Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 26 degrees, hot, sunny, and slightly overcast.
When I returned to Brazil, the plan was to fly with KLM, taking a 9:00 a.m. flight from Birmingham Airport to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, with a quick one-hour connection to Rio.
I would arrive in Rio at approximately 8:00 p.m., the same day, the 6th of June, the day before Yasmin’s birthday. After checking in at Birmingham Airport at 6:00 a.m. and spending almost 2 hours trying to pass through embark, nowadays embark involves many security measures, including X-ray machines for your hand luggage and a body scan.
Obviously, if there were more stations, it would be quicker to pass more people through, and in June, at the edge of the holiday season, it seemed that all of England wanted to travel at once.
After queuing for almost 2 hours, I cleared security only to find that the flight had been cancelled. Luckily, through the KLM app, an alternative flight was offered, rerouting me via Lufthansa.
Birmingham to Frankfurt, then a connecting flight to São Paulo, Brazil, and another connecting flight from São Paulo to Rio. The Birmingham to Frankfurt flight would depart at 6:00 p.m., with the connecting flight from Frankfurt to São Paulo only one hour later.
It would be a rush, to say the least, and if the Birmingham flight is late, I could miss the São Paulo flight.
When my KLM flight in the morning was cancelled at Birmingham Airport, I had to pick up and check out all my luggage, which was about 9:00 a.m., and I had to laze around the airport, killing time until about 2:30 to 3:00 in the afternoon to check in again, this time with Lufthansa. On the cancelled flight, I had already paid for extra luggage, £100 for an extra suitcase full of presents for everybody in Brazil.
When I checked in with Lufthansa, they did not recognise that I had already paid for the extra suitcase. It was a bit of a shock, but deep down I was half expecting it, given different airlines and different systems. However, when it came to how much extra I would have to pay, I almost died. I had expected another £100 or even less, and I nearly had a heart attack when the woman told me it would be £220.
My credit card did not have that kind of limit at that moment.
I had to sell crypto to deposit the funds into my Brazilian bank account and pay with my Wise debit card. It was pure stress at that moment, and it showed me that in life we need to have a reserve, or at least much more than we think we need, to cover any eventuality, accident, stress or surprise.
I arrived in Brazil, first in Sao Paulo, then in Rio at 4:30 and 8:00, respectively, on Yasmin’s birthday. I did not meet her until lunchtime, as she was at school and then at the local shopping centre with her friends. It was a shock for her to see me, as she knew nothing and had not suspected.
After Yasmin’s birthday, the commemorations, going out with Jessica and Mario, sorting out many things, getting back into the temporary routine in Brazil, and more, this morning I called KLM customer care and service to explain what had happened.
They seemed to understand and sent me an email with a protocol number and a link to send all the relevant information about what had happened to receive some sort of compensation.
The minimum would have been to receive back the second luggage payment from KLM, but there was also the stress and other issues involved. I had to join the queue for the second time to pass through Embark, and it was a nightmare of security, worse than the first time earlier in the morning.
All of this would not have happened if the flight had not been cancelled. I had to wait in line for a total of 4 hours to get through Embark and back to Brazil. How crazy is that?
How do we say that public transport, or transport in general for people, is getting to a point that is worse than how cattle are transported? They transport cattle better!!!
Let’s see what happens.
In bed by midnight.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
