Fly with five bags on American Airlines, you are bound to have them lose at least one. This time it was Patrick's bag that didn't show up on Carousel 4 in Delhi. Not have we had this situation before, but when you only have 8 days to see lots of towns, you don't want to worry about your luggage.
We knew we were in trouble when we were about to board the plane and the flight attendant said that they were on some pretty tight weight restrictions, and they wanted to know from each of the passengers flying with toddlers and below if they had car seats and/or strollers. Yikes.
The interesting thing was that this was our first experience with Indian bureaucracy (OK, forget about trying to get a change control at work through our Indian outsourcing - that's different) . . . not to be ethnocentric, but in the States, making a claim for lost baggage is pretty easy. Go to the counter, give them your checked bag tag, and have them type everything in the computer.
In India, you fill out a form, which includes such pertinent items as mother's maiden name and horoscope sign. After you're done filling out the form, the clerk copies the information onto another form (albeit longer, requiring you to answer more questions). Once that's complete, you need to take the form across the checked baggage area to a kiosk to get a stamp from some guy, and then you need to return the form to the original woman. She then gives you a copy of the form to go on your merry way.
It all worked out in the end - Patrick got his bag back the next morning - unfortunately, they called at 4AM (Indian time) in our hotel room, and insisted we show up in the lobby as soon as possible. (I think I have a future working in India in setting and exceeding customer expectations).
