DAY 23 - HOMEWARD BOUND:

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My brother-in-law Raphael came to Antonio's house around 4:30am to take us to the airport in Jerez. I'd noticed from our Orbitz flight schedule that they still hadn't updated our homeward flights and that none of them actually matched in flight numbers or times, so we were a bit concerned. When we reached the airport, they had no problems issuing tickets for all but the final leg from Charlotte to Pensacola, so we started feeling a bit less worried. Jerez airport was no problem navigating since it was so small, and we caught our flight to Madrid on time with no problems.

Unlike Jerez airport, Madrid turned out to be the biggest nightmare we've ever had in all the airports we've ever been through. Our plane arrived at Terminal 4, which from my previous experience was normal. When we didn't see our flight to Philadelphia listed, we asked a lady at the information desk and she directed us to Terminal 4S, one I don't think they had the last time I was there. After a rather long metro-type ride, we arrived at Terminal 4S and started passing through all sorts of security stuff. Also, for the first time I can remember, when you exit or enter a flight in this airport, you have to pass through numerous stores! How crass! After standing in a couple of rather long lines to check our persons and our passport and have it stamped, we discovered we were in the wrong Terminal. Our US Airways flight left from Terminal 1, not 4S. This may not seem like a big deal, but after all the waiting we'd already done, I was feeling quite relieved I'd left several hours between flights. First, we had to convince the customs folks that we needed to exit the restricted area without going through customs and another passport stamp. Fortunately, a security lady explained the situation to the agent and we were on our way, again.

First, we had to go back down to the train, travel back to Terminal 4, then go back up and outside to catch a bus to Terminal 1. There, after we confirmed we were now in the right place, we waited in a very long line (again) to enter the gate area, then another very long line to have our passports stamped (again!), then another lone line to get to our gate. By this time, we'd spent almost 2 hours on the ground just trying to get our next flight! I swear someone looked at our passports and tickets at least 8 times from landing to boarding! And we think security is ridiculous in the U.S.?

Our flight to Philadelphia finally took off and we were on our way to U.S. soil. Arriving in Philadelphia, we soon discovered another problem, besides another delay going through security checks twice, once for customs and to get our bags, then another to re-enter the gate area for our domestic flight to Charlotte. When we checked on what flight we were getting from Charlotte to Pensacola, since we didn't have that ticket yet, and I couldn't find the flight number on my Orbitz printout, the lady at the gate told us there were no flights from Charlotte to Pensacola that left after our arrive from Philadelphia! She recommended we spend the night in Philadelphia and take a flight to Charlotte the next morning. Well, since that didn't sit well, we went to customer service. Since it was Orbitz's fault for not correcting our itinerary, US Airways customer service told us we'd have to claim a night's stay in either Philadelphia or Charlotte with Orbitz. We kept asking for some other solution and the nice guy at customer service finally asked if Mobile Alabama was close enough. We quickly said sure, it was only 50 miles from Pensacola and we could get someone to pick us up there instead. So, they issued us that ticket and we hurried back to the gate for the flight to Charlotte, disaster averted.

Well, we did finally arrive in Mobile and our daughter Tanya was there with my little Kai guy (my grandson Malekai), but our problems weren't over yet. Apparently, our baggage didn't make the transition in time and there was no US Airways rep there at 9:30 at night, so we rode back to Pensacola without the baggage. At least we made it home. The next day, we got a hold of a US Airways rep in Mobile who verified that our baggage had arrived on an early morning flight and they would ensure we got them, either by transferring to Pensacola airport via Charlotte, or by delivering them by car to our house. We ended up getting our wayward luggage Monday afternoon by personal delivery, I assume arranged by US Airways. I will definitely be contacting Orbitz about there total lack of flight change notifications and corrections.

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[JuJu]

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