Learning how airports work hard way pt. 2
-Part 2-
After the kids had their sleep and were rested, we all felt better even though I had slept only around 4 hours and wife did not sleep at all, baby would wake the moment she tried to put her down so she carried her all night. Me and son took a warm shower and we all sat together to agree on what to do and where to go next. My wife noticed that the tickets we got from Kuala Lumpur to Perth were no good, they were dated yesterday, not today. We decided to go and have some breakfast first – on the other side of the building (why would anyone place a food court opposite to a hotel I- have no idea)... The food was really tasty and not that expensive, I had coffee and refreshed we were ready for a new day of excitements. First we went to information counter, than we went to Turkish airlines counter where we found out that we have to go to the same place we were yesterday to get correct tickets. We found a bench where it was not so crowded so they can sit and rest till I go and clear up the tickets mess. 2 hours later I still have wrong tickets with an explanation that I should find Turkish airlines passenger transfer counter in Kuala Lumpur and they will print out boarding passes. It makes sense, I am on my way to wife and kids. We decided to grab another coffee and find a lounge where we can spend the day. Since we had no idea how lounges work, we went for a little exploration and learned that they are open for travelers of an specific air company, specific credit card users also had a lounge and business class flyers. I am not sure of the prices for entrance to those lounges or if You even need to pay. The las lounge we looked was for regular passengers - 60€ for 6 hours, free food, playground for kids, free drinks, comfortable seating, You could even shower if You wanted. The time spent here was very nice and relaxed, both kids got some sleep, us being in peace for sure helped. We had no fear of missing the flight since we knew Ataturk airport by heart now. We got to the flight with no further complications. During the 9 hour flight we slept as much as we could. Me and son caught some shuteye while my wife was unfortunate again and could not sleep at all. If I held the baby or if we tried to put her down, she would start crying and would not sleep.
As soon as we landed humidity hit us like a hammer. We were in an air conditioned airport and still it was too hot and too humid for our taste. We rushed to find a Turkish airlines passenger transfer since we only have 2 hour layover and guess what! There is no person assigned for Turkish airlines! The next best thing was to ask a person who was working for my connection flight company – Malindo air. People at Kuala Lumpur airport were very polite and after my detailed explanation of the situation and few telephone calls later they explained that Kuala Lumpur has a specific way of operating , they solve this kind of situations at the gate, just before boarding. Later I even came back to double check that information, just to be on the safe side. In the meantime flight for Perth changed gates, so we had to walk some more, again... It was around 6 PM in Kuala Lumpur, that transfers to noon or so in Istanbul and there are no words to describe how tired we all were, especially my wife who did not sleep at all. The flight was late 1 hour, our son could not stand, sit or do anything anymore, we were explaining that he will be able to sleep soon, as soon as we board. We went trough a security control, our tickets were no good as expected so we had to wait for a new boarding pass. When the guy working tickets grabbed a phone I had a bad feeling. I had to explain the whole situation once more, he went back to the phone, checked all twice... We could not board. Turkish airlines was supposed to buy a new ticket for today's flight and they somehow failed to do it even though I went twice to passenger counter in Istanbul. As calmly as I could, I asked what should we do now? The man said he does not know, but he also said that we have an issue with Turkish airlines. I felt so helpless and the disappointment in the eyes of my son as he realized we are not boarding crushed and enraged me at the same time. