May I see your boarding card please

He took my passport and asked for my boarding card. I gave him my printout (from my online check-in) and he gawped. Smiling patronizingly, he said, "no, no that is an e-ticket".

"Nope, trust me it is a boarding pass – I got it after I checked in online. Because I do not have a bag to drop in – I don't need to go to the counter here."

He explained how the boarding pass worked and showed me a sample. I smiled back and said I know what it looks like. I was trying to save time and time was eluding me. I should have turned around right then and gone straight to the Emirates check in counter and done the conventional thing. But I am stubborn. So I persevered.

He called his supervisor. He took a look at it. I reassured him that I had actually travelled on a very similar document from Dubai. The guy shrugged his shoulders and stamped me through after having a look at my visa for UAE.

I went towards security check and the guy stopped me and asked me why my luggage had no tags. Go back to Emirates counter and get luggage tags. I walked back – the guy at the exit said I could not go back – but handed me a couple of tags. So I went through to Security. The bags went through. I went through. They checked me and then out came my boarding card. She gawped. Trust me – there is no other way to describe the look on their faces. It is a disbelieving look. She took it to her supervisor – I think they were at the end of their shift and so they didn't want the hassle so they asked me to go back to the counter and get a rubber stamp from the airline. Bureaucratic red tape.

So back I walked. Now I was a bit worried that I might miss my flight. I was told that once I had gone through immigration – I could not leave. So I hung around while they decided what to do with me while time ticked by. After 20 mins – the guys mentioned that they were not security guys at all and that I needed to go elsewhere. I glared.

Nabbed a policeman and explained how electronic check in was legitimate and they checked me and stamped me through security. I went to the departure gate and suddenly I was not as sure as I should have been. So I called Skywards because I had no Emirates 24 hours customer service number. I told them that I had checked in online but because I had no luggage – I went straight to immigration. She reassured me that I was fine and I could board the flight.

I wasn't. When the Emirates team came to the boarding gate – I asked them again. And they were horrified that I had made it to the gate without a "proper" boarding card. They did make sure that I was on that flight – I have to thank Emirates and their customer service for that. Unfortunately because I had convinced them at immigration and security, they let someone else through as well.

Am I glad I'm home. Let's say I am not checking in online again except in Dubai.