I. Hate. Morocco.

So my plan was to be in Madrid right now, working on posts about the second half of the semester during my 11-hour layover. Where am I actually? In the airport in Casablanca. Still. Why? Because people who work for Royal Air Maroc are idiots. There are better words to use for them, but this is a family-friendly environment.

I got here at like 1 this afternoon after sharing a van with another girl. Her flight isn't til tomorrow but we had to be out of the dorms today so she was going to spend the night here anyway. So we pretty much sat around waiting for check-in for my 6:15 flight to open. By 6 it hadn't actually opened. There was nothing on the departure boards or anything at all. I asked at the information desk if it was late and the woman told me yes, it was leaving at 7:15 now. So I wait. And I call Natalie by accident because somehow her number was saved in my phone as "Mom." Okay. And then I got really confused, and then I really called Mom. And while I'm talking to her, the check-in desk gets posted so I hang up on her and grab my stuff and run. And wait. And once it's my turn to check in, the woman tells me that my ticket is not in the system because I booked with Iberia. It was a codeshare flight run by Royal Air Maroc. Okay, whatever. So I have to go talk to the manager guy, who fixes it in no time. I go back to check in and not only the lady whom I talked to first but also three other agents all get up and leave their desks. Apparently their shifts were over?

At this point it's like 6:25. I stand there looking exasperated in a line with no agent, and another passenger comes over and starts asking me where I'm going and when and whatever. And he takes my passport and receipt and hands it to the nearest attendant (they were playing musical desks, too; the two who were left kept running around from one desk to another) and tells him I need to be checked in because my flight is leaving soon. The guy comes over, freaks out over my bags (two of them, which I am actually allowed but he was apparently unaware) because they're too heavy (which they're not), runs around and says he needs a supervisor or something. Then when he finally figures out what's going on, he tells me he can't check me in because the system already closed it and the plane is boarding and it's too late. And I should wait 5 minutes til the supervisor comes back. The supervisor comes back twenty minutes later, during which time I've been standing at the check-in desk crying and therefore being stared at by RAM employees and passengers alike. And in the meantime there's a woman loudly berating another attendant in darija and a little French because something similar happened to her and she missed her flight as well. That was fun.

Attendant man takes me into the supervisor's office, supervisor looks at the flight on his computer and tells me there's nothing they can do because the plane has already left. It's 6:50 at this point. I told him two different people told me it was leaving at 7:15 so why has it already left, and he shrugs at me. Attendant man tells me the next RAM flight to Madrid leaves at 9 am. Which is great, considering my Madrid-London flight was scheduled to leave at 7. Then he says I can fly to Heathrow with them instead, except I'd be landing at the exact time my flight to Boston should leave. And then he says it's okay, I should just call British Airways and tell them to hold the plane for me til I get there. Uh... yeah. I'm sure they'll be happy to. I'll get right on that.

So I go to the RAM ticket agency, while on the phone crying to Mom. She calls Iberia while I'm in there. The guy is a complete tool and is incredibly patronizing. He tells me- tells me- "Oh you missed it because you were late." This after I've explained to him that I was watching the boards for two hours and ran to the counter as soon as it was posted. And the entire story. And he still tells me it must be my fault. I can buy a flight to Boston through JFK on RAM if I want, but I have to pay for it. Or I can go to the Iberia desk and work it out, but they're closed til tomorrow. Or, okay, he can try to call Iberia for me and arrange something, but first I have to call and make sure I can change my British Airways tickets. And I just stared at him and asked if he were serious. And repeated that this is not my fault. And he still doesn't care. It's not their fault either and they're not going to pay for it. So I was like, fine I'll go call British Airways. And he tells me that first I need to "settle down" because I'm "too emotional." Gee, ya think? After I've been sitting there crying and telling him I've been here since August and I just want to go home and I have no money with which to buy a new ticket. (Exaggeration? Maybe. But it probably would have helped were I dealing with someone who had a soul.) This guy was an enormous jerk and no help whatsoever.

So I call Expedia and they tell me I need to deal directly with BA. I don't think they really understood my problem either; they kept telling me I hadn't missed my flight (from Madrid) because it wasn't leaving til tomorrow morning. I called BA, got a 5-minute spiel about how disappointed they are that the union is striking and here's what to do, and then the call ends. I have no idea what happened. Mom called me right then anyway, and said the women at the Iberia call center could see, on her computer, that I had gone to the right place and tried to check in. Are you kidding me?? Lots of crying and angering later, and after finding out it would cost $2k to change my BA flights, I have a ticket home through Paris tomorrow because Mommy and Daddy love me. I'm supposed to leave here at 7:50 am, have a 2-hour layover in Charles de Gaulle, and get home at 3:05pm, which is only 1.5 hours after I was initially supposed to be there.

I have another ticket home leaving here on Thursday at like 1:45 am and I was ready just to stay here til then. Which is a really depressing thought. Ugh. But I should be home in 19 hours now. Insha'allah. British airports are now closed from 1am to 7am because of ash. Hopefully Paris won't close at least until I get there. If I get stuck in Paris, so be it. At least it won't be Morocco.