The Airport Story

As mentioned before, Sunil’s bag was lost. At some point Tuesday, Sunil remembered that he had checked his bag all the way through to Delhi so there was a chance it made it to India after all. After a series of conversations with various customer service people, his bag was located in Delhi Wednesday morning. Since we were in Chandigarh and then Mumbia, he had to wait until Friday morning to claim his suitcase. With nothing else to do (this hotel didn’t have ESPN so I couldn’t catch Game 2 of the World Series), I decided to tag along.

They take security very seriously in India. In Delhi, you have to have documentation just to get into the airport. To get in to Ticketing, you must have a print out of your itinerary. You even have to pay 80 Rupees (about $2) to meet your family at baggage claim (this is a legitimate fee). There literally are guards at every door.

For Sunil to get his bag, he was told he would need to get paperwork from Air India to bring to the Airport Manager for him to give Sunil a pass to get into Customs. Sunil was told to go to room 49. This all seemed simple enough.

The guard at the first door sent us to a second door. The guard at the second door told us we need to be on the other side of the Concourse. Since we weren’t in the right place and weren’t allowed in, we had to go down a level and across. When we got there, we were sent to a third door, farther down the Terminal. The guard at the third door sent us to a different place. Ultimately, we went up and down levels 4 times and crisscrossed the Delhi airport 3 times. About 20 minutes after we arrived, we finally found Air India baggage services. We were certainly getting a workout.

There, we were made to wait while they put together the proper paperwork. This took about 10 minutes. Signatures were verified, Sunil's passport was copied, etc. Finally, with proof of the bag claim, we now had to find the Airport Manager.

We had to go upstairs again and down to the end of the concourse to find this little door that was not well marked. At the Airport Manager’s office, the first guy reviewed Sunil’s baggage claim and brought it into the back room. A few minutes later, Sunil was given the pass to get into Customs.

We specifically had to go back in the door by Air India’s baggage services, which meant going back down the Concourse and down a level. Since I ‘technically’ had no business being there and did not have any documentation, I was not allowed to accompany him into the airport.

About 20 minutes later, bored with milling about outside, I shot Sunil an email with the subject “Do I need to file a lost Sunil claim?” (I thought this was funny). Another 10 minutes went by, but Sunil finally came back--with his suitcase!

Sunil retold the story of actually getting his bag. Apparently, he went to the Customs window and they told him to take his pass to Air India’s baggage room inside the terminal. There, the representative told him he had to fill in his pass for Customs to accept it. Why didn’t the Airport Manager or the Custom’s guy tell him that? He then went back to Customs. They took his completed paperwork and sent him to the baggage warehouse. He had to weave through several underground hallways. The room he found was literally a warehouse. Sunil described it as a 40 foot x 40 foot cement room, with floor to ceiling metal racks filled with approximately 10,000 bags. Apparently they store bags for upto 6 months and then if they’re still unclaimed (or maybe just abandoned after the rigmarole described above) they destroy them.

The people in the warehouse took his documents and searched for his bag. When it was located, he had to take it back to Customs where they X-rayed it (we could not figure out why since it had been secure the entire time). He then had to pay 400 Rupees (about $10) for "storing" his suitcase. I would translate it as "ransoming", but my Hindi isn't that good. Finally he had his bag and was allowed to leave. Success!?!

From beginning to end: over 90 minutes