Cofi's M.I.A In Paris

On 21st April 2010 i decided to travel with Cofi to Algeria. It was the first time i have traveled with Cofi and i was rather worried the whole time.

We have to be at the airport 3 hours before departure in order to check in Cofi and also pay the necessary. So by 7.30pm we started our journey to the airport. Cofi was all dressed up in case it gets really cold in the cargo and she was excited. Looking at how happy she was, i was wondering if she would still be that excited if she knew she will be locked in the cargo for 30 hours.

Yeah, another outing for me!

The airport was full withe people and it took 1 hour to check in Cofi and Me. Of course first I had to pay the surcharge for Cofi. KLM will only take pets in the cabin if they weight 6kg including the cannel. My fat Cofi weights 6.6kg by herself. So she has to be checked in as excess baggage in this case. 

Cofi pleading with her puppy look for us to release her in KLIA

The sticker on her cannel

All her certificates sealed and attached to her cannel

Since April onwards, KLM and Air France has implemented the per-piece luggage rule upon all passengers. Regardless of how heavy the luggages are, the first additional piece will be charged USD55 whereas the second luggage will be charged USD200. And since Cofi will be at Paris airport for more than 2 hours, there is an additional USD200 fees for pet hotel. So all in i had to pay USD400 for her which was pretty ok since we thought it might cost us RM5k just to transport her in the first place.

After paying the money, i got my boarding pass and then we were lead to the excess baggage area to check in Cofi. The guard then told us that it will be better to send Cofi to the airplane via the lift instead. And so we went.

My last view of Cofi at KLIA

So i flew from KLIA to Amsterdam, waited for 2 hours before my next flight to Paris, all the time without any news on Cofi. I was stupid that i didnt check on her in Amsterdam until i reached Paris. When i asked the cabin crew about Cofi, they all got a shock because they were not informed about having a pet on board. Even though it was written on their passengers detail sheets, but no pet was check in and they never pursuit the matter.

I was told that Cofi was not on board. I freaked! The moment i heard that i began to cry. The cabin crew then got panic and did their best to help me tracked down Cofi by calling Amsterdam airport and going into the cabin area to check again. No Cofi!

At this moment i cried even more and i texted KC about the whole situation. He was worried too and called me and asked me to check again. Then i followed one of the ground crew to the transit area. She looked at me in the eyes, apologized for the whole situation and told me that they will make sure that Cofi will be tracked down. I waited with a very heavy heart.

20 minutes later, the ground crew came to me with a smile and told me that somehow Cofi was transported from Amsterdam to Paris in a different plan. She hurried and brought me to the luggage claim area and there i saw Cofi coming out from the conveyor belt. It was only then i could stop crying and thanked the ground crew.

After that she went all the way to help me to get my new boarding pass and told me to send Cofi through the excess baggage area 30 minutes later. What best about Paris airport is pets are allow to roam freely in the airport. So i took Cofi out from her cannel, fed her with the energy bar and let her roamed and released herself.

Finally Cofi is with me again. It was already 18 hours passed the last i saw her.

No one at the airport was freaked out to see a roaming dog. 

Cofi getting all excited after releasing herself.

After the Paris lesson, i made sure i asked the cabin crews about Cofi when i boarded the plane. I was sitting at row 12A and one of the cabin crew came to me and told me Cofi was just at the cargo area below my seat. Phew! And by the time my flight too off, i was exhausted physically and mentally due to the earlier crying.

When i landed at Algers, there was another flight by Qatar which landed the same time. The queue at the immigration area was long! People were queuing up in a zig zag manner. I thought it will take forever for my turn. But good old KC did his trick again by pulling strings for me. He asked his colleague who has a friend working as custom officer in Algers to look for me.

The moment he got me, he took my passport and asked me to go ahead for hand luggage clearance. After that i was directed to the baggage area to claim my luggage. To make it even faster, he took the luggage number sheets from me and passed them to the boys who were retrieving the luggage behind the conveyor belt. By the time i got back my passport and took everything i had, it took only about 30 minutes and this was due to the VIP service i got. If i were to wait like others, it will definitely took me hours.

Thank God Cofi is safe and sound with us in Algers now. Somehow she settled down faster than me.