My Airport Misadventures

You probably thought I had made my last "Da Blog in LA" post. I thought so, too. Instead, it turned out the most eventful part of my trip came once I got back.

Never book a flight that gets in after 10.

My flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:56 PM and it did so. Before we got off, however, we were told our luggage would arrive on either Carousel 13 or 14. Uh oh.

I arrive in the baggage claim area, look at the board showing arrivals, and it says our baggage is coming on Carousel 14. Straightforward, right? Except that after a while of waiting someone comes on the loudspeaker and says our luggage is on Carousel 13. Oops. To add to the confusion, neither carousel's own electronic board ever states that my flight is on it.

Thinking maybe our luggage just hasn't come down yet, I sit and wait while a collection of other flights sees their luggage arrive. As I wait, two things occur. The ex-passengers of a different flight, arriving at around 11, complain after an hour that their luggage hasn't come down yet. Their luggage doesn't come down until around 12:40. (So I am justified in thinking it's taking a long time - it was a possibility.) While they're waiting, I meet someone else from my flight who tells me our luggage has already been "unloaded". What does that mean? That it already had its turn on the carousel and I missed it, or that it should be coming down shortly? If the former, well, if I'm an idiot I'm evidently not the only idiot.

Which is exactly what it turns out to be. After the pack of long waiters finally get their luggage, I note that there are basically no waiters left and finally find out my luggage has been sent to behind a rope. It's around 12:45 by this time, so I've waited for the better part of two hours. If it weren't for the two factors above, I might have found out what happened quite a bit sooner.

You know, I have a vague memory of something like this happening two years ago, when me and my dad went to LA partly to check out colleges in the area, but it may just be false deja vu.