Pissed Off!

Ok...the pictures might come sometime before Christmas....I promise that. You are going to be so disappointed when they do finally show up....just so you know.

Today is February 13. I returned from Orlando on January 3. That was quite some time ago. When we flew back from Orlando we arrived at the Calgary International Airport, we were tired, cranky and we smelled like airplane. Once we proceeded through customs (boy those guys need a sense of humor!) we had the treat of going to the baggage claim area. Yippee!!!

As we were traveling as a herd we had to wait for an extra long time to claim the thousand bags that we had brought with us along with the extra ones that we needed to buy in Florida to bring home all our Florida crap. We waited....and waited....and waited.

After about half hour we had all of our bags. Bags, yes. Car seat, no. It was announced that United was still in the process of unloading the plane and that there would still be some baggage coming. So we waited some more. We watched the luggage go around and around on the belt. Nothing even remotely shaped like a car seat came down. At this point we have been waiting for some ungodly amount of time. My Mother is freaking out because the driver is waiting for us (we needed to rent a semi to take all of us and our crap home) and is now going to be charging overtime.

It was finally announced that there was no more luggage on the airplane and then they laughed and said "sorry suckers but yer bags are somewhere between Calgary and Chicago! Screw you!!" Well that is not exactly what they said but I am sure that is what they were thinking. I then proceeded to a counter where there were many angry people and 2 agents who were doing their best to make it to the end of their shift alive. I filled out my delayed baggage report and then inquired how I might be getting my baby home without a car seat.

One lady suggested that we might just let her ride home on our lap. Yeah, like that might have happened. Perhaps if I lived in the next terminal over but I don't....I live 3 hours north of the terminal I was spending way too much time in. Another agent advised us that they would provide us with a loaner car seat but they didn't have one. They had to go and look for one, perhaps borrow it from another airline. They had to borrow one. They found the biggest tank of a car seat known to man. I could ride in this thing and I am not a little woman.

We were advised that our car seat had not been transferred to our plane in Chicago and that it would be on the next flight to Calgary, which should be sometime the next day. From there it would be flown to Edmonton and delivered by courier to our house. Fine, I can live with that. As long as I don't have to drive to Chicago and pick the damn thing up myself. At this point, I am thinking that I should have made the trip to Chicago.

The last time that I spoke with United my car seat had made a trip from Calgary to Edmonton on an Air Canada flight. I am told that the flight arrived but that they have not yet located my car seat, read....we don't actually give a shit, we haven't even looked for it.

I have provided numerous people with a description of my car seat in an effort to make their searching easier. It is shaped like a car seat, big enough that a baby might fit in it. It is yellow. With flowers. A baby will fit in it. No, it does not have a zipper. No, it does not have wheels, then it might be called a car. No, it is not as big as a car, although a baby will fit in it.

They still have not found it. I did get a phone call from the airport here saying that they have my bag. That was on January 23. I have left more messages at the number they provided than I can count, each one getting a little bit more aggravated. No one has called back. I finally did speak with someone when I called some ladies private line. He asked me if my car seat was green. No. Was it a carry on? No. So your car seat is not green and you did not carry it on? No. Oh well, I am going to have to take a description of your car seat and go look for it.....fuck! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

I have purchased a new car seat. I can no longer stand to think of mine out there in airline limbo land. I will throw my old one away in the event that I ever see it again as I have no idea what has been done to it. I have been told that I need to mail a claim to Chicago (don't send shit to Chicago, it gets lost there) and then wait 45-60 days before my claim is processed. Then the actual claim decision process takes up to 2 week sbefore they decide if they fucked up enough to pay you back for the shit lost or if it was your own stupid fault for bringing a car seat with you.

By the time this all gets figured out Ryleigh will be driving her own car and will no longer be in need of a car seat, unless it is for her own child. I am thinking that the airline is keeping stuff and selling it on ebay. It has to be that. Or they plan to kidnap all the world's car seats in an effort to boost the amount of people who are required to fly because babies....they don't need car seats on airplanes.