Travel Recap, PT II: Chitown to Beantown

[nihilistech]

The plane lands in Chicago O'Hare and I get off the plane* walk up the jetway unassisted (much to the chagrin of at least one flight attendant; I don't really understand why they think a blind person would need help walking *OFF* a plane, it's basically a straight line to the door and you can hear where that is, and jetways aren't particularly

Comments

it's not easy being green

[sculpin]

Jeez, what a set of flights.

It's not particularly stylish, but when I was flying a lot, I got in the habit of marking my bag with something -- first a piece of ribbon, then a strip of duct tape -- so I could distinguish it easily from all the other anonymous-looking black or red luggage that comes tumbling down to the baggage claim. Have you considered trying something like that? "Green with a one-and-a-half-inch-wide light-blue stripe", or something, might be easier to describe and understand than "leaf green". It does, of course, mean that you wind up carrying some kind of weird-looking luggage.

"Deplane" cracks me up every time.

Re: it's not easy being green

[nihilistech]

Yeah. My regular suitcases all have ribbons or silver duct tape and the like on them. I just hadn't prepared for this bag having to be checked through.
Maybe I'll glue googlie frog eyes on it!

"Dee plaaaane! Dee plaaaaaane!" And debark sounds like an unpleasant operation on a dog.

Re: it's not easy being green

[sculpin]

Frog eyes for the win!

Re: it's not easy being green

[nihilistech]

Especially since I inevitably end up forgetting what color ribbon thingy I have tied to which bag, so it ends up not being all that helpful: "It's a red suitcase with a yellow...? or is it silver ... bow on the handle."

[markw]

Belated wave!

But ugh, what a train of annoyances. Someone should invent a chirp button (like when you lock your car with a key chain) to locate luggage in the unloading area.

That would work great until everyone had one, I guess. Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!

[leadinglabbie]

OMG! Worse than my airport experiences on the same trip. I didn't think that was possible.

Re: Bags: I totally want to do what Mike May (I think) said he did at one point and put one of those electronic doorbell thingies in my bag and then activate it while the bags are going round and round. But something tells me that a beeping bag would probably not go over too well. I usually go for these luggage handle grip things, and that helps. They are very bright and noticeable. And if you get a matching set, you can temporarily put one on the side of the dog's harness and then point it out to the assistor and say, "My bag has one of those on it."

CatchingupwithyourLJ.com

[squonk]

Re: luggage - I bought a neon green suitcase exactly so that it would be easily identifiable. Really, like, bright neon green. There's pretty much never another one that color on the carousel. It does get dirty easily, though.

Re: bulkhead - ARGGH. I filed a complaint against United for this kind of bullshit a couple years ago, and had it decided in my favor by the DOT. Whenever I travel, I carry a folder of DOT and TSA accessibility regs with me, with appropriate sections highlighted and tagged, and a copy of the resolution of this complaint on DOT stationery goes right in there with it. (Yes, I am anal. But feeling like I'm prepared to whip this stuff out--whether it will actually make any difference notwithstanding-- significantly reduces my travel-related stress levels, which are inherently high. I've got the DOT Consumer Hotline number in my cell phone, too