Never check a bag at Johannesburg Airport

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Our flight to Madrid and then Quito, Ecuador left from Johannesburg, South Africa at 8:30 PM on Iberia airlines. We had heard that Johannesburg wasn´t such a safe city and since we were enjoying Mozambique so much, we decided to take a bus the day of our flight. We boarded an early bus which would get us to Johannesburg by early afternoon. A few hours into the journey our bus got a flat tire. We were told not to worry as a replacement bus would be there in less than 30 minutes. After the bus change we had only been delayed one hour so we were not too worried. Sure enough, several hours later the bus pulled off to the side of the road and we were informed that the water pump was broken. We sat on the side of the road while they fixed it. Time was running out and we asked if they could drop us off at the airport which they agreed to do for us. We found out that two other people on the bus were on our same exact flight. Once the repair was completed the bus started up again but could not reach fast speeds. At the slow rate we were traveling, we were sure to miss our flight. The four of us tried to ask the bus driver if we passed a town which would have a taxi we could take to Johannesburg. The bus driver did not seem to care that we would miss our flight but after pleading with him, he told us that we could have a taxi drive from Johannesburg toward the bus and take us to the airport. We had no other options so we agreed. Finally our taxi met the bus and we jumped in and headed to the airport. Miraculously, we arrived to check-in to our flight two hours before it left, which was due to the fact that our taxi went faster than any car we had ever been in before! We checked in behind the other couple on the bus and boarded our flight to Madrid.

When we arrived in Madrid, Rachel´s bag did not come through the baggage claim. She reported it missing with several other passengers from the flight. She was informed that the bag was never scanned onto the plane probably due to weight issues and that it would arrive on the next flight. The next flight out of Johannesburg wasn´t until the following evening. So in our 24 hours in Madrid she had to buy some new clothes. The next day we flew to Quito also on Iberia Airlines and when we checked in they had the audacity to tell us that Ian was on the flight and Rachel had been bumped off the flight. That was infuriating because we had booked eleven months in advance and they had lost Rachel´s bag yesterday so we were able to convince the agent to find a seat for Rachel.

Once in Quito we waited for news that the bag was on its´way. As days passed, the airlines kept informing us that they had no updates. We couldn´t really leave Quito because Rachel didn´t have any of her things except for a few clothing articles. Finally, we decided to buy everything, move to the next town, and return to Quito if the bag was found. A few days later we were informed that the bag was officially ¨lost¨or as we were told most likely stolen by a bag handler in Johannesburg airport. Apparently, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Fortunately, our travel insurance will cover the replacement cost of the lost things. It was a minor setback in the trip but luckily there were no valuable items in the bag. So if you travel to Africa...Never check a bag at Johannesburg Airport!!!

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