R2I - GRAND AIRPORT SENDOFF

Finally the day arrived and we had to leave Seattle. So at about 11 am we found ourselves at seattle airport with 2 kids, 1 friend (Aswin), 13 bags and a long checkin line. This was after we had slept on average for about 5 hrs/night the last 10 days..... after we were popping 4 painkillers everyday for the last 10 days to make the pain and exhaustion bearable..... after we had thoroughly neglected our 2 kids the last few days to concentrate on getting things packed up..... after the kids felt thoroughly neglected and were looking forward to some quality time with us.....after having travelled to india with young kids multiple times,  we knew what pain and hardship awaited us and our fellow passengers for the next 24 hrs..... All in all, fair enough to say that all of us were not in the best of moods. We also knew beforehand that the flight was really full and we didnt have seats that were together. Great! We had reached the airport 3 hrs early with the hope of getting "good" seats. We were travelling by Lufthansa. The airline person at the start of the line told us to make sure that all the carryon luggage were less than 9kg each. So I spent the next several minutes, transferring stuff between bags to make sure we were complaint on that front. After about 15  mins we reached the checkin counter. When the time was ripe, the person asked us to get our bags. Aswin & I started to get our bags (2 at a time) to the counter while the kids were with Arti. No sooner did I get the 1st two bags, the airline lady at the next checkin counter told us to make room at the counter so that she could service other passengers. I told her that we had 13 bags and it would be a while before we got all weighed and checked in. She retorted something to the effect that she didn't care and that other passengers had the same problem and so we had to make space at the counter. By now, my temper was rising and I very politely asked her where she thought I should put the bags. Her reply was the same that other passengers had the same problem and she wanted us to make space. I looked around in disbelief. I couldn't see any other passengers with 13 bags and 2 young kids. Needless to say, one thing led to another and soon we were not trading christmas cards with each other. At that time Aswin stepped in and told me to not deal with her and keep my cool and told her that it would be in her as well as our best interest to not talk to each other (we really didnt have a need to talk to each other since she was not at our counter). Sanity restored, Arti proceeded with the checkin process. After checking in all the bags, I was waiting behind arti with N and couldnt help but observe that the same lady was helping another family with a big smile on her face. That family had 6 people (2 decently big kids + 2 grandparents + 2 adults) and understandably had many bags. They were taking a lot more space than we had taken (rightfully so). But I didn't see anyone telling them to take less space or hurry up. On the contrary they were all smiling at them and being courteous. One big difference between us and them was that they were a German family!! Anyway, after this auspicious start to our checkin process, the agent told us that we be getting the middle two seats (out of 4) on 2 rows. Great!! We pleaded and begged with him to give us better seats (also pointing to by now crying Nishanth). No such luck. There were 2 options - upgrade to business class (about 3K extra) or go on another flight (they were handing out $750 per seat and free hotel stay). Even though the 2nd option was very attractive, it would have required changes once we landed in India. We didnt want to have any confusion once we reached India and so we decided to pursue the 1st option. After about 10 mins they told us that we couldn't upgrade to business class since we had ordered special meals (Hindu Veg) and they couldn't give those in business class. We said we didnt care about special meals and would happily have the meal served in business class. After a couple more mins, the status was still the same - could not upgrade. The reason was the passengers in economy class that got our seats would now have to eat the special meal. For all we cared, they didn't have to. We thought airlines would always carry a few extra standard meals. So here we were, after 30 mins of being at the checkin counter, trying to upgrade to business class, on a flight which was completely booked, on a flight where they were getting about 3K from us, on a flight where they were offering $750 to give up an economy class seat, all for not having 4 standard meals. didn't make sense to us whichever way we looked at it. There was another surprise in store. The 2nd leg of the flight did not have business class upgrade available. So we were required to pay the full upgrade price even though we were going to be upgraded for only 1 of the 2 legs. All this while the agents from adjacent counters were feeling free to pitch in in not too polite tones and tell us why we couldn't upgrade even though it was none of their business. Finally the man at our counter said that we would have to speak to his manager to get his approval. That entailed another 20 mins wait and another explanation of the whole situation. Finally the manager gave his approval. Then it took a mere 15 mins to get the approval in the system and another mere 30 mins to get the payment from us and finally after more than 90 mins we were able to upgrade to business class for half of our journey. The only thing that we could do was to take the names of the various agents and managers and write an email to lufthansa once we reached India. However I dont think it mattered since we didnt get any reply even after 1 month. No wonder the airline industry is going downhill. While Arti was dealing with all the mess, I fed N and stuffed enuf junk food in M to last him a couple of hours. With all this delay, by the time we made it to the gate, they had already started boarding. Once we boarded the flight, it was smooth sailing and the business class was appreciated by us as well as the kids. M was super excited with all the stuff that he could do and N could sleep on his chair which went completely horizontal. Once N slept, we could also catch some sleep. The food was also good (it was a 5 course meal). only problem was that it took too long to finish the courses. We wanted to maximize the time we could nap since N had already fallen asleep. So finally I skipped dessert and fell asleep. The 2nd leg of the journey was good as well since the flight was empty and so Arti and M stretched out on 4 seats and me and N did the same on the row behind. of course no India trip can be without its share of excitement provided by our boys. N had a diaper leak once (luckily only pee) that transferred to my shirt and shorts and M had an accident while he was asleep. M's accident is no small matter anymore. The entire seat, 2 blankets and 2 pillows were drenched. I am not sure how they are going to clean the seat. Some things are better not known.........