trouble flying home

i flew to hong kong for the weekend. yesterday (after a very big night) i got up, checked out, thought abt lunch but then in Hong kong you can check in your bags in the citym which is very convienient - so i decided to do that first, so i would then have the luxury of lunch, watch some footy meander thru the shops before heading out to the airport.

firstly i wasnt the only person who though the same thing, a longish wait to check in (maybe 40 odd minutes) - only to be told by the girl at the counter having presented my passport and frequent flyer card - that i dont have a ticket!! WHAT?? - its an eticket - can u check again?

"Oh, its been cancelled" come again? why - apparently my travel agent didnt send on some booking number or some such. She told me to contact him, and that she couldnt help me - in fact she got a bit cross with me! So its about midday or 1.00 - i take the train to the airport, remember i havent even eaten breakfast yet...

airport - Cathay counter - tell me it was cancelled, then they change their mind, I was booked on the 9.00am flight not the 4.00pm, so i've missed. well, this was not the case and clearly i didnt catch the am flight so can I get onto the 4.00pm flight? Booked. Great, well whats the next one? Tomorrow? that's really no good - i need to be at work. (and also didnt want to spend another 700 or 800 HKDollars.

Actually tomorrow's pretty full also, you may not be able to fly back until tuesday .... now this is getting really uncool. Can i get onto standby tickets? Yep - thats another counter over there.

Righto - off to said counter, I'm registered for the standby for the 4.00pm flight - come back at 3.00opm they say - so i have lunch read a book and trot back down there. plane is deylayed, come back at 4.45pm - i still dont have a flight - this is just to find out if i can have a flight or not. so i wait some more time - i also ring my boss, let him know there is a possibility that i wont make it tomorrow (having been on a footy trip- it looks pretty made to miss a day or two of work!) i go back - and guess wot delayed again...hmmm - this is not good

so - i wander upstairs to the bar again - eat some more, had a drink or two, continued to read my book (hope i dont finish it early!) back down again, this time it is leaving, i think. i wasnt feeling hopeful. its now 6.00pm finally they call me up - start processing my ticket - then another staff starts saying something in chinese to the one serving me- wait a minute please - they say....Oh no - so close and now denied! :(

but then they allow me the boarding pass, but u have to run they say - gate closes at 6.25 and it was now after 6.00 - crap! so run I do, and make it ! phew.

plane then arrives at about 10.30pm - a heap of tired and upset people due to the unexplained delay, i was just happy to have made it..... wait for my bag to arrive, and guess wot? Its lost!

so by the time i reported it lost, filled in the forms and then the drive home - it was after middnight! - i'll certainly think long and hard before flying Cathay again!