Itinerary
If there's one thing I've now learned, it's that even after a major storm, there's enough snow and ice left over in the U.S. to create enough of a blizzard to shut down airports. US Airways, who have a major hub in Charlotte, NC, started cancelling flights and rebooking passengers early on Monday, facing down a big storm that had already put the lights out at Atlanta. Unfortunately, that's all they did. They ran out of de-icing solution early, so were left handing out cots and foam pallets - in the international terminal only. Even though we were scheduled to fly out from that terminal, there were no announcements at our end, so by the time we knew we were staying over, we were staying on the floor.

This is forgivable, of course, but not day two. They knew there was still ice and freezing rain, but still ran out of de-icer, even while every other airline operating out of Charlotte continued to de-ice and send planes out. US Airways couldn't even be bothered to cancel their flights until the very last minute. So that was another night learning the comfortable end of being homeless. By this time, after so much terminal food, I'd have killed for some fresh vegetables or fruit.

Well, we got on an early flight to Myrtle Beach on day three, so that was o.k., except US Airways then lost our checked luggage. Clearly, this was an operational failure. Passengers checking in that day got their luggage without any trouble. The rest of us were catch-as-catch-can, that is, US Airways didn't prioritise luggage according to re-bookings, just loaded up whatever came to hand.

Our bags did eventually show, but I lost two days of holiday as a result, not to mention the US$25 for my lost checked bag. What's the money for? I don't know.

So there I am at the end of it all, booked on a flight from Myrtle Beach to Sydney via Atlanta and Los Angeles and Guangzhao. My 11:37 flight is delayed due to "mechanical problems", and is now scheduled for 14:30. Except that flight doesn't arrive, another one, the next one, does instead. There's a seat available, so I actually make my connection at Atlanta for the flight to L.A. Based on what happens 26 hours later in Sydney, I'm guessing my checked bag didn't make the flight or the connection or the China Southern flight, even though that one is delayed by 12 hours, due to "weather in Russia". This is a lie, of course, because China Southern puts up all 500 or so of us in a hotel. Nobody puts anybody into a hotel for weather. A business class traveller I meet makes some calls and confirms the "weather" is fine, but not China Southern.

And guess where my bags are? I don't know either.

What a trip. One of the cats is missing, too. I'm still hopeful he'll turn up, but I guess I'll be calling the shelters and vets before long and wandering the neighborhood all night trying to find him.

Update: Cat's back. Something wrong with his eye, but he turned up after an hour or so of calling him and just in time for dinner. Unnecessary negativity.

Update 2: Cat's eye looks o.k. today, so no vet trip. And my luggage turned up. It seems that instead of handing it off to China Southern, Delta elected to carry my bag to Sydney themselves. It probably got here before I did, given the cancelled flight to China, but two different outfits handle baggage for Delta and China Southern, requiring someone (me) to get them talking to one another before either could work out what to do. As Casey Stengel put it: Can't anyone here play this game?