May 13, 2018
A first even for Air Canada
Taken at 5:45 AM PST. You can see from the last post how much the lake has risen.
Adios dear house, see you in four weeks.
Check in went well at the airport and we were assured that our bags would travel with us on each flight. First time either of us has taken an early morning flight without horrendous line ups. We just sat and relaxed until the flight was called. As we were boarding I was pulled aside. Gulp 😯
The spelling of my surname on the ticket did not match the spelling of my name on my passport! You can’t travel if they do not match. We booked these tickets last July.
What I haven’t mentioned before now is that this trip is in honor of my turning 65 in a few weeks and of Colin semi retiring. So I decided last year that we should celebrate in style and have a grand vacation in Europe and to travel business class 😀 We had a lot of points with Aeroplan and I decided to splurge. So here we were about to board our first flight and I was stopped in my tracks.
The Air Canada agent at the gate ( many years ago I used to work for Air Canada ) caught the misspelling of Jewall. We had to wait while he checked everyone else through onto the plane. He made a call to someone and they decided to let me board and said that it would be worked on as we traveled and to check in in Calgary.
How can I have missed this? Most importantly how can the check in agent have not noticed? Had she, we would have had a lot less stress. Instead at 6AM she kept mentioning how tired she was. I am not saying it is her fault but we were the only ones checking in versus the gate agent who was checking matching names for a full plane.
Kelowna to Calgary was a short one hour flight on a prop job, a DH4.
The plane turned towards the mountains across from our home. It did not appear to be too much snow up there. But we don’t really know if this is the exact area melting and draining into our lake.
The Rockies never disappoint.
Once in Calgary we headed to the Maple Leaf Lounge ( business class lounge ) where we checked in and I asked about my ticket. There was a note on my file saying that there was nothing they could do and it should be okay as it was just one letter off. So we went and found a place to sit. It was freezing cold in there. Former Prime Minister of Canada, from 2006 to 2015, Joe Harper was just sitting around the corner from us.
We hadn’t been sitting more than ten minutes when the check in agent came over to tell me that she thought I should call Aeroplan and gave me a direct number. She later told me that she had checked the rest of our itinerary and thought that we would definitely have trouble getting out of Toronto. Colin and I had just been discussing the very same thing. Very long story short, I called and that person said that I should never even have been allowed to check in and there was nothing she could do. Well I explained that I was in Calgary and that we needed to figure out a solution. She was most negative. In the end I walked her over on my cell phone to the Maple Leaf Lounge check in agent and they went back and forth as well.
Almost a full hour later this wonderful Air Canada agent got me a new ticket with my proper name. That of course brought its own set of problems, the first being that my checked luggage was now attached to a cancelled ticket 🙁 She made several calls and wrote a lot of numbers down, made more calls and read some of the numbers out and then told me that the luggage should be traveling with us. It was me who then noticed that on the new tickets I have been reassigned different seat numbers that were not next to Colin 😥 Turns out the my original seat was showing as blocked off. We both came to the conclusion that I now possibly was sitting in two seats. Something I will have to deal with in Toronto.
The second leg of the flight to Toronto was when the business part of the trip kicked in. We were on a 767-300 and each seat was a mini pod that actually does lie totally flat. It was a short 3 hour and 45 minute trip. For once I was the person sitting in business class as everyone passed by my on the way to their economy seats.
The menu for our trip.
The seat is very complicated but ever so comfy. There is of course a leg rest that comes up. You can move the section behind your neck and head, forward or back, of course you can recline to the perfect position and then there is the lumbar support which really works well.
I found it cool on the flight so I cuddled under my duvet ( semi reclined ) complete with feathers. Here I am with my noise cancelling headset provided for the flight watching the movie Three Billboards. Somehow photos of the meal and delicious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc never got taken. Oh as well as the homemade chocolate chip cookie and ice creme 🙂 Colin was sitting to my left.
Can you see the other plane also coming in for a landing in Toronto?
Very busy airport.
Despite being on planes all day I have 6000 plus steps on my Fitbit.
So we have been in the international Maple Lounge now for two hours and I have had a few glasses of a US Pinot Grigio which I will try at home. Colin had a lovely Swiss chard and strawberry salad ( I had a bite ) but I just can’t eat right now, still full from lunch.
I can’t say that I will do such an extensive post each day. I missed all my lounge time in Calgary and spent two hours this one to write this post.
We are totally enjoying traveling in business class. How can I ever go back to the back of the plane?
I may not put so much time into editing my photos over the next bit of time. We will just have to see how it goes. It is difficult to try and post and also have fun.
Wait until you read about the next leg of our trip.
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FOR AN INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT, AN INCORRECT SPELLING WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC, AS NOT EVEN BOARDING YOUR FIRST FLIGHT. AT LEAST THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. AS FOR YOUR LUGGAGE, UPON ARRIVAL, I WOULD THINK THAT YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIMS STUBS SHOULD MATCH THE NUMBERS ON YOUR LUGGAGE. MY W/C TAG, WHICH IS ALL THAT GOES INTO CARGO, HAS MY FLIGHT CONFIRMATION NUMBER ON IT. HOPEFULLY YOURS HAS MORE THAN YOUR NAME???
HOPEFULLY THIS GOT STRAIGHTENED OUT A BIT IN TORONTO. YOU WILL BE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, WITH A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND WORDS CAN BE MISUNDERSTOOD. ACA SHOULD HAVE HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO GET THINGS CLEARED UP, EVEN IF IT MEANT RETRIEVING YOUR LUGGAGE AND REPLACING THE TAGS.
I HOPE YOU CAN ENJOY THE 3RD LEG OF YOUR FLIGHT AS IT SHOULD BE FANTASTIC. BE SAFE. I DO SEE YOUR FLIGHT IS ALREADY SCHEDULED FOR A LATE DEPARTURE!!!! YOU WERE VERY SMART TO BOOK YOUR 4TH FLIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING DAY.
HUGS AND LUV YO YOU BOTH.
Hope you get those issues all straightened out and the rest of you trip goes smoothly. Don’t let Blogging get in the way of a fun time.
I think it would be tough to go back to the cheap seats after traveling business class 🙂 Sure hope the name thing doesn’t mess up the rest of your trip! Have an awesome time and put blogging on the back burner.
Enjoy your trip and we’ll read about it when you get back.
Be Safe.
It’s about time.
Well, a bit of a rocky start, but the rest of the trip should be all good times! Have a blast!
Airlines that refuse to help lol, it is quite easy for them to fix it you know, they just don’t like to do so (know this from 20 years in the travel business, even easier now with e tickets versus the old paper kind). I hope everything else goes smoothly!