moonstreet
Guests
oh my goodness, the country has gone mad.
You proabbly saw on the news yesterday that many airports were closed and thousands of passengers ahd their flights cancelled. Well I was one of those passengers whose flight was cancelled.
I was suppossed to travel 6 january Dublin to London Gatwick, but when I woke up that morning, I found Gatwick was closed. So I get on the phone and change my flight to leaving Dublin at 3.30pm arriving to Heathrow. All well so far. We set out for the airport. When I go to checkin, I get put on the delayed 1.15pm flight which is now leaving at 2pm. Even better, I get back to London earlier.
Now this is where the nightmare begins. I get to the gate in planty of time, and join the other passengers. The cabin crew begin boarding procedures and I take my seat in the plane at about 1.45. By 2pm, everyone is on the plane and the cabin crew lock the doors and start the safety demonstration. We are still at the airport building but the plane sounds like its preparing to leave.
Just after the safety demo, the airplane sounds like its powering down, not powering up, and the Pilot tells us we missed out slot and are waiting for a new one.
We stay at the airport building till about 2.55pm, when the pilot tells us, ok, this time we are ready to go. The plane heads towards the runway. Just as we reach the runway, and are the next plane to leave, the pilot tells us that, unfortunatly the runway is too slippy and we are not leaving after all. Dublin airport have to comeplety de ice the runway, which will take 2 hours. Its now just after 3pm, so that means that Dublin airport is closed for the next 2 hours approx. All the planes which like us were ready to take off now return to the airport building.
We head back to the airport building but we are not allowed to leave the plane. At about 3.30pm, the cabin crew start asking all the passengers who has a connecting flight in Heathrow as, most likely everyone will miss thier connections. People are given the option to leave the plane and lose the flight and they will have to rebook a new flight or to stay on the plane and wait to see how the de icing goes and see it they can get to heathrow as planned.
The cabin crew give everyone free tea and coffee and sandwiches and everyone starts calling their friends and family to let them know whats happened.
At 5.30pm the pilot finally announces that the de icing is taking longer than planned and that the airport wont open again till approx 8pm and that as a result our flight is cancelled.
It takes another 30 mins for the plane to be ready for everyone to leave.
By now its 6pm and we had been sitting on the plane for 4 hours. We make our way back into the airport building and thats when hell begins.
All flights from Dublin have been cancelled so the baggage claim area is filled with about 1000 very annoyed people.
The airport and airline staff do their best but it gets very angry and I just decide to get out of that area and go back to the checkin area.
All the time Ive been waiting on the plane and trying to get my bags, my parents have been trying to change my booking online. But because soo many people are doing the same thing, of course the website crashes. Its now 7pm and I decide to join a very very long queue, approx 300 people infront of me, at the checkin area, where we have been told the staff will change our bookings for us.
All around me people are on mobile phones and laptops trying to sort out their bookings. My parents are trying too, but when the website is eventually fixed, a new problem arises. It seems the website dosnt like my booking reference!! My only option is to stay in the queue and let the airline staff sort it out.
We move little by little but by 8.30pm there are still approx 200 people infront of me.
Suddenly argueing erupts from the top of the queue. OMG! They have just announced that the check in desks where they are sorting out the cancelled flights are closing in 15 minutes and that after that, the only option is to go online! Everyone goes crazy. The police arrive to try to calm things down.
At 8.45pm, the desks start closing and by 9pm, there are no airline staff ANYWHERE. They all just upped and left!! We are all just left there, in the queue, about 400 of us!!
The airport manger coms over and tell us, that the ticket desks will reopen at 3am and we can either stay in the airport and wait for the desks to reopen , or leave the airport and come back in the morning.
Along with most of the other passengers, I decide to stay at the airport. We join the queue at the ticket desk and wait and wait and wait. I try to get some sleep, curled up on the floor on my coat beside my suitcase. All through the night, little by little, the queue moves slowly along.
I fianlly get to the ticket desk at 6.30am, having been in the queue since approx 9pm the night before.
To my surprise I manage to get put on a 7.50am flight to heathrow. I just have time to checkin, freshen up and get something to eat.
Of course this flight too is delayed, but only by approx 50 mins. I finally arrive at Heathrow at 9.30am.
and so folks, thats my experience of the big freeze!
