My flights from Phoenix to Minneapolis to London were smooth. This fact made me believe that my way back to Phoenix would face no problem as well.

So, this morning I left my friend’s house in Langley-Slough, at suburban London, for a London Heathrow airport. Yes, today I am going home. Tempe, here I am coming!

We, me and my friend, left at around 7 am for the flight to Amsterdam scheduled for 8:10 boarding (take off at 8:40 am). I didn’t have any check-in luggage, and I had checked in from home. I thus assumed everything would be so smooth. What I needed to do just walking down the gate.

At the security gate I was stopped because my luggage was perceived as being too big for carry-on. Indeed, it didn’t fit the ‘measurement’ box, though there were only it wheels and handle that made it unfit the box. But I argued vehemently that I always got my luggage carried-on in all trips I made everywhere else in the world. The security guard told me that this is the United Kingdom’s rule and suggested that the allowable size might be different than other airport. I challenged them by asking this question,”How if the airline allowed me to carry my luggage?” The officer said that if the airline allowed then I’d be permitted to carry it on the flight.

I quickly went to the check-in desk and reported the case. The lady at KLM desk suggested that nothing they could do if the security said I couldn’t bring the luggage. Ouch, nobody wants to take responsibility! I told her that actually it was the other way around. She quickly said,”OK, you can have it on board, then.”

I came back in line and the same guard stopped me again. I explained that the airline allowed me. He then argued that it’s the state’s regulation, not about the airline! Oh, shucks, what a flip-flopper! I kept on arguing and I was handed over to other guy. In the end, though, I had to give up and got my small luggage checked-in. I flirted with the airline officer to give me a fast-track stamp on my boarding me to allow me to bypass a long queue It worked well, I got the fast-track one!

As I cleared the security, I suddenly realized that I had lost my glasses! But realizing that I had spent too much time on my luggage issue — thus not much time left — I decided just to let it go. I was a bit panicky and tried to run as fast as possible to my gate. As soon as I arrived at the Gate 1b, I saw the sign “KL 1002 LHR-AMS’ was blinking. However, the gate was closed. I became really panicked. I pushed the door leaves. Apparently the gate wasn’t locked. I opened that closed gate and ran down the alley. At the end of it I stopped. There were no airline staffs there. I saw another alley leading to the airplane with a glass double-door. I couldn’t even get close to the door since there were some “do not cross’ tapes around. I crawled below the tapes so I could be near the door. I thought I might be able to catch the flight still by entering the door. Alas, the door was locked.

Much like a Hollywood movie scene, I knocked the door like crazy. Hoping someone would hear me and open the door. After a couple minutes, I knew that nobody would come up and help me. I stopped knocking and decided to leave that alley.

As I walked the alley….. I felt helpless. I suddenly regretted myself for fighting about the check-in luggage……

to be continued….