Oh The Agony!

Oh The Agony!

We're sitting in our seats on the first of three legs for our flight to France! Check! But getting here was total Agony - do you see a rant coming? ;-)

We booked through TAP, with our first leg via United from Atlanta to Newark (then on to Lisbon, then Toulouse). When we got our tickets (way back in November), we thought we would probably take 2 checked bags each, but we weren't positive. So we checked to make sure that we could buy that extra bag once we knew, and left it at that. Well, the problems started when we tried to do that via the TAP website (it is one of the worst sites I have ever seen!). We couldn't get to a page that let us do anything, not even check in. OK - we called United, and they said no problem; we could pay at the airport, and all bags would go through to Toulouse (a little extra $$). Hmmm

We got to the Atlanta airport plenty early (8:30 for our 11:00 flight), and started to check in. And we couldn't add bags! We got "help" that amounted to nothing. We called TAP, and after 20 minutes on hold, got disconnected. We called again. Meanwhile, the United agents are saying they can't do anything; rules are automatically applied. We now have only 15 minutes left to check bags, and we're still on hold with TAP. We start rearranging stuff so that we can check one bag each and leave 2 behind (luckily,  Rick's sister had helped us with the baggage train, and was waiting to see what would happen). FINALLY, we get through - down to the wire, the TAP agent talks to the United agent, and they do a manual override. A MANUAL OVERRIDE! Over an HOUR and a HALF later! After an HOUR and a HALF of shaking their heads! We rush to repack, weigh, pay for, and tag our bags - and run (OK, fast-walk) to our gate. We had some luck here - TSA pre checked, and the close terminal (no train ride)!

All I can say is Those Bags Better Meet Us in France!