You proabbly saw on the news yesterday that many airports were closed and thousands of passengers ahd their flights cancelled. Well I was one of those passengers whose flight was cancelled.
I was suppossed to travel 6 january Dublin to London Gatwick, but when I woke up that morning, I found Gatwick was closed. So I get on the phone and change my flight to leaving Dublin at 3.30pm arriving to Heathrow. All well so far. We set out for the airport. When I go to checkin, I get put on the delayed 1.15pm flight which is now leaving at 2pm. Even better, I get back to London earlier.
Now this is where the nightmare begins. I get to the gate in planty of time, and join the other passengers. The cabin crew begin boarding procedures and I take my seat in the plane at about 1.45. By 2pm, everyone is on the plane and the cabin crew lock the doors and start the safety demonstration. We are still at the airport building but the plane sounds like its preparing to leave.
Just after the safety demo, the airplane sounds like its powering down, not powering up, and the Pilot tells us we missed out slot and are waiting for a new one.
We stay at the airport building till about 2.55pm, when the pilot tells us, ok, this time we are ready to go. The plane heads towards the runway. Just as we reach the runway, and are the next plane to leave, the pilot tells us that, unfortunatly the runway is too slippy and we are not leaving after all. Dublin airport have to comeplety de ice the runway, which will take 2 hours. Its now just after 3pm, so that means that Dublin airport is closed for the next 2 hours approx. All the planes which like us were ready to take off now return to the airport building.
We head back to the airport building but we are not allowed to leave the plane. At about 3.30pm, the cabin crew start asking all the passengers who has a connecting flight in Heathrow as, most likely everyone will miss thier connections. People are given the option to leave the plane and lose the flight and they will have to rebook a new flight or to stay on the plane and wait to see how the de icing goes and see it they can get to heathrow as planned.
The cabin crew give everyone free tea and coffee and sandwiches and everyone starts calling their friends and family to let them know whats happened.
At 5.30pm the pilot finally announces that the de icing is taking longer than planned and that the airport wont open again till approx 8pm and that as a result our flight is cancelled.
It takes another 30 mins for the plane to be ready for everyone to leave.
By now its 6pm and we had been sitting on the plane for 4 hours. We make our way back into the airport building and thats when hell begins.
All flights from Dublin have been cancelled so the baggage claim area is filled with about 1000 very annoyed people.
The airport and airline staff do their best but it gets very angry and I just decide to get out of that area and go back to the checkin area.
All the time Ive been waiting on the plane and trying to get my bags, my parents have been trying to change my booking online. But because soo many people are doing the same thing, of course the website crashes. Its now 7pm and I decide to join a very very long queue, approx 300 people infront of me, at the checkin area, where we have been told the staff will change our bookings for us.
All around me people are on mobile phones and laptops trying to sort out their bookings. My parents are trying too, but when the website is eventually fixed, a new problem arises. It seems the website dosnt like my booking reference!! My only option is to stay in the queue and let the airline staff sort it out.
We move little by little but by 8.30pm there are still approx 200 people infront of me.
Suddenly argueing erupts from the top of the queue. OMG! They have just announced that the check in desks where they are sorting out the cancelled flights are closing in 15 minutes and that after that, the only option is to go online! Everyone goes crazy. The police arrive to try to calm things down.
At 8.45pm, the desks start closing and by 9pm, there are no airline staff ANYWHERE. They all just upped and left!! We are all just left there, in the queue, about 400 of us!!
The airport manger coms over and tell us, that the ticket desks will reopen at 3am and we can either stay in the airport and wait for the desks to reopen , or leave the airport and come back in the morning.
Along with most of the other passengers, I decide to stay at the airport. We join the queue at the ticket desk and wait and wait and wait. I try to get some sleep, curled up on the floor on my coat beside my suitcase. All through the night, little by little, the queue moves slowly along.
I fianlly get to the ticket desk at 6.30am, having been in the queue since approx 9pm the night before.
To my surprise I manage to get put on a 7.50am flight to heathrow. I just have time to checkin, freshen up and get something to eat.
Of course this flight too is delayed, but only by approx 50 mins. I finally arrive at Heathrow at 9.30am.
and so folks, thats my experience of the big freeze!
