[Public-List] Story of an ordeal...

[Michael Devonshire]

She's a saint!!!
What an ordeal.

Michael Devonshire
Director of Conservation
JHPA, Inc.
212-759-6462
212-759-6540 f
Direct: 646-666-9326

-----Original Message-----
From: Public-List [mailto:public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org] On Behalf Of Gordon Laco via Public-List
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2019 3:34 PM
To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all
Cc: Gordon Laco
Subject: [Public-List] Story of an ordeal...

Ever tried to carry a large yacht’s steering compass onto a commercial aircraft?

My friend who owns the big schooner in British Columbia told me he needed a compass and asked if I could get him one… I recommended a particular model of Ritchie, a good manufacturer and quoted a price.  He thought he could get the exact same model in Victoria from a retailer for the same as my wholesale cost… I said ‘if you can, better grab it.'

About two weeks later he writes to me asking if I’d carry the compass he’d bought out with me to the schooner.  Naturally I asked what he’d bought… it was the same model Ritchie but from someone in Ontario.

Now this is peculiar, thought I.     I could have sold it to him if the deal in Victoria had fallen through, which apparently it did…but he bought it from someone else and now I have to carry the compass I could have sold but lost the deal to someone else, with me out to Victoria.   My schooner friend is a friend, so I sighed and said I’d do it.   I picked up the compass… no surprise the cost was significantly more than I had quoted.  

So I arrive at the airport… I decide I’d better carry the compass onto the plane for safety and put my small second bag into baggage because I’m only allowed two carry items and the compass makes three.  I get dinged an $80 baggage fee for something I’d planned to carry.  Then I get to security. They put the compass in it’s box through the scanner, I walk through the metal detector and watch for the compass…  I see it shunted off for secondary inspection.   

“What is it?’ the inspector asks.  ‘A steering compass’ says I, and I open the box and show him. ‘What is it?‘ he says again, holding it gingerly at arms length.  Then he says ’the scanner says it’s filled with something organic'.  I protest ‘there’s nothing organic in it, it’s a navigation instrument, a compass, brass, plastic, nothing organic'.   Look, the guys says, turning the scanner screen toward me… I see the globe is showing orange on the screen.  ‘Organic’ says the guy.  We debate this for a while, during which I foolishly say ’not organic inside, light oil, like baby oil’.   OIL!  Maybe it’s water, says the guy, suspiciously.  No no, not water, I say.   Then he says ‘OK, open it and show us it’s not water”. (now there are four security men across from me)   I can’t do that, so they refuse to let it on the plane.   I get sent back to the Air Canada desk.

They can’t believe security won’t let it on the plane.  The manager directs me to another security check point and says ‘go there, surely they’ll let you through, you must have been dealing with an idiot’.    So away I go to another part of the airport.  This time they notice the words ‘Magnetic Compass’ on the box. MAGNETIC?!  Can’t take THAT on the plane, NO WAY.   I tried to explain it SENSES magnetic fields, it doesn’t EMIT them.  No go, so I trudge back to Air Canada.  Soon I’ll be getting anxious about my approaching boarding time...

Air Canada says ‘Gee, that’s strange, oh well, into baggage it must go.  They ask me to formally confirm the box is a good shipping box.  I said ’no, it most certainly is not a good shipping box’.   Hmmm. stumped.  Then the manager at the Air Canada desk walks up and asks what happened at the second security attempt.   I said ’they didn’t like the word ‘magnetic’, can you believe that?’   He looks startled, and says in a loud voice ‘We cannot allow an instrument that emits electromagnetic energy aboard an aircraft in any way'.  

Long discussion ensues which goes on and on.  

Finally they agree to let it onto the plane as baggage.  By now I’m quite irritated, so I say ‘… and you will sign a document I will write in which you confirm responsibility for this instrument in case of ANY damage while in baggage’.   They won’t do that.  They suggest I ‘get’ a box, tape and packing to protect it. ‘From where?’ is my answer… my plane is leaving soon.   We’re in a stalemate.   

Then, a young female employee of Air Canada who has been listening speaks for the first time and says ‘I think we have a couple of boxes downstairs’.  The manager starts telling me how to go there… she interrupts and says ‘I’ll get them.’  She returns with a big box, tape and lots of plastic.  We stuff the plastic all around the compass’s box, tape it up… then the manager starts processing ANOTHER $80 charge for extra baggage.    I tell them I’ve already paid the fee, and if they want to charge me again, they first have to get my small second bag back, refund that ding; only then will I let them charge me again.   

We three all stare at each other for a moment, then the girl says quietly ‘we don’t have to charge you again’.

I could have kissed her.


Gord
Surprise #426






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