The first call to the airline this morning got me an authorization to spend $100.00 to purchase necessities. While I was out getting the $17.43 worth of basic toiletries seen in the previous post, the airline called me again...to tell me that they still had yet to locate my luggage.
I was then asked what was in the luggage, and I told them, stressing the importance of needing clothes to change into for brunch, the game, post game activities...and about my Nikon D5200 digital camera, and how important it was that I have that for the game.
The customer service rep was very nice, very polite, and very apologetic. Say what you will about the airline, they hire some damn good people.
The nice, polite, apologetic CSR told me that in light of the cost of what I would need to purchase just to get through the day (Like, clothes other than gym-rat comfy for the plane clothes), the authorization limit would be raised to $250.00.
I would just have to save the receipts and mail them in.
So I left the hotel to look for a place to buy clothes. The hotel is located just outside Liberty International Airport, and there are no stores in that vicinity. So I walked down the road a bit until I ran into...a New Jersey Correctional Facility. The guard at the gate told me there was no way to walk to a store from this area, and that my best bet was to go back to the airport and catch a city bus to the nearest mall.
Which I did. However, the nearest mall only had four stores - a Big Lots, Toys'R'Us, Babies'R'Us, and IKEA. Not much of a help.
Fortune smiled a little on me though, as there was a young woman on the bus who noticed my dismay and asked me where I was trying to go. I explained my situation to her and she told me I needed to go to the Outlet Mall, which is where she was going, so follow her.
Which I did. We took the 62 bus from Liberty International to downtown Elizabeth, New Jersey, then took the 24b to the Outlet Mall.
I professed profuse thanks to the young lady and made my way to the Burlington Coat Factory, where I purchased socks, undies, and a belt. Then I went to an Under Armour store and picked up some performance cold weather pants and a hoodie (bright Bronco orange, of course). All told, about a $110.00 out of pocket.
Backtracking my way by the two buses to the airport, I jumped on the hotel shuttle and made my way to my room in order to change and get on my way to the SuperBowl!
...just in time to get a call from the airline stating they had found my luggage and it would be brought to the front desk of the hotel soon.
I hope it's very soon, as I'm on my way to MetLife stadium, and my flight back is at 5:00am. It would've been nice for it to have been waiting for me at the front desk, as I really wanted to use my camera...
Update 2/3/2014: About 5:30 in the evening, as I was making my way into MetLife stadium I received a call from the person who was bringing my luggage to the hotel. He told me it would be at the hotel before 8:30. At 9:30, I received a call while I was at the game, informing me my luggage was now there.
No comments:
Post a Comment