July 24, 2003 - 7:45 PM
Wes Ehrlichman

Coming to America!

So, I'm on my way back to America, but I wanted to put up a quick entry to let everyone know I'm still alive and I made it safely. There were some problems with my luggage though.

First, when I first checked my luggage at Kagoshima the woman behind the counter informed me that the box I was sending home was a little bit too heavy. The allowance is 32 kg, but my bag is 34 kg. She said that normally they charge, but she used the word "service" which in Japanese means free. That was really cool of her, but my problems weren't quite over. You see, I also had one too many carry ons, but they didn't bother to tell me for the flight from Kagoshima to Haneda Tokyo or from the flight from Narita Tokyo to Dallas Texas. It was only when I was in Texas, over 95% done with my journey, that someone at the metal detector stopped me and said, "You're going to have to check one of them bags."

She pointed me to a place where I was to stand in line so I went over there and asked someone else where the shortest line was. The person there said that I could stand in line at the internet ticket check in counter and it would make checking my bags a lot quicker and easier. So I stood in that line for around 20 minutes. When I got to the front the man motioned me to a computer and I explained to him that I simply wanted to check my bags. He motioned me into another long line nearby. I stood in this line for about 20 minutes, well after sheduled check-in time, and when I got to the counter I plopped my bag down in front of the guy and said, "I'd like to check this in."

He searched through the computer for a bit and then asked, "Have you already checked some bags?" I told him that I had and he said, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to charge you $80 if you want to check another one."

"Well I've already been on two airplanes with these bags without any trouble, so what's the problem now?" I replied.

"I'm sorry, but they should never have let you on the plane before with 3 bags."

At this point I got pretty angry. I started to sort of raise my voice, but then I realized it and said, "Look, I'm sorry, I realize it's not your fault. Is there anything you can do?"

"I'm sorry, but no," he said.

So thinking quickly I took my laptop along with everything that was accompanying it out of my laptop bag and rammed it snuggly into my backpack and my other bag. I threw the bag at the guy and said, "Here you go dude."

Apparently both of the lines I was waiting in had been utterly useless.

So with around 15 minutes until the flight, I grabbed my filled to the seams dufflebag and my stuffed backpack and ran to the metal detector. This was another line, easily running at 30-40 minutes long. Unfortunately, my plane was scheduled to leave in around 15.

I asked a large friendly looking American Airlines security woman if there was any way I could get place higher up in the line because of my urgent flight. We made our way to the part of the line where they check your boarding pass and the woman sitting there said that it was up to the other customers whether or not I could be allowed in. The other customers said that their flights left in 5 minutes and 10 minutes respectively and that they had asked a guy named Bernie if they could be let in, but he had told them no, so why would I be allowed in? The woman who checks the boarding passes said, "Alright no then!" and I was almost sent to the back of the line, but then they continued on and said, "I mean, we don't really care, but everyone should really be on the same page here if possible. So I snuck back into line and casually thanked the men.

I talked with the men for a bit about trip to Japan, telling him about hamburger sushi and all that, then complained a bit about the American Airline service, but luckily I made it through the metal detector and made it to my plane just in time.

Moral of the story:
A. Don't bring 3 carry ons.
B. Don't fly American unless absolutely neccessary.

What is perhaps even more relevant is that this is my first story of reverse culture shock. While it's true that in Japan they tend to be sticklers for the rules, occasionally, if the rule is not very important or if it gets in the way of other people's time they are often pretty cool with things.