first report Thailand trip 2022

Thailand Trip July 17, 2022, First Report So, what a trip so far. I am sitting in my hotel room in Pattaya, Thailand with only my carry on of this trip. My big suitcase full of clothes and my golf clubs did not make it here with me to Thailand. So the burning question is where are they. You probably have heard, read that there are problems with flights in the USA. Well, I can provide first hand experience. This trip started on 14th of July and will last until the end of the month. So, I decided to do upgrade on my usual cheap flights and fly Qatar Airlines. Qatar Airlines is rated number one in the world to service and overall quality. Bought a ticket on the internet which included a flights on American Airlines to get to a Qatar hub. A Qatar Airlines hub is in Dallas, Texas. American was to get me there. I got to the El Paso Airport early and American tired to get me onto an earlier American flight because the Dallas airport is very big and it would be nice to have additional time to walk to get to my gate. I was put on stand by to get there earlier on another flight. That was mistake one. Then, my regular flight to Dallas was close to three hours late. This meant I missed my connection to go to Thailand in Dallas on Qatar Airlines and also in Qatar to go to Thailand. . All of my connections as a result were no good. So when I arrived in Dallas, I went to the Qatar service desk and asked for help. They said that they were tired of these situations with American Airlines and sent me back to wait over an hour in line to see one of their technicians. Well, American staff said that they can not access Qatar’s computer reservation system and told me I needed to go back to Qatar. By the way, all of these walking to the service desks involved large distances. I am 78 years old and am in somewhat good shape for my age. However, the later in the evening, I get very tired. I was very tired and dehydrated. American staff made many phone calls and was able to make me a new reservation. I later learned that it was made with errors. It was to fly me to Phuket Thailand and then again to Bangkok. So I fly to Doha, Qatar Airlines hub and was told my tickets would not work to get me to Bangkok. So, again, I was standing many hours while Qatar Airlines staff figured it out. Many top supervisors were involved and after considerable timeI I got a boarding pass to Bangkok. By the way, many of my seat locations were not the best because of all these changes. I will never forget sitting next to an Arabic speaking, person with a beard who ordered two large classes of wine to go with his meal. He then proceeded to spill one of the glasses on my pants. I latter leaned very close to him and told hime that he spilled wine on an American. He shrugged. This is a real traveling experience. Fortunately the pants were a dark blue and once dry, the wine was not visible. So finally, I am on a flight to Bangkok. And the seat is fairly good on an isle seat in a nice section of the plane. The person next to me was coughing. We were required on Qatar Airlines to wear mask, including their airport. I got a lot of mask time and hopefully the mask will prevent me form catching what this person had. I hope. So, I arrive in Bangkok, and my large suitcase of belongings and golf clubs were not present. I waited until every one had got their belongings and mine did not appear. I went to the luggage finding service at the airport and filled out documents. Last time I went to Thailand in 2019, my golf clubs did not show up and they arrived at my hotel a couple of days later in Pattaya. I was told to send an email to the finding service and did that last night. So last night I bought two t shirts and one pair of shorts. I got a phone card for my old Apple phone at the airport and had the staff there call my Taxi service to take me to Pattaya (hour and half drive). The manager was a little upset with me for I had reservations for a ride to Pattaya that waited 2 hours for me for the old reservations. In the back of the taxi to Pattaya, I typed messages explaining what is taking place in the USA with flight cancellations, etc. He said my explaining helped. My lesson learned for taxi, I will not set it up until I arrive. I wrote this to him also. I have used this taxi service for years and they are very reliable. I am due to play bride on Monday, golf on Tuesday. I probably can get away with playing bridge with what I have, with a few additional purchases. Golf will be a nonevent without equipment and clothing, hats, etc. On the positive side, I got a terrific massage last night. Also, I have not been injured. I also have all my medication. Hey, just take a pill. My other lesson learned is never fly with American Airlines again. Also, the heck with the top rated Airlines. The food was good with Qatar Airlines and they did feed me very good. However the non assistance in Dallas, will not be forgiven. I do not care how mad they are with American Airlines. Why should I suffer for their dislike. Elder abuse. My plan for the next time I come is to use my normal pattern. I will get a free flight on South West Airlines to LA, using our credit card miles. I then will get a hotel room if needed to hop on a cheap discount flight to Thailand. Google air has sent me a number of good deals and this would have worked and saved me over a thousand dollars. Cheaper, less quality can be the best deal. More reports to follow, none as tragic, I hope. Gary Bingham