Mark: Buddy passes, not always your buddy

Buddy passes sometimes really are not your friend. My Grandfather used to work for Delta. He retired some years ago but still gets discounted airfare. He can purchase “Buddy” tickets which are really cheap stand-by tickets. With these tickets you can get on the plane if there is an open seat. Rarely do you not get on, and frequently the seats available are in first class! That is how I flew to Ireland, first class, enjoying cocktails and a seat that reclines to a complete horizontal position. You also get your own television screen and can pick anything you would like to watch. They had my favorite show of all time playing, the Sopranos. This made the flight quick and painless on the way there. When I arrived in Dublin it was easy to grab all of my luggage and make my way to where the IES people were waiting for me. The trip home was not as easy. At the end of the program my friend Jenn came to Ireland and we went on the Shamrocker tour, (with Jim, and the trip was amazing) and spent the last three nights in Ireland at Temple Bar, also amazing. Sadly, the trip was over and we made our way to the Dublin airport at 6:45 am. When we arrived they took our luggage and made us wait to see if there were available seats. Thirty minutes before boarding time they gave us boarding passes and sent us through security, duty free stores and started to wait in line at emigration. After about twenty minutes of waiting a woman working for Delta approached us and pulled us out of the line. She just asked us to wait. Jenn and I both realized that we were not getting on the plane. After more waiting the woman came to us again and asked what my luggage looked like, they had lost my luggage and did not know if it was on the plane or still in the airport. They did not want to delay the plane anymore so they took off. When I asked the woman what happened to our tickets she blatantly said she sold them last minute. As an additional bonus she told us that the Delta flights from Dublin to JFK were over sold for the next three days. We left immigration to go find someone to talk about my lost bag. I had two bags, one was filled with clothes, I got that one back, and one was filled with electronics and souvenirs, that’s the one that was lost. I found no help when talking to baggage claim. I had to change my focus on getting home from a different airport rather than finding my luggage. Jenn and I were able to purchase tickets from Dublin to Shannon on Aer Lingus.



When we arrived in Shannon my luggage was found at the Dublin airport. The airline arranged that the bag would make it on the flight the next day to JFK around the same time I would arrive at JFK. We had to get a hotel to spend the night and wait for our next flight. Unfortunately for my wallet the only one available was a four star hotel. But when morning came we boarded the plane no problem, first class, and arrived at JFK on time.

To bad my luggage was never put on the other plane. I had to fill out a delayed luggage report and I was sent home with out my bag. The woman at the baggage claim told me that I would have to pay for the shipping of my bag because I was on the buddy pass. Every morning for the next five days I called and harassed Delta to send my luggage, when finally I noticed online that it not only made it to JFK but was sent to Philadelphia the same day. I jumped in my car and made it to the airport in no time.
It was there waiting for me in mint condition. It wasn’t until this moment I finally felt that my trip was
(Above Ireland on the way home) over.

(Lost luggage slip and boarding pass)
(The lost bag)