After the cancelled flight yesterday we wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t get bumped on our flight today from Antananarivo to Antsiranana (Diego Suarez). According to Hervé here in Joffreville the Prime Minister was using the planes and Air Madagascar had to cancel all the flights.
The airline sent an email at 7 p.m. last night stating that our flight today had been moved up from 7 to 6 a.m. and that check-in would start at 4:00. Wanting to be near the top of the queue we arranged for a 3:30 transfer from the hotel. The hotel was a little slow with the breakfast box (warm pastries, yogurt, cheese, ham and a banana) we had ordered the night before and the transfer left around 3:40, but still we arrived plenty early and were about the forth group in the queue at 3:50. Check in didn’t start until closer to 4:30.
The smallish plane was full, but I was thrilled to be in the air and on our way. We would land in Antsiranana ahead of schedule and continue on our itinerary as planned. A direct flight, it never occurred to me that the luggage might not make it. For whatever reason they didn’t load all the baggage and about a dozen people, including me, were left without baggage.
When our bag didn’t show up a woman in baggage claim jotted our information down on a piece of paper. I was somewhat concerned as we were not staying in Antsiranana, but Joffreville about an hour away. I and another woman, Katia, a Swiss, were staying at the same hotel, the Litchi Tree. They told us they would deliver the baggage later that same evening or more likely the next day. I didn’t know what to think.
When our bag didn’t show up that evening, the next morning I tried to call the number the woman at baggage claim had given me to check on my bag. All I got was a message saying to leave a message.
We met Katia again at breakfast and she was quite concerned about her bag as they were leaving the area the next day and their guide (they had arranged their trip with an agency) hadn’t even told the agency that the bag was missing.
Later that day at Amber Mountain National Park we run into Katia along with her guide. Her guide, not realizing that we know Katia, explains the situation in Malagasy to our guide, who then tells us that she has big problems. The travel agency told the guide that the bag is lost and he doesn’t know how to tell Katia. Now I’m really worried about my bag.
Back at the Litchi Tree, Hervé, the manager, greets us and tells us he has good news. The luggage, mine and Katia’s, has arrived.
Yay!
October 1, 2016
For links to all the posts in this series see the Madagascar page.