Okashira Senryu | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
2007.09.10
"Made it in time! I'm on the flight, but my luggage isn't."
This story is from when I was traveling around Europe for work related to the Network Robot Forum , which I help support. The incident happened after I visited the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies near Pisa, Italy, signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for a network robot demonstration experiment with the mayor of Peccioli, and visited the robotics research institute at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona. As you may know, since 9/11, it has become difficult to bring even 20-inch carry-on-sized luggage on board, and since it's a hassle to negotiate with airline staff, I had made it a habit to check my baggage.
The first trouble occurred when I was traveling to Linz to visit the FutureLab at Ars Electronica. My Lufthansa flight to Munich Airport was delayed by over an hour, and I missed my connecting flight. I was told that the alternative flight would arrive in Linz at 9:15 a.m. the next morning. This meant I would be late for my 9:00 a.m. meeting at the hotel the next morning. At the Lufthansa service counter, they readily prepared hotel and taxi vouchers for me but told me there were no other transportation options like trains. With some difficulty, I was finally reunited with my luggage, which had been left behind in the baggage area. Feeling a bit better, I decided to travel by train and looked for a DB (Deutsche Bahn) information desk. There were several DB information counters in the terminal, but they were all closed. After asking around, I was told that there was one counter still open. I finally found it and asked about trains to Linz. They told me there was an overnight train, E269, departing from Munich Central Station at 11:35 p.m. and arriving in Linz at 3:40 a.m. I immediately bought a ticket and headed to Munich Central Station. This train, surprisingly, was headed for Budapest as its final destination, and many people were boarding. Due to an unusual cold spell, the heating was on in the train, even though it was summer! Dozing off, I arrived in Linz at 4:00 a.m., 20 minutes behind schedule. I made it to my hotel room by 4:20 a.m. and just managed to be on time for the meeting.
The second time was on my return flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). The people I was traveling with were scheduled to leave Linz at a more leisurely pace and fly home via Frankfurt, but I needed to get back to Narita early in the morning to attend the SFC Forum in Hakone. So, I went out of my way to leave Linz at 6:00 a.m. and headed to CDG on an Air France flight via Frankfurt. I boarded the delayed Air France flight home, but my luggage never appeared at Narita. In the end, I ended up arriving from Linz more than four hours late for the SFC Forum.
"Lesson learned: When making connections using multiple airlines, leave plenty of time and travel with only carry-on baggage."
(Date Published: 2007/09/10)