Missing Baggage and Dutiful Airlines
By Dr Khalid Siddiqui
US
On the evening of December 23, 2003 we (I and my children) took President Airlines’ flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Beides many Buddhist temples, Siem Reap is home to the famous and the largest Hindu temple (later converted to a Buddhist temple) in the world called Angkor Wat.
We arrived in Siem Reap on schedule but our luggage didn’t make it. The airlines’ agent assured us that the luggage would be delivered by the first flight in the morning, which arrives at 10:00 AM, and we would get it at our hotel room by 11:00 AM. It was not of much concern to us because we always carried enough essentials in our carry-on bags to survive one or two days. However, at 7:00 AM I got a call from the hotel reception that our luggage had arrived. I told her that it was not possible because it didn’t arrive by the last flight in the evening, and the next flight was not due until 10:00 AM. But her description did match our luggage. So, I requested her to have the airline person bring it to our room. He brought the luggage and it, indeed, was our own.
I asked him how the luggage suddenly showed up. He said, “I drove the whole night from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap to deliver the luggage to you as soon as possible!” The distance between the two cities is 200 miles. It took him almost six hours to cover the distance because of the poor road conditions. The airlines went through all this trouble just to deliver the luggage four hours sooner than expected, because I would have received it by 11:00 AM anyway. I was surprised at the efficiency of this little known airlines. Unfortunately, it shut down its operations in 2007.
Bangkok Airlines/Singapore Airlines
I was in Luang Prabang, Laos in March 2011. It is a beautiful old capital city with a distinct French flavor. After spending two days there, I was flying out to Bangkok in the afternoon of March 30, 2011. My plan was to take a connecting flight from Bangkok to Singapore, spend the night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel within the airport, fly in the morning to Medan in Sumatra, meet my guide there and then drive five hours to the jungle, cross Bahorok River on the rope suspension bridge (the kind that we see in northwest Pakistan) on foot, and finally arrive at the Econolodge Cottage at Bukit Lawang village in the middle of the rainforest. I was there to look for orangutans in the wild.
The World Cup ODI cricket semi-finals was going to be played between India and Pakistan at Mohali in the evening of March 30. My plan was to watch the game on the computer at the Singapore airport. As you know, there are computers for the transit passengers all over the Singapore airport.
At the Luang Prabang airport I was told that the flight to Bangkok would be delayed because the incoming flight from Bangkok was also late. I told the girl that I may miss the connecting flight from Bangkok to Singapore. She checked my schedule on the computer and assured me that I shouldn’t be worried because there were several flights between Bangkok and Singapore throughout the night, and that I had almost a 12-hour layover at the Singapore airport. I didn’t want to tell her about the cricket match, so I simply said that I had a meeting in Singapore to attend. She didn’t say anything. The flight was much delayed.
Once airborne, I figured out that I would have roughly 15 minutes to make the connection. There simply wouldn’t be enough time to go through all the immigration/security protocols and still make it to the plane. I resigned myself to the fact that I would miss the ODI.
Few minutes later the Bangkok Airlines stewardess came to me and asked, “Are you the one who has a meeting in Singapore?” I said, “Yes”. She told me to pick up my carry-on luggage, move to the very back of the plane and have my passport ready. She also said, “We would try to rush you to the connecting flight to Singapore, but your luggage would arrive on a later flight”. I told her that I had no problems with that. I wondered how she would do it.
As soon as the plane landed and came to a stop at a remote corner of Bangkok airport runway, she opened the rear door. I saw a van standing outside. A man quickly attached the ladder to the door. Within a minute I was in the van. Besides the driver, there was a Bangkok Airlines agent and an immigration officer in the van. The immigration officer checked my passport, and then the van sped on the tarmac as if it was on a race car track. Within minutes we were at the departure gate. The agent helped me through the security, and I barely made it to the plane – the last passenger to board. The time span between the plane-to-plane transfer was not more than ten minutes. I checked into the Crowne Plaza at the Singapore airport. To my surprise the game was being shown live on TV in the room. That was the game in which the Pakistanis dropped Tendulkar 6 times, and he scored 85 runs. Pakistan lost by 29 runs and was out of the tournament. Not surprisingly, Tendulkar was the MOM.
In the morning I walked to the Singapore Airlines counter. The agent told me that despite several flights between Bangkok and Singapore your luggage, somehow, was still in Bangkok. She assured me that I would get it the next morning in Medan, Sumatra. She was not concerned even when I told her that I would be in a remote jungle. At the Medan airport I met my guide, Idris. We went to the Singapore Airlines Office. He gave the address of the resort and his cellphone number to them. The agent gave me $50.00 to buy toiletries etc. As I had everything I needed, we spent that money on a nice lunch in Medan.
The five-hour drive through the palm groves and rubber plantations was very pleasant. The rope bridge, which looks so romantic in photographs, was very scary. The key is to walk in dead center - one step to either side and the bridge swings to the opposite side causing you to lose your balance.
As a rule, any adventurous activity in the forest must be completed by noon because every day, without exception, it rains heavily in the afternoon. Next morning at 7:00 AM I left with two guides to look for orangutans. Idris was left behind at the cottage to handle the Singapore Airlines guy and the luggage. I left a tip with him for the Singapore Airlines guy. The question is why did I need two guides? The ground was so slippery and muddy that I needed one person to help me walk through it. The other guide was to look for and/or ‘hear’ the orangutans. These monkeys are so heavy that when they jump from branch to branch, the branches frequently break under their own weight.
This branch-breaking sound was what the second guide was supposed (and expected) to detect. The sound would give a clue to the orangutan’s location. Otherwise, the jungle was so dense that you couldn’t see anything through the leaves. As opposed to other monkeys who live in groups, the orangutan is a solitary animal which makes it even more elusive. And it was so humid that eyeglasses and camera lens would fog up. I always keep a piece of cloth handy to clean the lens when I expect these kinds of conditions. I learned it in Madagascar.
At 9:00 AM Idris called one of the guides to inform him that the Singapore Airlines guy was there with the luggage, and that he wanted to speak with me. I took the call. He was so apologetic for being one hour late because he had to take long detours as a result of flooding in Medan!
We did see four or five orangutans up close. They just looked at us in amazement. We saw one mother with a baby which is a rare sight because the female gives birth to only one baby every 5-9 years. I also saw few birds and other animals. To be on the safe side, I had allocated two days for the orangutan viewing. As I was able to see them on the first day, the second day was free. So, I went to the nearby Gua Kempret Bat Cave. It was a very risky adventure. The stench of bat droppings (guano) was unbearable, and there was always the danger of slipping into the guano pond. I wouldn’t recommend it.
PS: I wear ugly-looking travel shoes the whole time I am on a wildlife trip - so does my son. We can walk over sand, mud, stones, ice, water, etc. without any difficulty. I just wash it in the evening and leave it dry out in the bathroom tub for half an hour. That’s why I am never bothered when my luggage is delayed.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2021/10/07/ian-watmore-steps-ecb-chairman/
