Flight of the Gringos

We got up at around 5:30 AM, skipped the lame breakfast, loaded up the car, and headed for the airport. Our flight was to leave at 8:59 AM and we were to drop Kaleb off at the Pet Safe cargo facility and have the paperwork completed 2 hours ahead of the flight.

The United Airlines PetSafe delivery instructions quoted Pallet Road as the facility where Kaleb needed to be dropped off. Chuck had googled the area the night before and was pretty sure how to get there. Well, we couldn't find it where it was supposed to be. Finally, after getting out of the airport and driving back in again, we thought we'd follow the sign to General Cargo. That's where we found Pallet Rd and PetSafe. Why they couldn't say “General Cargo” area in the first place, I don't know.

We had wasted time, and the person receiving the paperwork wasted even more time by slowly figuring out how to fill out the forms and get our money. It ended up costing $571 to ship Kaleb with the cargo, compared to $200 as checked-in luggage. We said goodbye to our dearest dog and were out at about 7:20 AM.

Chuck dropped me and the luggage off at the terminal, we paid $8 for 2 carts that I stood out with, while Chuck went to return the rental. Fortunately, it was Houston in a heatwave, and I was still wearing my sweater, because it was a long wait. I didn't have any idea of the time. I didn't have my wrist-watch, and I had either packed or tossed away my cellphone, so I was just hoping we'd be on time.

Finally Chuck showed up, being stuck in an airport bus for 20 minutes and we rushed to the check-in. Only to find out that the gates had closed on us 7:59 AM, a whole HOUR before the flight!! WTF? They booked us on the next flight out, which was at 7 pm. I wanted them to know that Kaleb would also need to wait, and they promised it would be taken care of, naturally.

So, we waited at the airport the whole day, and at about 2 PM we got a call from Nicaragua. Basically stating that they've got our dog, where are we? So, United tossed us out, but shipped our dog WITHOUT us!!!??? WTF #2.!! Boy, were we happy with United – NOT!!!