Chapter 26: Epilogue, Part Nine: FUBAR
Is everything inside? We won't know for sure until we get back to Kansas City ourselves
16.10.2023 - 16.10.2023 75 °F
"Welcome Back..."
Monday, October 16, 2023
There wasn't supposed to be an Epilogue.
Apologies to Mr. Kotter and all who play poker with Gabe Kaplan:
Yeah, we tease him a lot
'Cause we got him on the spot
Welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back
This entire novella has played with B4 and me like cryptocurrency of the brain. She had more to lose than did I; her important stuff went missing more than mine. When the bag didn't come up the conveyor belt with its twin, I suspected. When, at first, there was nobody to find at the British Airways baggage counter outside the IAH bag claim area, I kind of knew. When the AirTag spit out the word, "India," I was convinced. And when the AirTag battery gave up the ghost, it was RIP time for sure. As the days stretched into weeks, our spirits shrunk like cotton in a hot water wash. This was what, in my army days, we called: FUBAR. Google it.
I'm a savvy and highly experienced traveller. I never check a bag unless it is impossible not to. I carried on before the rollaboard was invented. I carried on when overhead binds were still shelves and we smoked on the plane. And all of this happened to me. I cannot imagine how this would have played out with a novice.
When we thought we had valuable information, we were told we didn't. When we saw an opening, it closed. When we had an idea, it was quashed. When we had information, it was eschewed. Our path forward was a cul-de-sac.
But then came the news, headlined in this blog's previous chapter, "Your item is located and is being sent to the delivery airport," it was if the fog cleared and you could see the mountaintop with the sun glinting upon it in a way that, if you were quick enough, you could pull out the phone and take an award winning photograph that would land immediately into your favorites folder. And it was beautiful. And it would not have happened without an AirTag and a savvy and persuasive niece.
But then the damned bag misses its connection in Heathrow, back where this comedy of errors began. Lucy has pulled the ball away.
I think I know what happened. The bag came off the Sunday BA flight from Bangalore and was sent, with all the other bags from that flight, to the customs and immigration hall baggage carousel. Every bag, whether headed out of the airport with a local resident or headed to a connecting flight goes there, Its owner reclaims it, walks it through customs (they've already cleared immigration) and then either heads home or hands it off to somebody manning a conveyor belt to get it to the belly of its next plane for another leg of its journey.
With our bag, tagged BA419982, there was nobody there to promptly grab it and get it through customs to that next flight conveyor belt. Sure there are either Sita or BA employees who are supposed to see to that but they have a lot of bags from a lot of flights to marshal. I'll wager they just got there too late for that last bag, BA419982, to make it on the next plane, BA197, to Houston. Those 145 minutes ticked by like the metronome of disappointment with nobody to take on the task. I'll bet that's what happened.
No worry for them; just let it sit overnight and we'll put it on the next flight to Houston on Monday. Its already two weeks late. What's one more day?
Of course, today, on 10/16, I watched BA195 on FlightAware. It took off 5 minutes early and, ten-and-a-half hours later, it landed in Houston, 46 minutes early. That was at 1:54 my time in Florida. And we wait. At 4:13, my phone lit up with an "unknown caller" screen. I never answer those. But this one could be, might be, ought to be, BA.
"Hello?"
"Hello. Is this Paul Russell?"
"Yes."
"This is British Airways in Houston. Are you missing a suitcase?"
Is she kidding? Am I missing a suitcase? Well, as a matter of fact...
"Yes, I am."
"Well, we have it here and I want to verify your address so that I can forward it to you." She rattled off our Kansas City address and I verified it. "We will put in on a United flight and you'll have it tomorrow," she said. "Have a nice day. Bye."
At 4:22, this email arrived.
But wait a bit. My FlightView app clearly shows that United flight 2653 already left Houston at 5:09am non-stop for Chicago O'Hare. That's twelve hours ago and that's the wrong city. From Chicago, the flight went on to Omaha and got there at 10:22. That's not the right city either. And, it's impossible.
I called Beryl to tell her the news. She was ecstatic. I didn't tell her about the UA2653 anomaly. What purpose would that serve? She's got enough to worry about. So, she'll have to read that information here along with you.
I called the Alameda Tower but got the answering machine. And, now, we wait. How long? A quick check on the United web site shows their next actual non-stop (UA2695) from Houston arrives in Kansas City at 9:59 tonight (Monday). It doesn't leave Houston for four hours after the call. If they can't get that done, there are IAH-MCI flight arriving tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:47am, 2:15pm, 4:22 and 9:59pm. Who knows what will happen at this point. But, surely, this is the home stretch.
But, damn. The 2653 thing?
Jim at the Alameda called me back. He'll be on the lookout for the bag and will call me if and when it shows up at our building.
