Made It!!

It was a close call, getting home, that is. Who needs fitness equipment when you can just run through the Frankfort airport while carrying a 15 lb child? Arrghhh!!!

We arrived at the airport 2 1/2 hours before our flight. When we got to the check-in point for our 230 lbs of luggage, the nice guy said we needed a paper ticket for the little one. Yeah. About that. Someone who will remain nameless left this ticket at his office after submitting a copy of it for reimbursement. No biggie, right? She was still listed as a passenger, so what's the problem? He said we had to go down to ticketing to straighten it out.

I left hubby at that window with our bags and I ran down to ticketing with the baby/passport/etc. At ticketing, the (not-so) nice man said, "You need a paper ticket. They issued it on October 12." Then he slapped her passport on the counter in front of me and turned away. Huh? I (obviously) had to speak up. "EXCUSE ME. What do I do now. I'm not leaving my child in Germany." Duh. Should I really have needed to state this??

Finally, after we paid 80 Euro ($120), they outsourced the printing of the ticket to whatever country is furthest from Germany. I mean, they had to have. It took AN HOUR AND A HALF to complete the transaction. Seriously.

So we get the bags checked, and everyone tells us not to dawdle. Did they think we were completely stupid? I could hear the overhead announcement saying our flight had boarded. You know, boarded onto the plane that was two security check points away from us???

A nice guy from the airline showed up at everyone line we ran breathlessly to and put us in the front every time. At the last checkpoint, the chick from the plane said she needed our stroller. NOW. She got it from the security people before we were done with our checks. I believe we were the last ones seated on the plane. Scary.

But we made it, and brought Maggie with us, and we're smelling (as hubby likes to say) the 'sweet air of freedom.' and the first nice guy from the airline said if we call them in Detroit and tell them we purchsed a duplicate ticket, they should reimburse us. I hope so. We bought two tickets to hold a baby on our laps all day. What's up with that?