Hoi An to Madrid: 24 Hours
When we get out of someplace, we get out fast.
We woke up yesterday morning and we were having some problems getting seats reserved on our flight from Bangkok to Madrid. The tickets for the three of us were each under different reservation numbers, so we had each been assigned seats in different parts of the plane. We had the crazy idea that we would sit together for the 13 hour flight, while the airline had put Ricky in a middle seat between two strangers.
I tried to choose the seats online, but the system was not cooperative at all. I had been told, when I got the tickets the day before, that I could not choose the seats because the system locked 72 hours before the flight, and that I could choose seats when I was able to check in 24 hours before the flight. I was able to check in, and to choose seats on the flight from Hanoi to Bangkok, but not on the longer leg.
So I tried calling Thai Airways. I called them in the United States, but they don't open their office on Sundays. I called them in Vietnam, but they did not answer the phone, although they were supposed to be open, and it was Monday there. I called them in Thailand, and finally got through to speak to someone, after 15 minutes on hold.
I told the man about how I wanted my family to sit together. He told me to use the online system. I told him I had tried and it had not worked. We started to engage in some cross-cultural conversation. There is a tendency in Thailand to avoid confrontation, or even disagreement. Sometimes this plays out in a frustrating way, in which the person you're speaking to simply avoids answering the question.
We went back and forth for a long time, with the man telling me "I suggest that you get to the airport in Bangkok three hours before the flight time, and then you can choose your seat at the counter." This was his response to everything for a long time - including his response to my saying "My ticket if from Hanoi to Madrid. My flight from Hanoi is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok only 90 minutes before check-in time." I repeated my position over and over again, and finally the man put me on hold. He returned 25 minutes later, and apologized "for putting you on hold for a long, long time." He told me that we would have three seats together, in seats 35 D, E, and F. I was on the phone for an hour.
At 1 p.m., we took leave of our guest house in Hoi An. A car had been called for us, and brought us to the Da Nang airport. The ride to the airport was fairly uneventful - only once did we drive off the road because of a bus heading toward us in our lane. Our driver was very careful and drove at a very reasonable speed the whole time. He was very friendly, and took us right to the departures terminal, and helped us take our bags out of the car.
The Da Nang Airport was surprisingly modern, something I hadn't really noticed when we arrived. We were flying to Hanoi on Vietnam Airlines, and we had gotten business class tickets because those were the only ones available. They were only a few dollars more, anyway, for the short flight. What we did not know was that there were perks associated with them.
First, we got to check in at the counter without a line, which was nice, and the woman at the counter was extremely friendly. Then she gave us invitations to the Vietnam Airlines lounge. When we went through security, we got to use a business class line, which had no one waiting in it. And then we went to the lounge, which had food and drinks and comfortable seats and a comfortable temperature and wifi.
We were so relaxed in the lounge that we thought we might want to change our ticket to Hanoi. We had a flight leaving at 3:45 p.m., arriving at 5 p.m., and our Hanoi-Bangkok flight was not leaving until 8:45 p.m. There was another flight from Da Nang leaving at 5:40 p.m., arriving at 6:55 p.m. We had gotten the earlier flight to be safe, but while in the lounge in Da Nang, Ana researched the Hanoi airport, and found that many people considered it to be a horrible place, without internet, air conditioning, or seating.
I went back to try to change the ticket. I approached the ticket counter and stood there. An Englishman next to me pointed out a binder which was sitting on top of the counter, open. He said to me "They've got someone right there, but she's hiding." He then said to her "There's a gentleman here that needs your help." She looked around her binder/shield, and said to me "Can I help you, sir?" I asked if I could change my tickets for the later flight, and she told me there were no seats on the later flight. So I left, got Ana and Ricky from the lounge, and we headed off for our flight to Hanoi.
The business class seats were not new, but they were large and reclined and had footrests. The staff on the plane was very attentive, giving us drinks as soon as we got on, and once we took off they set a place on our tray and served us a nice little snack. The service was so pleasant and attentive that the trip passed in no time at all. The only bit of unpleasantness occurred when a guy sitting behind Ana decided that he didn't have enough room. He stuck his leg between Ana's seat and the window, and put his bare foot on her arm rest. Ana swatted at his foot with her newspaper and shouted "Please! Please!" The foot was withdrawn, and remained so for the rest of the flight. It was with some trepidation that we left the plane for the no-so-famed comforts of Noi Bai Airport.
Our first impression was not good. We were channeled out of the plane, down a tunnel, and into a corridor which had only natural lighting, and on that rainy evening, there wasn't much of it. The corridor was about 95 degrees inside. There was no movement of air. We rolled our bags slowly through it, and through several other equally warm hallways, before we entered the very warm baggage claim area. We had no bags to claim, but there were some chairs there, so we sat down. It was too hot to remain there, though, so we left after a few minutes, and entered the arrivals area. We were surprised to find that there were seats there, and there was air conditioning, although it was not adequate to actually make the area cool. It was close enough to comfortable to be a pleasant surprise, as was the discovery that there was free internet.
I left Ana and Ricky sitting with the bags, and went to find out where the Thai Airways counter was. It turned out to not be far away, and I was told it would open in about half an hour. I went back and waited with Ana and Ricky, and then we went and joined the line waiting for the Thai Airways counter to open.
After about half an hour on line, we got to our turn, and handed in our passports. They printed out our boarding passes for both flights, and we discovered that the seats on the longer flight were not the ones I had been promised on the phone.
They told us to change them in Bangkok. This seemed more like kicking the problem off to another person than a real solution. I told them the story, about the hour on the phone, the promised seats, and an agent for Thai Airways joined us at the counter. She called Bangkok, spoke to them, and told us that we would be able to get seats together, and that she would give them to us at the gate.
We left with out boarding passes, and found a spot to sit down before heading to the gate. Ana said I should get the name of the person who had said she would meet us at the gate with the passes for the Bangkok-Madrid flight. When I got back to the desk, I found her on the phone with Bangkok, spelling my name for them, and getting us the promised seats. She told Bangkok "Something is wrong with the system. I will change the tickets manually." Then she asked for the boarding passes, and crossed out the seats on them, and wrote, instead, the seats together.
I wasn't completely comfortable with it - I could easily imagine showing up at the seat, finding other people in it, and the staff saying "anyone could have written this seat number." - but it was the best I was going to get. So we got our things together, passed through the exit immigration, and then the security check, and we were in the terminal.
The terminal was small and really, really, strange. Along the outer walls were expensive shops, like Coach, all of which had no customers in them. In the center of the hall was a restaurant and lots of stands selling souvenirs and snacks. None of these were doing any business, either. There were lots of cushioned seats, though, and settled down to wait for our plane.
The plane boarded on time, and the flight was very pleasant. We got to Bangkok, and went to our boarding gate with our boarding passes, hoping that there would be no problem. When we got to the boarding gate, they said they had to update our information, and spent a few minutes entering information from our passports. Then they gave everything back to us, and said our seats were fine. A little while later, we got on, sat together, and began the 13 hour flight.
The flight was long, but peaceful. We all slept for much of the flight, and the staff was very friendly. It was with some eagerness, though, that we departed the plane in Madrid, and with great happiness and relief that we came out into the arrivals area, and were greeted by Ana's parents.
