Thanks, richard. If I didn't make it clear, this flight was on United. I have only flown AA once in domestic FC and the food service was much worse than UA in both directions. This time, the UA service on the SEA-DEN leg was typical (though of course you don't usually get those great seats) and the DEN-SAT service was exceptional.

My baggage reaches 1K before me

Well, 8 p.m. came and went but no bags. I called the 1K hotline and asked for the baggage department. Once again I explain that I am Mr. Lion, but the bags are checked under Miss Hunnybear. The agent quickly brings up the record on her computer, then sits in shocked silence. After a while, she speaks. I hear the names of several places: Orange County, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin. Continental Airlines. I hold. Apparently no one at Continental will answer the phone. She thinks the bags are still in Austin (how did they get there?). The earliest they will arrive is 10 p.m.

While I have her on the line, I ask what the procedure is for getting reimbursement of our out-of-pocket expenses. I had told the agent on the previous phone call that afternoon that we had spent a total of $350 among the four of us to buy some inexpensive clothes to wear. United’s policy is to reimburse for 50% of that, which sounded very reasonable to me. She offered to send me $150 and Kevin and Lara $100. I got a little more because I’m 1K, she said. Beaten but not broken, we pop the cork on a bottle of Louis Martini cabernet sauvignon and toast the health of our bags.

Dinner tonight is at my favorite San Antonio restaurant thus far, Little Rhein Steak House. In August, we ate inside, but tonight we had a large table overlooking the river. Once again the food and service were superb. Three of us had Caesar salad and peppercorn-crusted filet mignon, and Kevin had a Roquefort tomato salad and Norwegian salmon. Asparagus and mushrooms completed the entrée.

There’s nothing like walking along the river after a fine meal. Back at the hotel, we popped into the cozy little bar they have set up next to the stairway closed for construction and had a nightcap. Walls are paneled mahogany and pictures of horses cover the walls. They make some kind of pineapple-Midori margarita there that is just phenomenal. Sipping it, I called the 1K desk back to ask about my luggage. This time, before transferring me to the baggage department, the agent grilled me for my 1K number and all kinds of details before transferring me. I suppose they have a problem with cranks calling the 1K line in the middle of the night, trying to get preferential baggage service.

The agent this time, Mel, tells me that he thinks the bags are in San Antonio but he’s not sure. The United agent is going to walk over to Continental and try to claim them. He will call back in 35 minutes with an update. Cool. We have another round of pineapple-Midori margaritas. It’s amazing how little having your baggage matters when you’re sipping margaritas in a brand-new horse bar overlooking the closed-for-construction staircase. When he calls back, right one time, he says the bags are in San Antonio! They will be delivered during the night.

Tomorrow we are planning a day trip to Austin, so we hope the bags will be available when we get up. We give Ed, the Service Express agent (formerly bellhop), the heads-up and he promises to flip our message light on when the bags arrive. We awaken the next morning to the sounds of construction at 8:30 and sure enough our lights are on. I press the message button and hear five messages left over from the previous occupant of this room (and they told us we were the first!) but nothing about bags. So I call Service Express and ask to have the bags brought up. She takes a message, and a few minutes later we get a call back. They are confused about the names. I explain to bring the bags for Lion and Hunnybear up, but leave the other two. A few minutes later there is a knock on the door. I answer in my La Cantera bathrobe. The bags!

I inspect the barcode labels. The original one was indeed destined for SAT, so who knows how it went astray. But there is another tag for Continental, marked “rush,” and routed to SAT via Houston! I guess there are no nonstop flights from AUS-SAT. The kicker was that the name on the new tag was “Flemosbberhansen”! Poor Mr. Flemosbberhansen’s bags are probably still flying endlessly around the system like Charlie on the MTA.

Next: Austin hath Powers…