I have not wanted to write this day for a few days since we’ve been home because the ensuing events of our trip home have been quite frustrating and I wasn’t ready to write about it yet. However as I write this, I am on a plane on my way to Jackson, Wyoming to spend the next three weeks. Well, where to begin. This story is quite long and I will try and keep it short, but provide enough information to understand the circumstances. So mom and I wake up so early on Friday morning around 3:45am and get ready to finish packing the car and make our way to the airport (which as we found out later was right next to the American naval base in Naples)! We eventually find the departures section of this small airport and decide to just leave the car outside while we went inside to check-in. We were scheduled on an Alitalia flight to Rome and then a Delta flight from Rome to JFK and because the two airlines are partners there was not supposed to be any issues with that. So we get to the business class check-in line and wait for about 15 minutes for 1 person in front of us to check-in. Meanwhile, as I should point out, we didn’t have seats on this flight- they were given out as a first come first serve basis (the worst system ever). Well when we finally got to the check-in counter, the man was so rude to us- first he said he couldn’t check us in all the way to JFK because he didn’t have access to finding our tickets and so he wanted to check out bags through to Rome and then we would have to get our bags in Rome, check-in AGAIN and then go through security and still make our flight. This was super frustrating as we were told we could easily check all the way through and not have to do anything in Rome. However, this man was so unaccommodating towards us that he was mean- not even wanting to look for our correct tickets so he could check us in. So mom and I accepted whatever he gave us and went to return the rental car at hertz a few blocks away. A gentleman who was in Naples training people on the Naval Base returned a car at the same time as us and accompanied us back to the airport terminal in the windy, cold, dark morning. We went through security- which was a breeze- and got to our gate. Mom went to the bathroom to wet the washcloth and came back 25 minutes later after having found a wonderful woman who went to her supervisor because she thought it was outrageous that we could not check our baggage and ourselves all the way through to JFK. She checked us in again, gave us new boarding passes and new luggage tags which she said she would run out to the plane to put on our bags! That made mom feel a bit better. The Alitalia flight was packed like sardines and people boarded the plane in a junk show many from the rear of the very old plane. So we make it to Rome, do our tax free stuff and get to the lounge to relax a bit before our next 10 hour flight. When it’s time to board, mom and I walk to our gate and they wouldn’t let us on board because we needed boarding passes (well we thought we had boarding passes, but apparently those didn’t work)- so we had to get new boarding passes at the gate and answer some security questions, then we could board. We get onto the plane and there are people sitting in our seats so the stewardess asks them to move and they were so rude it was quite unpleasant. As we settled into our seats, it became much more pleasant on the flight and mom and I were glad that everyone spoke English (we don’t normally feel like that coming home from Europe). Well I watched 3 movies and slept for about 5 minutes; mom slept for about 2 hours. So we arrive in JFK after 10 hours and make our way through the customs check and then went to get out baggage. 3 pieces of our luggage came out, the fourth was no where to be seen. Only one of our pieces of luggage actually had a baggage tag on it, the second piece had a number on it, but didn’t match any of the luggage tags we had and the third piece had no tags at all on it. We were really surprised that any of the bags actually made it. We were so distressed about the loss of the 4th bag that it was hard to be relieved that we were home. We went to the lost baggage office and the woman was okay, but by no means helpful. We ended up being there for 2 hours as we made the claim and then a nice man said he would go back and look for it in the back. No luck. We arrived at JFK at 2:45, we left the airport close to 5pm and of course was stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home while mom called the delta lost baggage people for the first time to explain the story and make a more complete claim. The man said that they would call us if they heard anything and that we should keep calling to check-in too.
For the next 2 days straight that is exactly what mom did- every 3-4 hours she would call Delta and receive different information every time she called- it got to be so frustrating that it was stressful and annoying. She was getting the run around and even when she talked to some supervisors, they were so incompetent that mom didn’t know what to do. So we still don’t have our bags- I could go into more detail about incompetency and the details surrounding the last few days, but I am too frustrated now writing this to continue. So there might be more later, but for now, we are home, minus one bag and off to the next stage of the adventure. Ciao!
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