Heathrow at last

After landing at Heathrow the plane was held on the tarmac for almost half an hour before we were allowed to disembark. Some people were getting quite irritable. There had already been a long delay before leaving LA and they were tired after over 11 hours flying. One young woman who was at risk of missing a connecting flight, tried to get her luggage from the overhead locker and was visibly upset when told sternly to sit down and fasten her seat belt. There was tension in the air. 

Once we were allowed to move a Ukranian? mother was pushing her daughters along in front of her down the cramped passage way while manoeuvring  her large carry on, so I stayed sitting to let them pass. Naturally I smiled at the the older 6 or 7 year old child when she looked at me. She responded by reaching past her mother and first slapping me on the hand,  then grabbing it and trying to sink her teeth into it, all the time staring at me with wild, almost maniacal eyes. The mother pulled her away without even acknowledging me.  She must have been very stressed.

Finallyoff the plane I was left alone at bag claim as the baggage carousel returned over and over again without my luggage until all the 450 plus passengers from BA268 had picked theirs up and gone. That sinking feeling of lost luggage deja vu and hardly able to put one foot in front of another from tiredness, I searched for someone wearing a visibility vest who was not too busy on their phone to talk to me. Finally I was directed to the Customer Services booth where a glum looking woman searched her computer screen for evidence that I was telling the truth and that my luggage had been checked in properly. After quite some time, while my hope was fading because of all the questions she was firing at me, she directed me to carousel 10 at the far end of the building. What a lovely feeling of relief when I saw them, just 2 lonely bags left endlessly circling together. 

So why was my luggage separated from everyone else's on the flight?


Maybe it had something to do with one of the locks being forced open and this notice left inside.



 

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