My Greatest Fear Finally Happened - That Time I Left My Laptop on a Plane in Saudi Arabia...
My work-life essentially exists within my laptop and for years I've been super paranoid that I would leave it somewhere and in particular - that I would leave it on a plane. Well, a few weeks back my nightmare came to fruition. I was traveling the Middle East (and my itinerary was not exactly the wisest of choices as I had a period where I traveled by plane to a new country or city every day for 7 days in a row.) I had talks or meetings nearly every day in new places - Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha, Amman and Cairo to name a few. I have, it appears at this point, more friends and friend-quaintances in the Middle East than in the USA through my work with the Middle East Leadership Association (MELA). The schedule started to become a bit absurd...
My friends in Jeddah were sanguine, "No one steals here," they said. Sure enough, a few calls from Samia and Raheed to friends confirmed that it HAD been found and was safely in a storage locker in the terminal. My lovely friend Raheed immediately took me to the airport to retrieve it in her giant BMW. However, I was informed, “They only bring items from the terminal here to the gates 2 times a day: once at 2 pm and again at 11 pm, so please return at 2 pm.
Raheed patiently waited for me (and took me to the greatest sushi meal I have ever experienced where Samia joined us - and neither would let me pay (even when I tried to be sneaky) and then returned me to the airport after 2 pm. “Sorry,” I was informed - they had failed to bring the laptop over.
That evening my various hosts in Jeddah then took me around to a cultural and art exhibition and a late-night dinner. A friend of Samia then went to the airport at 11:30 pm where we again informed that it had not made its way to the gate area and to come back at 6 am… My international flight to Doha was at 7:30 am so this made me suitably nervous but what could I do?
I arrived at 6:40. One hour before my 7:40 am international flight and boarding was starting now. But I have to go to baggage services. I talk to the same guy as yesterday. He checks in at the office. “It’s not here. Maybe 1 pm or 2 pm it comes” he says. I explain that this has been the story for the last 24 hours. I suggest that since it is in the terminal that I can go there since I have a boarding pass. They say no - it’s in a secure area.
A manager Aziz appears. He says “Go to your flight. I personally promise to send your laptop on the next Saudia flight to Doha.” I decide to trust him as I have a very important meeting in Doha that afternoon that could lead to a lot of business in the area.
I run full tilt for security, boarding pass ready. 40 mins to go, flight already boarding for 20 mins, doors closing in 10. My boarding pass is rejected when I swipe. It says “wrong airport”. I’m paranoid that maybe the first airport WAS the right one but I look and it says “JED terminal 1 new terminal.” I ask security. They say to return to check in and get a paper boarding pass. I sprint back.
I wait for a little and then I am handed a new boarding pass and she says “They are still boarding - you might make it.” I run back to security, swipe the pass, and again red lights and a warning sound and it says “invalid”. I try to convince them to let me through but of course, they say no, please go back to the ticket counter.
I return, back to the same lady and she says “Too late now” and I said what do I do? And she says, “go buy a new ticket for tomorrow”. “So helpful,” I thought…
I returned to baggage services and let Aziz know I missed my flight but that there was another flight at 11am. Aziz assures me he will have my laptop by 8 to 8:30 am and that I can safely book another flight. I decide I don’t trust the process and decide to wait a bit. An hour later, nothing. Now its 9 am and I’m told “We can’t find anyone to get the cart and go get it” shared with a shrug. My new flight was going to cost me nearly $600 and I was getting close to missing it, as well the important meeting in Doha.
It was at this point my background in Design Thinking kicked in and I thought to myself, “Am I solving the right problem?” Clearly, these men have agency, but not urgency, and my urgency was not their urgency. Time to take a new tack. I went to the convenience store and I bought a series of snacks and drinks - the good stuff. I brought them to the desk. I said, “I know you are all working hard to try and get my laptop to me and I wanted to say thank you.” I can tell you that the energy in that back office changed dramatically. They were very thankful and promised to redouble their energies. 10 minutes later Aziz arrived, proudly with my labeled laptop.
I open it immediately and log in to book the flight to Doha leaving now in just 2 hours. However, in the interim, that next flight had disappeared from both Expedia and the Qatar Airways website. So I ran upstairs and look for the Qatar Airways sales desk. I am told there is no Qatar Airways sales desk, “but there is a travel agent.” I run to the travel agent who is able to find the flight in his system, however when it came time to pay (the 5X more than my original flight on Saudia Airways), my Amex is declined, then my Visa, then my business debit and finally, finally my Capital One debit goes through … whew!
I was in real-time keeping a group of friends in the middle east aware of my progress and told them what happened. I said, “Clearly some force doesn’t want me to leave Jeddah : )”. They responded, “Well you are all set now!” and I said, “Now, now, let’s not get hasty - I still have to check in, get through security, get on the plane, have the plane take off, have the plane land and get through customs…” Lots of LOLs
I then went and checked in for my flight and made my way to customs. No joke my bag is flagged for search and I get patted down. Sorta knew that was coming at that point. I then began the long trek to my gate. The gates are ordered A1 to A50 with gate A50 being about a mile way. Sure enough, I’m gate A50. I sit down to wait as the flight is delayed (shocker) and try to login to the airport wifi. Upon my very first attempt, I get the popup warning, “Failure to login - too many attempts.”
I sent this little fantasy to the group (didn’t really happen) but I wanted to say it: “Me boarding the plane before even heading to my seat, “Um hello, yes ma’am I’ll have a red wine, seat 21C”. Her, “um we are still on Saudi soil so there is no alcohol - and we are not waitresses - we are here for your safety.” Me: “I will feel safe at 10,000 feet with a Cabernet please.”
We finally start boarding 5 minutes late and it’s now pushing the time right up to possibly not making my very important meeting in Doha that afternoon. But we push back from the gate and… sit for one hour. I call ahead and push the meeting back an hour. Finally, we take off, quick flight, land in Doha and … there’s only one passport control kiosk open and the line is very long. I call ahead and push back the meeting again. Sure enough, just when I’m getting my passport stamped, they open 4 other lanes.
My client in Doha was very understanding of the delays and we had a great meeting. However, when I counted there were 22 times where my travel out of Jeddah was thwarted. Clearly, Jeddah did not want me to leave.
I’m afraid to go back : )
1. leaving laptop
2. not realizing until hotel
3. trying to call
4. sailing cancelled (getting shoes)
5. airport - rejected to go baggage - sneak
6. Come back to airport 2pm
7. Calledm not there, return 7pm, call, not there
8. Friend of Samia goes airport 11pm - not there
9. Uber to wrong airport
10. Taxi scam, Uber surge
11. Arrive - laptop not there come back at 1pm (manager says will get)
12. sprint to gate, e-boarding pass rejected (wrong airport)
13. Return to counter, paper ticket - then rejected invalid
14. Return to counter, they say “buy one for tomorrow”
15. Return to baggage claim - they can’t find a driver to bring from the terminal (I buy drinks)
16. Next flight to Doha no longer avail on Qatar and expedia
17. Sprint to travel agent - available, but 3 cards rejected
18. Bags flagged for search
19. Longest farthest away gate A50
20. Try to use free wifi, first login rejected for multiple attempts
21. Flight delayed on runway for 1:15 mins
22. One passport line open with the slowest woman (4 more open as I’m at the end)