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I told my family to stay here on the benches till I find out what to do. During all this we were in contact with our families and friend who was waiting in Perth for us. If it was not for them with their advice and support It would have been even more difficult. In one of the messages the friend wrote that under any circumstances Turkish airlines is obligated to get us to our destination since it is their fault we missed the connecting flights. That is what I decided to pursue and went to the information counter. The best they can do is call Turkish airlines and let me talk to them, I accepted. The lady on the phone was very polite and understanding. She said that they made a mistake in Istanbul not buying a ticket. She asked me to come to her office so she can book a hotel for us until we get new tickets. I asked do I need to clear customs to get to the office and when she said “yes” I had Istanbul scenario in front of my eyes all over again. I said that I am not sure if I can clear customs, she asked me where I'm from and from an awkward pause I knew she has no idea where Croatia is, or can we clear customs. She insisted we try and if we were unable to enter Malaysia, I should call her again. I picked up my family, and we headed to the train station. Kuala Lumpur's airport is also very big so few buildings that are far from the main building are connected via train. The moment train left our building, beautiful view of the whole airport, lots of planes and runways, nice view for children, our son was enjoying for sure. Customs was near the exit of the train, and there were few policeman and women giving instructions to passengers who needed it. She looked at our passports and told us we can enter Malaysia, no problem. We were so happy she must have thought that we were not sane. It took a while to find airlines offices and than to find Turkish office but we made it, totally drained and tired. As we entered, there was the lady I talked to on the phone, she knew who we are and when she took a look at us instantly realized that a mess we are. She brought us juice and apples and we remembered to ask can she tell us what has happened to our luggage in this whole mess. She told us that she will take care of the hotel first, and when that is settled she would fix tickets and luggage. It took a while to find a hotel that had a spare room, and just as I started thinking of not leaving the airport at all out o fear we would get lost or late for the flight, she organized a driver to and from hotel. Her boss took us to the driver, when we exited the building he got hit by such a humidity/heatwave it was hard to breathe. On the way to the hotel we all almost fell asleep, the only think that kept me awake was curiosity – I wanted to see Kuala Lumpur and I have no idea what kept my wife awake. When we arrived at the hotel I had to carry my son who passed out dead tired. We had a very nice experience in the hotel, people were fast, really polite, food was really tasty and they really got on our good side when they bent over backwards to get us the Yogurt and some fresh fruit for the baby. This afternoon we had spent the last baby food we had since we kinda did not plan to get stuck for three days on airports, the fact we took much more baby food with us than we needed seemed like a good thing now. During dinner we got information that the driver will be here at 6 AM (now is 10 PM), so we hurried to the room to get some more than needed rest. When I finally go to bed our son was already asleep, wife was carrying the baby again, she would not sleep and there was no way I could fall asleep. I worried so much, will we be in time, to they have our luggage, if we get stuck who can we contact (Turkish airlines office started working at 4PM), why is baby not sleeping, my wife needs the rest... In the end we all got some sleep and a shower.
We were ready at 6 AM, still tired but less tired. We could not wake up our son, he needed sleep so bad we needed to to pull him out of the bed and dress him while he slept. Drive to the airport was pleasant, we made it in time, check-in personnel called us to the front of the line when they saw we have a baby, they found our luggage and we got boarding passes. On the passport check was a line and traumatized by all the events I was scared we will be late, but we made it in time. The 5 hour flight to Perth seemed to take so long. Our son was sleeping on all 3 seats, there was little passengers on the plane and my wife slept with baby in her arms. We landed nicely and had one more situation at Australian border control, we had to fill in some yellow forms that delayed us 15 minutes. We finally arrived...
When we left the airport I realized that I will need days for all this to sink in. I was dreaming about this journey days after, it felt like trauma happened to us. Than I started looking for positive things in everything that happened. We learned much and became stronger so that this kind of things will not happen again. On the way back we had a baby crib on the plane, nice seats just because we knew what and when to ask, we took best from it, after we worked through it we feel happy and look at the whole situation with a smile and a series of unfortunate events.
