The following conversation took place between a guy from Iberia and me after I missed my connecting flight in Madrid.
Me: “I missed my connecting flight. How soon can you get me out of here?”
Guy (typing into his computer): “In three hours.”
Me: “Great! I’ll take it.”
Guy (typing): “The cost is 220 Euro.”
Me: “Excuse me?”
Guy: “220 Euro.”
Me: “But I already paid for my ticket.”
Guy: “But you missed your flight.”
Me: “I missed my flight because someone from your airline told me to go to the wrong gate. See, he even wrote down the wrong gate number on my ticket.”
Guy (looks at the ticket; chuckles): “Gate R2 is international flights. Everybody knows that.”
Me: “I didn’t!”
Guy: “You should have looked at the screens. The screens said H2.”
Me: “But I was already late and the man told me: Go to R2 and hurry or you will miss the plane. So that’s what I did.”
Guy (looks back at the ticket): “Pffff, anybody could have written down R2. I can’t help you, madam. You pay or you stay.”
Me: “But it wasn’t anybody who wrote down that gate! It. Was. Someone. From. Iberia. I am not staying here! I am not paying! It was your airline’s fault! Your fault!”
And then I started crying. In front of the guy from Iberia, all of his colleagues and approximately 34 other people waiting in line. Embarrassing, yes, but I couldn’t help it. I was so exhausted and frustrated that I just burst into tears like a stupid girl.
Even more embarrassingly it worked. The guy looked at me for a minute, did some more typing and without another word handed me my new ticket with no extra charge.
Since I had three hours to spare, I did what seemed the obvious thing to do: I bought shoes. And because not enough had gone wrong that day already, I ended up buying shoes in two different sizes. Yes. A 40 and a 41. Which I obviously didn’t discover until I was already in Malaga.
Thankfully Iberia are so bad at getting places on time that my return flight was also delayed by so much that not only did I have to spend the night in a horrible airport hotel, but I had enough time to go back to the shop and get both shoes in the correct size.
All of which is to say that these are some well-earned heels. Or like my friend Hanna said: Exactly the kind of shoes you would buy when you’re having a nervous breakdown in an airport.
8 Comments
Karen
Ich glaube das besagte Flughafenhotel in Madrid ist jede Nacht komplett ausgebucht mit FluggĂ€sten von Iberia đ
marlene
Die Angestellten schienen jedenfalls nicht weiter ĂŒberrascht, als plötzlich 40 Leute mit Gutscheinen von Iberia einchecken wollten. Anders kommen sie vermutlich aber auch nicht an GĂ€ste!
Penélope
Liebe Marlene,
Konnte heute morgen nicht schlafen und hab dies gelesen.
Herrlich gelacht und mir dabei so gedacht: schön, dass wir Frauen sind und in Spanien so etwas noch funktioniert. Wage zu bezweifeln, dass die mÀnnlichen NordeuropÀer zu solch emotional getriebenen spontanen Umentscheidungen fÀhig wÀren.
Ach ja, schicke Schuhe….sehr schicke Schuhe ;-)!
Penélope
marlene
Hallo! Weinen ist nie die richtige Lösung, dachte ich. Stattdessen: ruhig bleiben, gut argumentieren, standfest sein. Ich glaube, ich war einfach nicht die erste und einzige, die wegen eines verpassten Flugs vor diesem Mann in TrÀnen ausgebrochen ist. Er muss erschöpft gewesen sein. Und eben Spanier. Das hat vermutlich doch auch geholfen.
Oder? Und jedes Mal wenn ich sie anziehe, werde ich an den muffigen Herren von Iberia denken, dem ich sie zu verdanken habe, hihihi.
Julia
Ich bin die zweite und bestimmt auch nicht die letzte, die wegen eines verpassten Fluges zweimal im Abstand von vier Jahren geheult hat. Vor mies gelaunten Franzosen in Paris. War dann aber auch for free. Ich gelobe hiermit Besserung, im Fall der Ursache und der BekÀmpfung.
marlene
Und ich gelobe hiermit, nie wieder mit Iberia zu fliegen.
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