plane departed. Some two and a half hours later I surfaced at the BA check in desk. Unhelpfully I was handed a small slip of paper with a phone number on it and told to ring and get my booking changed.
I couldn’t get my phone to work. The eSIM I had for Europe didn’t allow calls and my Optus sim refused to roam and find a local network. I fiddled for half an hour and ended up buying a new Dutch eSIM which included calls. I was sitting in one of the few chairs of a coffee counter in Amsterdam airport, taking up space with my suitcase and carry-on bags, now three of them. The sms in Dutch started arriving and I have no idea what they want.
Eventually I got through to BA and was informed that the ticket was not refundable and I would have to buy another, and they would charge me 30 euros to do so or I could use the website.
I opted for the website, using the airport wifi and bought another ticket. I waited and waited but no confirmation came through. Checking my bank, I could see that the debit had gone through but still no ticket.
Ringing BA again, I was told this often happens and I would have to wait for it to be refunded. In the meantime I would have to buy another further ticket. Now out of pocket some A$1,666 for a one hour flight to Heathrow.
‘Not happy Jan’.
Father M 