Karin Does Not Give Up

So. Karin and I were supposed to go on a trip. I called the airport and complained that online check-in did not work with our number. “That is okay. Lufthansa wants to check everything at the airport anyway.” Okay.

At the airport at five in the morning. We shuffle through the slow queue, but the agent shrugs at us: “You are not on the list!” Our flight had been replaced with one about half a day earlier. A couple of months before, Mytrip had emailed me about it, but I had missed one sentence: “Tickets for the new flight are valid if you reply within five days.” Um, and if I do not reply, you simply keep the money for a cancelled flight?! WTF?! I had not imagined things could work that way. Live and learn. Win some, lose some — we head home.

No, we do not. My wife is not ready to leave it there. She calls Mytrip repeatedly but cannot reach anyone. I calmly explain beside her that there is no way it is worth their trouble over tickets this cheap. And it is too late anyway... But around the sixth attempt, an airport employee at the information desk speaks to us: “Why don’t you call Lufthansa instead?” Karin tries and reaches someone on her second attempt. Their first reaction is immediate: the flight leaves in 40 minutes; there is no time to change anything now. Karin accepts the situation, ends the call and...

No, she does not accept it. “But we are right here at the airport and ready to run!” Lufthansa puts her on hold... a long silence. With only 30 minutes left and the agents leaving the Lufthansa desks, I ask them one last time: if some miracle happens on the phone, is there truly no way to check us in? “Yes, the flight is locked. Lufthansa may be able to offer another flight.” I take that information to my wife to soften the landing. She understands, ends the call on hold and...

No, she ends nothing. She looks at me in a way that says she is going on that trip. With 25 minutes left until takeoff, she rushes towards me: “Done, we have it, LET’S GO!” I stand up. Um, go where? The Lufthansa agents have left. The airport employee who gave us the phone number is cheering us on: “Any desk, right now!”

We run to the women at the Antalya desk and shout out our story while still moving. When we reach them, three agents look at one another in silence until one says to another: “Ask them.” Someone picks up a radio: “Can they still board? Can the flight be unlocked?” Yep, it can — and it is. Karin stays to sort out the paperwork while I grab the bags and head towards security. Soon my wife catches up at a full sprint. The barriers we should weave between become a steeplechase. The security officer sees what headless chickens we are and helps lift the right things from our suitcases into the trays so we can keep running.

And we run. We reach the aircraft. It turns out Lufthansa requires a surgical mask — ours are cloth — and Spain still requires an online health declaration. We have neither, but looking at Karin, I no longer have any doubt: we ARE going on this trip.

A mask was bought quickly, the health declaration completed later, and the rest is history. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I proudly present: Karin Laane! I recommend staying out of her way. 😉