As soon as we landed humidity hit us like a hammer. We were in an air conditioned airport and still it was too hot and too humid for our taste. We rushed to find a Turkish airlines passenger transfer since we only have 2 hour layover and guess what! There is no person assigned for Turkish airlines! The next best thing was to ask a person who was working for my connection flight company – Malindo air. People at Kuala Lumpur airport were very polite and after my detailed explanation of the situation and few telephone calls later they explained that Kuala Lumpur has a specific way of operating , they solve this kind of situations at the gate, just before boarding. Later I even came back to double check that information, just to be on the safe side. In the meantime flight for Perth changed gates, so we had to walk some more, again... It was around 6 PM in Kuala Lumpur, that transfers to noon or so in Istanbul and there are no words to describe how tired we all were, especially my wife who did not sleep at all. The flight was late 1 hour, our son could not stand, sit or do anything anymore, we were explaining that he will be able to sleep soon, as soon as we board. We went trough a security control, our tickets were no good as expected so we had to wait for a new boarding pass. When the guy working tickets grabbed a phone I had a bad feeling. I had to explain the whole situation once more, he went back to the phone, checked all twice... We could not board. Turkish airlines was supposed to buy a new ticket for today's flight and they somehow failed to do it even though I went twice to passenger counter in Istanbul. As calmly as I could, I asked what should we do now? The man said he does not know, but he also said that we have an issue with Turkish airlines. I felt so helpless and the disappointment in the eyes of my son as he realized we are not boarding crushed and enraged me at the same time. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I told my family to stay here on the benches till I find out what to do. During all this we were in contact with our families and friend who was waiting in Perth for us. If it was not for them with their advice and support It would have been even more difficult. In one of the messages the friend wrote that under any circumstances Turkish airlines is obligated to get us to our destination since it is their fault we missed the connecting flights. That is what I decided to pursue and went to the information counter. The best they can do is call Turkish airlines and let me talk to them, I accepted. The lady on the phone was very polite and understanding. She said that they made a mistake in Istanbul not buying a ticket. She asked me to come to her office so she can book a hotel for us until we get new tickets. I asked do I need to clear customs to get to the office and when she said “yes” I had Istanbul scenario in front of my eyes all over again. I said that I am not sure if I can clear customs, she asked me where I'm from and from an awkward pause I knew she has no idea where Croatia is, or can we clear customs. She insisted we try and if we were unable to enter Malaysia, I should call her again. I picked up my family, and we headed to the train station. Kuala Lumpur's airport is also very big so few buildings that are far from the main building are connected via train. The moment train left our building, beautiful view of the whole airport, lots of planes and runways, nice view for children, our son was enjoying for sure. Customs was near the exit of the train, and there were few policeman and women giving instructions to passengers who needed it. She looked at our passports and told us we can enter Malaysia, no problem. We were so happy she must have thought that we were not sane. It took a while to find airlines offices and than to find Turkish office but we made it, totally drained and tired. As we entered, there was the lady I talked to on the phone, she knew who we are and when she took a look at us instantly realized that a mess we are. She brought us juice and apples and we remembered to ask can she tell us what has happened to our luggage in this whole mess. She told us that she will take care of the hotel first, and when that is settled she would fix tickets and luggage. It took a while to find a hotel that had a spare room, and just as I started thinking of not leaving the airport at all out o fear we would get lost or late for the flight, she organized a driver to and from hotel. Her boss took us to the driver, when we exited the building he got hit by such a humidity/heatwave it was hard to breathe. On the way to the hotel we all almost fell asleep, the only think that kept me awake was curiosity – I wanted to see Kuala Lumpur and I have no idea what kept my wife awake. When we arrived at the hotel I had to carry my son who passed out dead tired. We had a very nice experience in the hotel, people were fast, really polite, food was really tasty and they really got on our good side when they bent over backwards to get us the Yogurt and some fresh fruit for the baby. This afternoon we had spent the last baby food we had since we kinda did not plan to get stuck for three days on airports, the fact we took much more baby food with us than we needed seemed like a good thing now. During dinner we got information that the driver will be here at 6 AM (now is 10 PM), so we hurried to the room to get some more than needed rest. When I finally go to bed our son was already asleep, wife was carrying the baby again, she would not sleep and there was no way I could fall asleep. I worried so much, will we be in time, to they have our luggage, if we get stuck who can we contact (Turkish airlines office started working at 4PM), why is baby not sleeping, my wife needs the rest... In the end we all got some sleep and a shower.
We were ready at 6 AM, still tired but less tired. We could not wake up our son, he needed sleep so bad we needed to to pull him out of the bed and dress him while he slept. Drive to the airport was pleasant, we made it in time, check-in personnel called us to the front of the line when they saw we have a baby, they found our luggage and we got boarding passes. On the passport check was a line and traumatized by all the events I was scared we will be late, but we made it in time. The 5 hour flight to Perth seemed to take so long. Our son was sleeping on all 3 seats, there was little passengers on the plane and my wife slept with baby in her arms. We landed nicely and had one more situation at Australian border control, we had to fill in some yellow forms that delayed us 15 minutes. We finally arrived...
When we left the airport I realized that I will need days for all this to sink in. I was dreaming about this journey days after, it felt like trauma happened to us. Than I started looking for positive things in everything that happened. We learned much and became stronger so that this kind of things will not happen again. On the way back we had a baby crib on the plane, nice seats just because we knew what and when to ask, we took best from it, after we worked through it we feel happy and look at the whole situation with a smile and a series of unfortunate events.
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