Have you picked up lately?

My first overseas holiday was to Africa for a four week safari. I remember that for that trip I got quite a send off; Mum, Dad, sister, Auntie and a car full of friends. At the time I thought it was wonderful. Sharing the love and all that.

Turns out they all were just making sure that I left the country.

This was best demonstrated on my return from the same holiday. Having collected my luggage and passed through Australian customs I entered the “Arrivals” lounge to find it full over everyone else’s family and friends. They all did arrive.

My friends were about 30 minutes late, but did eventually complete the pick up. My parents did show at the airport some 12 hours after my arrival. They confused am/pm apparently. Tey called me from the airport to determine my location.

Now the love is completely gone. I take a shuttle bus to the airport, alone. On my recent visit to Adelaide my parents did complete an on time pick up. Upon departure their preferred support was to drop my at the nearest bus stop, which would only add an additional 30-40minutes to my journey – to be at the airport for a 6am flight.

In Chile LAN Air got the pick up confused. The flight was delayed and so I missed my connection. A fact I knew some 30 hours prior to my departure. I was already booked on the next available flight and a 5 star hotel room was booked on my behalf at the airlines expense. The only thing left to organise a bus transfer.

There were many other travellers faced with the same situation. The airline customer service staff decided that at this point they would only speak in Spanish, knowing that the majority of affected passengers were Australian. This rule was only broken for one reason – leggy blondes.

The staff were instantly bi-lingual. I think this s a world record for learning a new language.

The blonde was elected our leader, unopposed, and without any further delays we were ushered to the bus stop to await the arrival of the transfer bus. Ninety minutes later the blonde returned to the service desk to negotiate the ordering of an actual bus.

I think there should be rules for airport pickups.

1. A host MUST collect all international visitors from an airport
2. If a host collects interstate visitors from the airport they MUST also complete the drop-off.
3. A traveller MUST offer to pay any airport parking costs incurred by the person/s completing the pick up. The person completing the pickup will ALWAYS refuse the offer.
4. To avoid any carpark costs, a passenger can text/call the picker-upper upon landing. This MUST be arranged prior to the flight and only delay the pick up for a maximum of 5 minutes. This is not an excuse to be late for the pick up.

Share you airport pick up rules and stories in the comments section