The Visa

Part of the travel dilemma centered around receipt of the visa. I executed on a recovery plan after realizing that the visa would not arrive on the 5th as expected. I phoned the agency when they opened on Monday and explained that I needed to travel that afternoon. The agency, which is used to performing rush jobs, quickly got on the ball and sent my visa via AA freight. I was to pick up the package at 2:19pm at RDU. Simple enough as I was scheduled on a 4:50 flight to Logan, and then out of the country heading toward Bangalore.

Dutifully, I arrived a 2:15 at the AA freight terminal which is just past terminal C and to the right (just in case you ever need to know). I was feeling pretty good about my recovery plan until the clerk greeted me. They were expecting the expedited parcel and had driven out to the plane expecting to receive this. The team informed me that my package was not on the plane.

Naturally, this started us on a network of activities. Call the shipper, call the UPS Sonic desk, call AA tracing, and so forth. The weather started getting bad at RDU, but the freight handler took another ride out to double-check the plane. Still no package.

The AA freight handler at Dulles remembered the parcel and was certain that this was on the flight. Normal procedure indicates that the package, if not on the first flight, would default to the next available flight. Since that plane hadn't left yet we sought assistance to inspect the baggage carts at the freight area. Still no luck.

The lighting strikes increased at RDU. This disrupted the ground operations at the airport, effectively shutting down the airport for several hours. I believe the ruling is no strikes within 10 miles for 10 minutes to resume gate ops.

About 5:15 the storm cleared. The freight attendant went to the plane once more. About 5:40, he returned with my visa in hand. I said very little as I then sought to catch up with my 4:50 flight which had been delayed.

And this is where we'll resume the story next time.