Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Right Royal Cock Up


London, glorious London!! It feels just so good to be back.

The flight into London seemed terribly long – it’s listed at a mind numbing 9 hours and 30 minutes but feels longer – was pleasant and mind numbing in its interminability. Though the flight as full, there were thankfully few children and wheelchair cases.

We had read of horror stories of passengers having to queue for hours to clear British immigration. It seems the problem was caused by a huge cut down of immigration officers in a budget cut. The rumpus this has caused is enormous. Newspapers are screaming blue murder, questioning the logic of this move not only when tourism is being promoted as well as cutting down officers when the Olympics are being held in London. Willie Walsh, the CEO of British Airways had strong words when criticising the move to cut down immigration staff. On one level this cutback seemed so familiar to me coming from India, where, as far as our Nanny, the government, is concerned, logic seems to not exist in any form whatsoever. On another level, frankly, I was worried.  

When we landed, to our surprise, there was no line at immigration at Heathrow and we were cleared in literally 45 seconds. We then rushed down to Baggage Claim only to find our bags circulating on the carousel. This was British efficiency at its best. Willie Walsh was criticised when Terminal 5 the dedicated British Airways terminal was inaugurated, for huge baggage delays. He had said that the state of art baggage handling systems were so modern that the operators needed a few days to get them operating at peak efficiency, and, the target was that your bags should be on the carousel by the time a passenger had cleared immigration. This time, British Airways and Heathrow delivered as promised.

Now starts the fun. We grabbed our bags, two of which are bright, almost fluorescent orange, intentionally bought to stand out, rushed past customs, identified our driver and left. Traffic was light, the weather great, evening sunshine and everything looking rosy. Vainglorious is a word that comes to my mind. Just about a mile from our destination my phone rang. It was a man from British Airways telling me I had picked up the wrong bag. I quickly turned around and saw that yes indeed I had picked up someone’s bag that was exactly the same bright orange as mine. He was on the same flight us and naturally his bag appeared on the same carousel. The owners name was Mr. Abhijit Marathe who, when I spoke to him was rather worried and seemed shaken. He could obviously not carry my bag out of the airport as he would have to clear customs and British Airways would not let him carry a bag which was not his. Of course I had carried a bag which was not mine thru customs but that was done unwittingly. This was becoming Kafkaesque. Mr. Marathe was booked into a hotel close to our apartment, so we popped in and left his bag at the hotel. He was relieved and he got his bag before he reached his hotel. In fact he was so relieved and pleased that a fellow Maharashtrian had picked his bag that not only was all conversation on telephone in Marathi but he also wanted to meet me. I had no such intention. I faced the daunting task of trekking back to Heathrow at 11pm to retrieve my bag.


The orange bag

We were scheduled to meet Friend Philosopher & Guide [FPG] and his effervescent better half [using Indian English] the Most Respected Auntieji [MRA] for dinner at Maroush. You may recall them from the Bright Courtyard. It was under these circumstances that we had dinner i.e. the overhang of having to go to Heathrow, lost bag. Not a bad dinner after all, have a look at the updated photographs. No alcohol was consumed as FPG has very very kindly agreed to drive us to Heathrow.

It was a traffic free ride and after a few explanations I entered the baggage area at Heathrow, retrieved my bag and exited after crossing customs. What a complete mess. The chances of finding someone on your flight with an identical bright orange must be a million to one. Unfortunately, I did not bet on it or else I would have hit a real jackpot. 




No comments:

Post a Comment