Well it’s been a fantastic ride, but it had to end sometime.
The nice baggage man at Bali emailed our owners (a.k.a mummy and daddy) to check they had finally received us norty little cases, tee hee cos no they ain’t.
But here we are sat back in Changi Airport Singapore just waiting to be claimed, so all mummy and daddy have to do now is buy a £1300 plane ticket each to come to Singapore and collect us, failing that it’s the great British Royal Snail Mail via moped, dinghy and choo choo all the way home (see you in 2027 then).
It is true, after Emirare “not losing” our luggage in Dubai, not cancelling the connecting flight to Singapore and not “not” marking the bags as lost for 4 days originally, 19 days later they are actually in the connecting location of Singapore. Great to see the well oiled Emirates machine with no idea where they are (yup the app still claims that they are “busy” looking for our luggage).
OMG!! This morning Mr Fogg received an email from a Customer service manager at Singapore…..oh yes our cases turned up in Singapore and are sat at the baggage collection area.
Very helpfully the customer service manager asked Mr Fogg for our onward address – we think he assumed it would be in Singapore so guess what happened when Mr Fogg provided our UK address and asked if they can confirm they will send them…….
SILENCE
It’s a start though so we are patiently waiting for a further update! So our cases have indeed been on holiday in Singapore (unlike us). We hope they are having a nice time.
Now if the airline wants to buy us flights to Singapore and back to collect said luggage, we don’t mind.
However, about that compensation……we’ve not finished on that one.
This morning was spent mostly scanning receipts and crafting a 7 page letter of complaint to Emirates. Yes you read that correctly – 7 pages explaining the full timeline of our experiences, feedback and what we want them to do about it. when we write a letter of complaint then WE really do complain.
Complaint now sent, let’s see what happens. don’t hold your breath now!
In other news, regarding the suitcases…….oh silly me, there IS no news. They are still missing, Emirates are, according to their online tracker, still trying to find them.
In our imagination there’s an army of people diligently looking…
And let the fun begin on trying to recoup out of pocket expensive on our trip following the Emirates mess.
First step was calling our tour operator Kuoni. In fairness their on call duty lady (lovely Amy who I could have hugged when I first spoke to her in the 7 hour queue in Dubai) sorted our hotel in Dubai calmly and was really helpful. However the call when we returned – while also caring and kind pretty much went along the lines of:
Me: hi yes we have had a very expensive holiday ruined as a result of flights cancelled and being stranded in Dubai for 4 nights
Kuoni: ah yes that’s truly awful, and lost luggage, oh you poor things
Me: so we need to start recouping lost bookings for cancelled hotel rooms (you know that very expensive 5 star one in Singapore) and cancelled flights. Can you help
Kuoni: oh not really. Force Majeure.
Me: Erm, we get that if the flood happened while we were en route. BUT it happened before we even left Manchester. We even checked online – all flights were showing on time, Dubai was publically saying open for business. Surely Kuoni and Emirates knew we were about to walk into chaos.
Kuoni: well it is a once in 75 year event. Force Majeure. We can’t really help so call Emirates and that’s why you have travel insurance
Me: oh thank you so much for that. (smiles sweetly while grinding teeth)
In fairness they are refunding some bits like taxis, did sort a hotel when Emirates could not be bothered and they have offered to help chase Emirates on our luggage. But seriously….
Good job I’m married to an expert letter writer and complainer. Oh Mr Fogg………. ….
After 17hrs in the air and the debacle that was “your luggage is here, oh no it’s not, oh yes it is”, we landed in Manchester.
First stop, luggage claim to see where our bags are now, “err no we don’t recognise that claim reference that is an Emirates specific number”, “you are in the UK and need a UK reference now”, “so your claim date starts from today not when it was lost.“
“So does that mean you know where our luggage is”, “well yes of course, it’s in an airport”, “which one”, “oh we don’t know that!“
“How do we get it back”, “have you tried calling Dubai or Bali airport to see if it’s there”, “isn’t that your job as a lost luggage officer”, “no, not really. Next Customer!“
It started great this morning – perfect breakfast at the hotel, lovely gym workout followed by a dip in the pool and then a wonderful lunch with the friendly Viceroy staff getting us all checked out and ready to depart.
A decent car drive back – it’s a long way with lots of traffic but we made it.
And then there’s the Emirates check in desk……
We handed over passports and our luggage vouchers with the lost luggage report as these need to be transferred to get another flight. Then the fun began:
Ah Mr Fogg, your luggage is here in the arrivals hall!
Eh? We’ve been waiting to be told it’s here for a week!
It’s someone’s but not ours
Did you not get our Emirates emails sir?
Er NO!
