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Leaving on a Jet Plane….
It’s taken 42 years to return to an amazing place
Arriving at Pearson Airport in Toronto with my sister to get on an Air Canada plane for an eleven-hour flight seemed like a daunting task. It wasn’t. Both my sister and I were excited to be flying across the globe.
The airport was humming. We found the Air Canada check in counter and after using the kiosk to get our boarding passes, it was on to getting luggage tagged. We did it via the self serve kiosk and shlepped the luggage over to the conveyor belt to send the bags to the plane. My Sister’s bag disappeared right away. Much to my chagrin my suitcase stopped on the belt and wouldn’t move forward. An electronic notice read ‘’Overweight, see Air Canada Representative.’’ The first hiccup.
I was amazed at how professional and excellent the Air Canda rep was. ‘’We’re really busy at the moment. You’re not over by much. I ’ll put you on the belt without an extra charge. Have a Great trip.’’ Kudos to Air Canada, things were moving in right direction.
It didn’t take long to find my Niece, Nephew, and my Great Niece and Nephews as we were going on the trip together. I tried to help them (the kids are four, two and six months) and the Air Canada representative they were dealing with was not being very decent to them. It was a complete three sixty-five to the Air Canada person I had dealt with. I realized I had been very fortunate. The Air Canada representative was arguing about my Niece’s carry-on bag. It was filled with baby formula, and she insisted that it had to be checked in. Even though my Nephew (who is a brilliant surgeon) demonstrated the bag met the criteria Air Canada insisted on for an overhead bin, she was being intransigent. We took immediate action. We took the baby formula out of the bag and split it up, each of us putting it in our carry-on bags. My Nephew once again demonstrated that the bag met the ‘’requirements’’ to be a carry-on and she finally reluctantly relented.’
They put their luggage through, and we headed to security. After the normal security protocols, we all cleared and headed towards our gate. We stopped and put all the baby formula back in the original carry-on and felt a great sense of satisfaction. It was also a reminder that there were some people who were given powers of authority who felt the need to…
