Post by Dahailang on Jun 19, 2012 12:27:47 GMT
In the late evening of May 28, I went to Bahrain Airport to board British Airways (BA) to Heathrow then American Airline (AA) to Chicago. As a gold member of AA, I am allowed two pieces of free check-ins. But when I checked in with BA in Bahrain, I was told that I could check in only one baggage despite of the fact this is a code sharing flight. BA wanted to charge me 200 SR for my second suitcase which was completely empty. I did not want to pay the extra charge as my suitcase is not even worth 200 SR. By the time I was convinced that I would not expect any mercy from the very rude BA manager on duty, my friend who drove me to the airport had already halfway through the Causeway and there was no way I could get him back.
Since I still have a few hours before boarding, I decided to wait in the departure area outside the airport hoping to see if other Aramcons might be taking the same flight and I could ask her/his driver to take my suitcase back to Dhahran. Before long, I saw a silver-color Toyota SUV approaching and I knew it is a Dhahran camp vehicle as it has a camp sticker on the front window. There were three western-looking women (I think they are British by their strong accent) and two were apparently seeing off the third one. After they hugged one another, I approached to them and politely asked if they are from Aramco; and they said yes. I then showed them my Aramco badge and explained what had just happened and if they could take my empty suitcase back to my wife in Dhahran. Much to my surprise, one woman dressed in a dark outfit looked at me said “no, absolutely not”. I then said “come on … we all expats, live in the same camp and work for the same company, I need help, and can you please help me?” This woman, without raising her eyes again, said “no, end of story!” and ordered the driver to drive away, leaving me standing there completely in dismay :shock: .
I was told by many old Aramcons that expats in Aramco would help one another in case of need as we are all living in this part of world. What happened that night really makes me wonder if that is true anymore
Since I still have a few hours before boarding, I decided to wait in the departure area outside the airport hoping to see if other Aramcons might be taking the same flight and I could ask her/his driver to take my suitcase back to Dhahran. Before long, I saw a silver-color Toyota SUV approaching and I knew it is a Dhahran camp vehicle as it has a camp sticker on the front window. There were three western-looking women (I think they are British by their strong accent) and two were apparently seeing off the third one. After they hugged one another, I approached to them and politely asked if they are from Aramco; and they said yes. I then showed them my Aramco badge and explained what had just happened and if they could take my empty suitcase back to my wife in Dhahran. Much to my surprise, one woman dressed in a dark outfit looked at me said “no, absolutely not”. I then said “come on … we all expats, live in the same camp and work for the same company, I need help, and can you please help me?” This woman, without raising her eyes again, said “no, end of story!” and ordered the driver to drive away, leaving me standing there completely in dismay :shock: .
I was told by many old Aramcons that expats in Aramco would help one another in case of need as we are all living in this part of world. What happened that night really makes me wonder if that is true anymore
