Crazy Airport Stories

I'm not usually one to report on anything that isn't positive, but this was downright comical. On a flight from Dublin, Ireland to Amsterdam, we had to pass through London Heathrow. Again. Carrying the same bags as we started with in California, we had to disembark and pass through security again to go to Holland. I was a bit surprised, but, ok, no problem. Then we walk around the round about, back away from our next flight, and to the x-ray center, but before they let us through, they young man tells rachel and I we must put our bags into this metal frame to make sure they are the right size. Now, I thought, ok, no problem. Well, neither of ours fit, they were about .5 inches short. Thinking that since we had JUST flown on the same airline and our bags fit perfectly, they would let us through. NO sympathy points. Mind you, our flight leaves in 35 minutes. Heathrow is a triathlon airport. You have to lug luggage, dress & undress for the nice xray people, sprint past all the people to make your flight, and maybe get a chance for the washroom or some food. hopefully they are on your route in that same order.)

So here's the facts & the punch line to the story,
- I was NOT going to check my bags, miss the flight and wait around for another couple hours.
- I'm not special enough to ride 1st class and bypass this madness
- my wife was more entertaining than me trying to yank her bag out of the other bin as I was doing the same right next to her
- we must have looked really desperate to the ever growing & impatient line watching us try to CRAM in, and remove our bags.
- We packed everything in these bags so that we didn't have to check on luggage,
- I had my bag lost a few months ago on our way to rome and had to wait 3.5 days to get it back, this is why we always carry on only now.
- The last 5 flight legs we had taken on this trip, our bags were perfectly fine, INCLUDING the last time we went through this airport a few days earlier!

they let us through (finally) after we kinda pleaded with them and were nice.
Moral of the story, be persistent, nice and treat others as if they are just doing a job & they probably don't agree with half of the rules anyway.

We made our flight and got some exercise getting to the gate. Much better stories to follow, stay tuned...