Some time ago, I had an unfortunate business trip to wonderful Madrid, that I feel an urge to share. My plan was to take a direct train from Linköping to Copenhagen airport, Kastrup, and then a Spanair flight to Madrid. I could spend some time working on the train, have lunch and arrive and check in at Kastrup. Nice and convenient… I thought. Before I got on the train, there was four announced delays, first 2 minutes, then 2 more, then 5 minutes etc etc. Eventually my X2 shows up and I got on. On board, the internet conection was intermittent and I could not complete my mail syncronization, it kept on timing out. Complaints was disregarded and my PC was blamed. In the middle of my lunch, getting close to Malmö. Another announcement was made that I had to switch train at Malmö. I had to send the rest of my lunch in the bin, quickly shut down my computer and collect my things. Since there had been additional dealays along the trip, I was now short on time and had to rush to catch the commuter to Kastrup. Shame on you, SJ! I do prefer by going by train, but with this treatment of customer I see no benifit.
Getting on to the Spanair flight, I soon find out that I was double booked. Ending up in a middle seat in Economy, i.e. nothing to eat and no drinks except lukewarm coffee I tried to get some sleep. The thing with Spanair is that their seats seems to be designed to fit midgets. There is no way to get a sleep without breaking the neck. Ouch!
Finally, arrived at Barajas. I followed the signs to baggage claim and waited… and waited..and waited. No bags for me. I turned to the missing baggage counter and was told that there had been a problem with the electric signs, but there was a guy at the gate, telling people where to go, she added. Unfortunately, it turned out that guy spoke only Spanish. So here I was, at the wrong terminal, I had to exit the security zone and get back into the other terminal. Aarrgh.
Eventually, I got my bag and after asking around for an ATM and Taxi stand, I escaped the airport. BTW, I had an very nice stay in Madrid with yummy Tapas.