Aeroflailing

I jogged to the check in desk breaking a sweat in exchange for a few extra minutes. As I approached, my heart sunk. Despite a sign clearly stating that the desk would be staffed up until 30 minutes before the flight took off, there was not a staffer present. I waited in line obnoxiously at a neighboring airline’s counter and told them my plight. The neighboring staffer disappeared for 5 minutes and returned with a representative from Aeroflot. She scolded me for my late arrival and told me that it would be hard to get my baggage onto the plane. That is the only hint I needed, I tossed her my id while I dropped to my knees repacking my most important possessions from my stow away bag into my carry on. Namely, I grabbed my suit and squeezed it into my backpack. As soon as this was done, I grabbed my id back (I already had printed boarding passes at home), I sprinted off to security. After apologizing as I cut into the security line and arriving at the proper gate, I was informed that the whole flight was delayed an hour. I slumped against a table and ordered some airport sushi while I allowed my heart rate to return to normal.

Despite my late arrival, I have a hard time not pinning some of this on Aeroflot. Between costing me 10 minutes by not actively staffing the check in and not communicating the likelihood (or certainty) of a flight delay, I was left in panic mode and ultimately my luggage was lost. The one hidden benefit here: I had to buy some new dress shoes in Israel. I openly negotiated the price at a commercial mall AND they have dragons on the bottom. They put dress shoe maestro Jordan Barone to shame.