Airlines

That Time Apple Air Tag’s Did Save The Day

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In recent years I’ve seen plenty of people recommending the use of Apple AirTags when travelling. Some airlines even let you share your AirTag location with them so they can help track down lost luggage. Looking back, I guess I was a bit ahead of the curve, because as soon as AirTags came out, I bought a bunch and put them on our bags.

In 2021, we flew to Madrid on British Airways and I had AirTags on all four pieces of luggage. The flight was delayed leaving Heathrow due to BA issues, and when we finally landed and were waiting at the carousel, I opened Find My to check. Three of the bags showed as nearby, but the fourth was still pinging from Heathrow. Immediate red flag. Sure enough, someone from baggage claim walked around with a list of names, and my bag was on it. The one with all my stuff, of course.

We filed the paperwork, went to our Airbnb, and I made do with what I had. The next day, baggage services still claimed they couldn’t find it, even though by then the AirTag clearly showed it sitting at Madrid airport. The people on the phone were rude, unhelpful, and not even located at the airport itself. After a full day of frustration, one finally suggested I go to the airport in person.

So I did. It was a 15 to 20 minute cab ride, not too bad. The crazy part was how I got in: I was told to knock on a door past customs, explain myself to security, and they just waved me through with no checks at all. As a security-minded person, that was insane. But it got me in. I showed staff the AirTag location, they asked for a photo of the bag (which I barely had), and after 20 minutes of searching in the back, they found it.

I was relieved. Without the AirTag, I doubt I would have seen that bag for days, if at all. It had already been two days and I’d had to buy clothes just to get by. The phone support was useless, and it was only the tracker that made the difference.

Since then, I’ve been completely sold on using AirTags whenever we travel. I’ve also learned to always take a photo of the luggage beforehand, and to make sure the AirTag batteries are fresh. It’s the only reason I got my bag back in Madrid.

The Kids Meal

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On a flight to the States a few years ago I commented to the flight attendant when my kids didn’t like the meal that I want the kids meal since they looked much better than the adult ones. The flight attendant said they are and she recommended that I ask for one next time. I felt a bit odd doing it so I never did.

That is till this week. I am going on a flight without the fam and the menu did not look great so I figured I would order the kids meal. Let’s see how awkward that looks when they deliver it!

W Sisters and The Love of Trains, Planes, Buses and Not Automobiles

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Ever since the girls were very little they had a fascination with transit. I am not really sure how much of that was implements from M and I. I remember before T could talk we would watch videos on YouTube of trains driving by. I would find a video of the TGV or the Bullet train or whatever that someone would stand by the tracks or station and video the train moving by. Either slowing into a station or blasting by at full speed. There were videos where people pieced this footage together for 10 or 20 minutes. T was fascinated with them. It took me way too long to realise why don’t I just show her Thomas the Tank Engine. I thought that would be much more interesting when just train is moving. Oh I was so wrong about that. She insisted in her non speaking way that she wanted the regular videos.

There were other times that I would take either T buy or sell or both kids in the stroller up to the long run railroad station in Forest Hills. We always tried to take them out for a walk even in the winter. With T’s interest in the YouTube videos as well as general fascination when we took the subway I had the idea of going to the railroad station. That consisted of us standing on a platform waiting for trains to go by. Since the station by our house was on the main line not all trains stopped. They got the experience of seeing a train shoot by at full speed. They also got to see the train stop and have the doors open. We stood by the front of the train platform so the motor man or a conductor would inevitably wave and say hi. I don’t know any times or how long we did this for however it felt like several months since I recall doing it in the freezing cold and the heat.

It was at least more than one instance where we decided to take the LIRR from Forest Hills to Penn Station and then just return home so the girls could experience the railroad.

When the girls were slightly older and we moved to London one of the first things they wanted to do was ride at the top of a double-decker bus. As luck would have it one of the local buses with a stop very close to a house was a double-decker bus. M and A were able to do that one day when T was in school shortly after we arrived. We have the picture showing how happy A was on that fateful trip. What’s funny is I think they only travelled about one or two stops. It did not matter since A cup to sit in the front had a panoramic view of the world. T was not at all happy since she wanted to do the same. That meant M again took them a stop at you on the bus. The photo of T on that day shows one happy little kid.

Girls love of sitting on the top preferably on the front of the double-decker bus has not changed in over two years of living here. It almost doesn’t pay sometimes to go to the top for a short ride since you have to get up and down the stairs with little kids. It doesn’t matter the girls insist on being up top.

The Tube trainsbe have a sealed front and back. That means you cannot look out the front or back of the training to look at the tracks. The DLR on the other hand has a class front and back where you can sit since there is no driver typically. The train is usually on full automatic and there is only a conductor. I mentioned this once to the girls and they were eager to check it out. Now whenever we take the TLR they insist on going to the front or back (preferably the front). If they can they sit on the knees looking out for they stand in the middle holding onto the handrail looking out the open glass front/back of the train. It is always adorable to watch and inevitably M or myself take a picture two.

