Saturday, May 10, 2014

Journey to Saudi Arabia (MBS - AMS)

I finally received my passport with my Saudi visa on Tuesday, subbed on Wednesday, and went to the airport on Thursday to begin my long journey into the unknown! My first stop was, of course, the airport. MBS is a small airport (though still considered international, and I have not yet looked to closely as to what rules apply to such a designation), so TSA precheck is a bit modified (still have to take out laptop and liquids, but don't have to remove shoes), but as I was the only one going through at the time, I wasn't overly concerned about inconveniencing anyone with my having to open two bags to get the necessary items.

The flight to Detroit was extremely short and uneventful; we even arrived early! I was grateful for the little additional time as I wasn't sure where I was going to have to go to catch my other plane, and I had been instructed to recheck in and get a boarding pass in Detroit for the leg to Amsterdam. It turned out to be just one or two gates down in the other section of the terminal. When I arrived at the gate and gave them my name, the agent responded "oh, Rice. I just finished processing your upgrade! Here is your ticket. Go spend some time in the lounge to wait for boarding, which should be in about a half an hour." I took him up on the suggestion and went to the lounge to breath and relax a little.... and take in the news that I had actually been upgraded to business class on an international flight!

The flight itself was comfortable. I had a very good multi-course meal, watched some movies, and may have even dozed off a time or two for a couple of minutes. I will write more on the flight itself later so as not to add to the length of this writing.

I arrived in Amsterdam and went in search of a transfer agent so I could obtain my final boarding pass. A sign pointed me to Transfer Desk 4 as I would be flying on a KLM flight. There were a number of blue self-check in machines, counters on the other side of them, and a desk where one would enter the area of the counter. I approached the desk where I was told that I needed to use a machine. I attempted to use the machine, and all was going well until it asked me a question! The flags of confusion and delusion had been raised!  The computer obviously didn't like me, so it informed me that I would need to speak to an agent. I very much preferred this anyway, so I took that as a win for me, at first! I approached the desk again. As the agent was dealing with others at the time, I used the machine to the right of the desk to obtain a number. The agent, a little miffed at my obvious provinciality, took the number and told me to just wait a minute. I sheepishly waited for her to finish and call me forward.

She took my passport, and looked me up on her computer. She asked how much luggage I had checked with a bit of shock seeping through her voice. I told her two, and she related her surprise. "It says here that you have checked six, and that you owe 800 Euro." We shared a bit of a chuckle as she attempted to change it, and when she had to call over a supervisor because it wasn't letting her do it. It looked like the computer was having the last laugh on this one after all! We did eventually get it taken care of, and I went off in search of the KLM Crown lounge to wait for the 4 hours for my next flight.