First was the delay in Manchester, England. We had queued up in the British Airways check-in queue for 3/4 of an hour, and when we got near the front of the queue, we were told that Heathrow was not allowing any flights to land! We had to go to the ticket desk to rebook our flight for the Saturday, and this was Wednesday! This was done, but we had to change from JFK to Newark, as the JFK flight was full.
When we came back to Manchester after a three-hour drive from home, we were told that Newark might not be open. The queue this time was only about 10 minutes. We decided to go down to Heathrow and risk it, and so checked in at last. When we boarded the Boeing 757, we were told that we would be delayed slightly, as we were still waiting for fuel. This 'slight' delay was actually half an hour!
At Heathrow, we had a rush on, as we had 40 minutes before the flight to Newark departed, and we still had to get boarding cards, and get to Terminal 4, which is a 6 minute bus ride from Terminal 1. At the Flight Connections Centre, we were told to wait while the attendant had her sandwich, even though we told her our flight was being called. She was really rude about it, and not helpful at all.
We eventually got our boarding cards, and got to Terminal 4 just as the flight was boarding. After the doors were shut, the captain told us over the intercom that we would be delayed again, this because of a warning light on the air conditioning system. This delay lasted the best part of an hour, and just as the captain told us that the problem still hadn't been fixed, the light disappeared before his eyes! This is typical. The engineers couldn't find the problem, and it just vanished on its own. How often has this happened to you?
About an hour away from Newark, we were told that Newark was closed, and we were getting diverted to Montreal of all places! Newark was predicted to open at 0100 GMT, and we were told to wait on the plane when it landed. After sitting on the grounded plane for an hour, we were told by the captain that we would have to spend the night in a hotel in Montreal. To cap it all, our bags had to stay in the hold, so we only had our hand baggage, and the clothes we were wearing.
After eventually clearing Immigration and Customs, we had to find the meeting point, but nobody had told us anything, so everyone from the flight (all 200 of us) were just wandering around Mirabel not knowing what to do, and of course, nobody knew what to do with us. To his credit, Captain Patrick stayed with us right through our 4 hour stay in Mirabel airport before we drove the 45 miles to the hotel.
The next morning contained the same confusion, as again, nobody knew what to do with us. The delay this time was due to completing calculations and going to the de-icing facility to get rid of the snow that had fallen during the night. We got to Newark at 2 pm local time.
Naturally, Immigration was slow (it usually is for non-US citizens) and found out that one of our suitcases wasn't on the plane! This case contained our coats, and it was -7C outside! It was also New Years Eve, and we wanted to go to Times Square.
The few days in New York were fine, but on the way home, we had another delay. Thankfully, this was only for 10 minutes, while a couple of bags were off loaded. Can somebody please tell me what is the point of checking your bags in, and not turning up for the flight? This was the only delay on the way home, and we eventually arrived back in Redcar (my hometown) at 1400 GMT. All in all, the flights were a disaster, but credit needs to be given to Captain Richard Patrick for being the only person that seemed to care about us!
Now you know that I hate delays, and I would like to hear from anybody that has had a similar experience.
By the way, we got the case at 2350 on New Years Eve!
Thanks for reading.
Malcolm Kenworthy
kennez@another.com
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