There transit fascinations are not limited to local trains either. Since we do not have a car we have taken several overground trains. As far back as our first big trip to Edinburgh the girls have enjoyed walking around on the big trains exploring. I don’t mind taking them up and down the cars to see what’s going on. It is generally pretty boring with lots of the same looking cars. Every so often you get a different one like a first-class card or a café car. Even if I am not supposed to be in a first-class car if I am not paying for a first-class surprisingly people looked the other way when you’re walking around two adorable children. Actually the don’t look away you get a lot of hellos. I generally do that with the girls on the train since M gets a little motion sick walking around a lot while the train is moving.

With all their love of trains and buses are not that interested about being on an aeroplane. They love to watch planes take off and land especially at one of the lounges in Gatwick that has a perfect view of the runway. Once we get on a plane however all they want to do is sit and use their tablet to watch a video. I don’t blame them since we limit a lot on their screen time except when we got on an aeroplane. Our most recent trip had some promise for about 2 minutes when we took off T wanted to take photos of the lights and city scape before being distracted.

I do hope when they get older they still have some appreciation or curiosity about trains and buses. I know I do even now. That is why it is even more enjoyable to experience it with them.

The Story of Our Experience With British Airways

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In February we took a cruise to the Caribbean. It required us to fly from London to Tampa so we could goto Port Canaveral in Florida to get on the boat. We were meeting up with M’s parents. Since we wanted to go to Tampa and not the more popular nearby Orlando international Airport we had limited flight options. The only direct flight from any London airport to Tampa was British Airways out of Gatwick. Anything else would require us to transfer.

Since we moved to London in all of our personal travel to the states we have flown either Virgin Atlantic or Norwegian Airways. This was our first trip as a family on British Airways. I have flow BA before however I can only recall doing so in Business Class. Before we even got on the plane I had a major issue with using BA. There was no way to book a seat ahead of time in regular economy without spending extra money. If you wanted their low-end tickets you would not be able to pick a seat at all. Their standard economy tickets let you pick seats only when you checked in 24 hours ahead of time. As a family with two relatively small kids that’s not good enough. We need the ability to know we are together when we book our tickets. What good is it to be able to select your seats when you may not have been fast enough on the day to get 4 together.

That limitations not only required us to purchase the standard economy tickets. We also had to pay extra per person to pick her seats when I booked the tickets. Both together added several hundred pounds to the ticket price. Virgin Atlantic had no such restriction. If we bought their standard economy ticket I was able to book a seat. The same goes for Norwegian airlines and they are considered a low-cost carrier. This penny/pence pinching is very annoying. All other things being equal I won’t pick British Airways over Virgin, Delta, Norwegian in the future if I can help it. Business practices do matter people.

If that wasn’t enough their entire online check in process had left a lot to be desired. For both legs of the trip we were required to go to the ticket counter to input additional information. This isn’t the first time we as a family have flown internationally. We’ve never had to do this before however when queried we were told that something about our passports required us to see an agent. I just don’t believe that since we’ve done at least three other roundtrips to the states with no issues. In practice the lines weren’t too bad and on the way home they confirmed my TSA Pre was on my ticket so it worked out. It was simply not a seemless experience. The reason I bring it up is the oddity of because of that glitch we were checked into our flight with no boarding passes. I don’t know if that’s a thing for just British Airways or if airlines are now “checking you in” if you don’t even have a boarding pass. Are you really checked in?

What is funny to me is that the actual inflight service was pretty good. M pointed out the good service also. That does not change that before rhe flight even started I went into it with the negative thought in my head because of the extra cost of the seats. I appreciated the good service in the air. All things equal its not enough for me to choose BA again based on my purchase experience. Since I am not a frequent flyer with them it really doesn’t matter to them anyway! As always it does feel a bit theraputic to write about it though.

Photo shown is not the plane we flew on. That is a 747 I flew on going home from London when living in NY and we flew on something less spectacular that that for this trip.

Basic Economy Does Do One Thing Right

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Delta Airlines Commuter Jet Airplane

Basic Economy is horrible,. I want to get that out there now. Why? Because I want to select my seat. I don’t want to get on the plane last. I don’t want a ticket I cannot change no matter what. Not even with a crazy fee. Even without kids and the need to be sure we are sitting together (not next to the toilet in the back row) I want to select my seat ahead of time.

What Basic Economy does well is make you happy to have Regular Economy. I have read analysts say this before. As I was doing the happy dance that we got 4 checked luggage on our flight to NY in July I realized how right that analyst was. It’s an international flight. I used to have 2 checked luggage per person. Now I get one and I am happy about it. Why because the ticket we had in June had none. I thought I would have to pay for checking some bags till I realized it’s included.

Well played airlines. Well played indeed.