The Seeing Eye Dog (Part 3)

• Part 1 is here.
• Part 2 is here.

It usually takes a lot for me to be speechless, but that was one of those times.

I shook my head for a few moments to grasp the situation. Japan airlines now thinks that I am blind, and that my imaginary seeing eye dog has just died.

I responded back to the driver that is now asking for my address.

"先生， 謝謝你，但是我不需要你送我到機場。我真的自己可以去。” [Sir, thank you but I really don't need a ride to the airport, I honestly can make it there myself.]

鍾先生，你真的不用跟我客氣，日本航空想你知道我們是非常支持所有殘廢人。

[Mr. Chung, you don't need to be so polite with me. Japan Airlines wants to you know that we are very supportive of all "handicapped people".]

還有我知道寵物去世是一個非常慘心的事。 [Also, I know the death of a pet is a very tramatic thing.]

He then went on to say that the ride is entirely complimentary. I thought about it for a few seconds, and then told him my address. He arrived a few minutes later at the hotel.

I walked out of hotel carrying my luggage. I could tell he was a bit shocked that I didn't have a walking cane and was able to walk around a cat on the sidewalk.

The ride in the car was equally bizarre. He kept staring at me with a terrified look.

"先生， 不好意思問你， 你是盲人嗎？“ [Sir, I'm sorry to ask you, but are you blind?] asked the driver?

“帥哥， 你感覺我是盲人嗎？， 你剛剛經過一台紅色車” [Buddy do you think I'm blind? You just drove past a "red" car] I responded sarcastically.

“那如果你不是盲人， 你為什麼原來有一隻導盲犬呢？" [Wait a minute, if you're not blind, why did you have a seeing eye dog?] he asked with absolute sincerity.

I didn't know how to start answering that one.

“蠻複雜的” [It's complicated] I replied.

He was too terrified to speak to me for the rest of the trip.

Normally, when I fly JAL from Taipei, because I have so few miles on it, I always get a middle seat and board with the last boarding group.

On this day, however, they had upgraded me to business class with group 1 boarding.

When I arrived at Tokyo Narita, as I walked onto the Jet bridge, I saw an airline rep holding an iPad with the name "JOHN CHUNG" on it. I assume this guy was to escort me through immigration and baggage claim since I no longer had my "seeing-eye dog". However, I'm not sure how I would have noticed him had I actually been blind. I walked past him and got the hell out of the airport.

When I got to the hotel, I called JAL in the US that night and finally explained the situation in English.

"No, I am NOT blind, and NO I don't have a dead seeing eye dog."

They apologized for the problem and said they would rectify the situation immediately.

THANK GOD! I thought.

The next day I returned to Narita to continue onward to St Louis.

I asked the rep (in English) if there was any handicapp status on my reservation.

"No sir, everything looks fine" said the rep.

"Good" I thought.

"OK sir, lastly I see I need to collect an additional 30000 Yen Fee from you."

"What? 30000 Yen? What the hell for?" I asked in astonishment.

"Well sir, it says you will be bringing a dog on the flight. All pets on flights are charged this additional fee."