Day 79-80: Let’s Talk About Flying, Shall We
In the end, that little bastard was right. That little
drunk-with-power bastard was right and I was wrong. Still, since I’m the
customer, and he was making up his reasons as he went on, I feel right, or more
accurately, I feel like I was wronged.
So, here’s the story. My mileage reservation states that I
get one bag of 44 lbs (20 kg) for ‘0 JPY’, and a second bag for ‘0’, which I
took to mean for free. I had already run into some issues with Thai Airways
before on my flight from Johannesburg to Bangkok, where the person at the Thai
Airlines check-in counter tried to claim that my reservation entitled me to
just one check-in bag, to which I calmly responded that no, as per my
confirmation, I’m entitled to two. They accepted this reasoning quickly, and I
had no further problems. Still, I was wary of the games Thai Airlines tries to
pull, and lo and behold it happened again.
I arrived at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport and dutifully
waited my turn in the slow line (my guess: everyone else was having luggage
issues). When I reached, I was told my reservation on their system entitled me
to one bag. I showed the lady behind the counter the same deal of proof that I
showed the people in Johannesburg, and she said she would check with her
manager.
Now, it should be said that the check-in lady was nice, and
in the end let me slide, but that manager, who worked for Thai Airways (unlike
the check-in staff who are locally hired), was a complete, ranging bitch to the
N-th degree. He comes over and tells me that despite what my confirmation says
I’m only entitled to one bag of 20 kgs because that’s Thai’s policy on flights
from Australia to Japan. I sensed that this wasn’t entirely true, and told him
that even if it was, when I flew Thai from Jo-burg to Bangkok they let me take
two after I showed them my confirmation. He said that Thai Airways rules hold
because of some IATA policy which I’m sure he made up on the spot.
Anyway, after Shooter McGavin over there walked away, the
lady let me through after I removed some negligible weight from the suitcases
and stuffed it into my backpack, as she clearly sided with me in this debate.
So, after I checked in, I read my confirmation more clearly, and it said that
Singapore Airlines (as it’s the first airline I fly on this reservation)
decides the baggage allowances for the entire reservation (which still doesn’t
make total sense for a reason I’ll get to). I approach that little slapdick
with my new proof, and he loudly scoffs that he’ll check with Singapore, who’s
baggage limits are more strict than Thai’s (which they aren’t), and charge me.
At this point, I couldn’t decide whether to laugh at this guys idiocy are fight
back.
It was clear he was BSing from the start and trying to cover
his tracks by becoming more adamant. First, his new statement of calling
Singapore Airlines and going by their baggage rules totally invalidates his
original argument that the operating airline’s baggage rules supercede what’s
written on the confirmation. Second, I’m pretty sure he can’t charge me after
the fact after it’s been checked in, and if he tried, I would immediately call
Thai (or better yet, United, who wouldn’t be too happy with a minor member of
Star Alliance pulling this crap). And finally, if it is Singapore who’s
charging me, Thai doesn’t get any money from it, which clearly goes against his
main objective. Also, Singapore Airlines let me through on my Mumbai-Melbourne
flight even though by their rules I was only allowed 1 bag. I have no idea what
this guy’s issue was. All I’ll say is boss hog needs to get laid.
If my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin weren’t there to witness this,
I wouldn’t gone away as quietly and called the guy on his shit (even then, I
was embarrassed about getting as mad as I did in front of them). I’m pretty
sure Star Alliance would rather give an exception to someone who’s done this
entire trip on their Alliance (they love that shit) than surfeit some arrogant
puissant guy at Melbourne. In the end, I got away with it. Plus, no matter who
is deciding the baggage limit for my Tokyo-Bangalore flight (whether it be All
Nippon or Singapore), I’m getting two bags at 23 kg each, and I’m definitely
getting the same on the way home, so I won’t have to run into this problem
again.
The worst part of this whole mess is that the in-flight
experience on Thai Airways is generally very good. They serve cold beer (a huge
plus for an Airline), and are very generous in their scheduled drink services
(of course, I could just go to the back galley and ask for whatever I want).
They show a bunch of movies, and it was a smack to the face of how long this
trip has been that the ‘new releases’ section is quite different now than when
I took Thai Airways from Johannesburg to Bangkok back in March. My only complaint
would be that the breakfast service wasn’t great, and the breakfast was the
main meal of my second flight from Bangkok to Tokyo. I was stunned at how empty
that flight was, by the way, especially since Thai is choosing to use the A380
on that route. I guess it means more for them if the business class is full,
which ostensibly it would be on a business-heavy route, but all of us in the
back got 3-4 seats to ourselves in economy. It was the emptiest flight I’ve
been on since my initial New York to Johannesburg flight.
I reached Tokyo around 3:45, and because of scheduling
conflicts, I had to rearrange my Japan schedule which forced me to go to Osaka
first, meaning that my 18 hours of door-to-door flying time was extending to
about 24 straight hours. Japan’s train system is numbingly confusing (but still
incredibly efficient), but it is made easy for foreigners who can easily buy a
rail pass out of the country, which I did. I got my tickets first to Tokyo
Central and then to the Shin-Osaka station. The first train was luxurious, and
the second, with free Wi-Fi even better. Japan trains are so incredibly
efficient, with precise times scheduled hours in advance. I was scheduled to
reach Shin-Osaka at 21:26 (9:26 PM), and as the train pulled into the station,
the clock turned to 21:26.
It took about 45 minutes to reach my hostel because the cab
driver didn’t really know where to go at first. The hostel is situated well
(which makes it a little obsurd that he couldn’t find it), right across from
the bright-at-night Dotonbori Street, a bastion for the crowded, glitzy, lit-up
Japanese streets of fame. Because of how late it was, and how starving I was, I
decided to scour around Dotonbori Street to find a restaurant, but even then
most were closed. All I found was scores of girls hanging around the street
approaching me (and every other guy) and saying some Japanese. I finally found
a nice place which I could best describe as a Japanese take on the Korean-BBQ,
with a flame grill brought to each table. They had a variety of meats, most of
the strange Asian variety like Check, Neck, Tongue, Throat, and so many others
that I can’t name. They had normal ones too, but what’s the fun in that?
I ordered a plate of beef skirt steak pieces (just in case I
hated the more interesting ones), and then ordered a plate of pork cheek, and
pork intestines. All were brought raw and had to be cooked at the table, where
I had to be on high-alert to flip over the pieces. As far as I know, I
generally did a good job, letting the pieces of meat fry more than they
probably needed just to be safe. What I’ve found from my one meal in Japan so
far, and later corroborated by the friendly Nepalese hostel manager, is that
food and especially drink is relatively cheap in Japan. The beer was between
2-3 dollars at meals and 1-2 dollars in stores. Japan isn’t really cheap in
general, but it is for sustenance purposes.