Ah well, we just need to take you downstairs to arrivals to collect the cases, confirm they are yours and then take them through customs so you can come back here to check them in
Needless to say we were quite excited! Albeit a little annoyed that we’ve been waiting for them all holiday.
So off we trek, following Mrs Emirates junior through the back doors of the airport down to arrivals and to the lost luggage desk where we started when we arrived. After queuing for a time (plenty of people still also reporting lost luggage then), the arrivals lost luggage lady at the counter said – oh it’s not here, it’s still in Dubai we think. But I guess you can walk to the top of arrivals and check our room full of bags.
Another trek only to confirm no cases. Cue long winded explanation from lost luggage lady saying they don’t know where the cases are. no one can explain why they sent us down to arrivals though.
So that’s another 40 mins wasted.
Only to then be told Mrs Emirates junior cannot take us back through and up to departures – no, we’ve got to take ourselves through arrivals customs declaration (but we’ve been here for a week), bag security checks for arriving passengers (deep breaths…) and then into the arrivals hall to be bombarded by taxi drivers offering us a lift to start our lovely holiday in Bali. But we’ve NOT JUST ARRIVED!!!!!
It’s at this point that divorce becomes entirely possible as tempers fray a bit.
So, back through arrivals, up to departures to see the Emirates check in desk to go through the whole rigmarole again.
No they could not explain why they thought the cases were here, no they don’t know where they are. Then the corker…..
Go see lost luggage when you arrive at Manchester as they need to file a report.
We like good food and the Viceroy has a Michelin restaurant called Aperitif, where there apparently is a dress code of posh and no trainers/ flip flops (good job all our good clobber is in another country then).
Wearing the best of what we had available off we popped to the poshest of posh on Bali. The restaurant is 1920s themed inside with an open kitchen so you can see it all happening.
The service is second to none (especially when dignatories rack up here in their Ferrari or Porsche). Waiters to seat you, waiters to place napkins on your lap, a cart that comes round to make a cocktail in front of you. This is quite something.
We got a freebie to try a 7 course tasting menu, the only thing you pay for is the wine, so “wine not” push out the boat and have a 7 course wine flight to accompany the food (it’s only 1,000,000 Rp each).
The food and service were spectacular and as ever Mrs Fogg looked a million (Rp) in her thrift shop dress.
Today we had an early start with a tour arranged through our hotel. We had a private driver called Gama who has been at the hotel since it opened 20 years ago and he took us around the local area for the morning.
What a fabulous trip. We’d asked to see some specific places but left it up to Gama to decide how best to do this.
First stop was Purah Puseh Batuan Hindu temple at just after 8am this morning before most tourists got up. It was so tranquil. All villages have their own temples that the villagers maintain together. They also have their own family temples at home. It is respectful to cover your legs when visiting so we were shown how to wrap our sarongs for our visit. There is a lady way and a man way.
The Balinese Hindi faith is a little different to the Indian Hindu – different names for their gods although there are similarities. The Balinese believe very much in reincarnation and a balance between good and evil. In Bali you cannot sell your homes as these belong to your ancestors so homes stay in families for ever. If a family has no dependents then the home is offered to another young couple on condition they then take over the ancestors and maintain and pass on the home to their future families.
All temples have statues guarding them. Looking a little like gargoyles these are gods guarding the temple and the ancestors. Festivals and worship follow rituals and the moon – with at least a special event every six months with offerings, dancing, singing and blessings.
On then to see wood carving in action at a local gallery where we were shown the different wood types. We were very taken with one of the local woods – from the Hibiscus plant. It’s a very strong wood and two tone colours. There were some VERY expensive pieces and our hosts told us all about the process for carving.
Next stop was a local waterfall and more Koi Carp. In 1942 Bali was under the control of the Japanese, until they lost the Second World War in 1945 and Bali became an independent country. The Japanese introduced Koi Carp and they have become very popular.
On then to a coffee plantation to sample locally produced teas and Bali coffee including one of the worlds most expensive coffees – Luwak coffee which has coffee beans eaten off the plants by Luwaks who then poo them out. The poo is collected by hand, the beans separated from the other poo’d substances (fruit) washed them dried then ground. Luwak coffee is higher in protein and lower in caffeine than other coffees and a very smooth taste. We got to sample all the different teas and coffees in beautiful surroundings.
Our final stop was Tegalalang Rice Terrace, popular for all those Instagrammers who want to pose on a big swing while wearing a hired long flowing brightly coloured dress. Not withstanding the posing and pouting people, this is a UNESCO heritage site with terraces of rice fields that have been in use for centuries and is owned by all the villagers. It’s beautiful and breathtaking with many steps!
