Round and round Heathrow and home
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
232
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
A Mercedes 350SL or some such and a courteous driver arrived promptly at 6.20am to whisk us away to the airport. I really had no plan B...or C...should he not have turned up other than to ring them or a taxi. But, no worries, we were off. Haring down the north circular and then off on the A40 to Heathrow. Just as we pulled up at the terminal the heavens opened and let rip the most vicious storm we had experienced in the UK. What a send off. So we entered the terminal a bit wet because cars were not allowed within so many metres of the entrance.
At the Gulf Air check-in the uniformed girl gave us a typewritten note, addressed to us by name, which explained that due to 'technical difficulties' our flight to Sydney had been cancelled! Of all the things that could go wrong I had not imagined that one. It was bullshit of course. For 'technical difficulties' read unable to fill percentage of seats required to make the flight break even. We had been off loaded to a BA flight.
We were directed to the Gulf Air desk where the very efficient uniformed man took all our details, pressed a lot of buttons and confirmed that we were on an 11am BA flight to Sydney via Singapore. [ Just as well we did not book that Cyprus flight and stopover in Bahrain. And, bugger, we need not have got up so early! ]
A young, uniformed lady was delegated to accompany us to Terminal 4. Oh, yes. There was a catch. We had to drag ourselves and our three suitcases, two cabin bags and two handbags along corridors, down ramps, up elevators and on to a train. Terminal 3 was the other side of Heathrow. Just as well the young lady came with us for we would never have found our way. We had to dispose of the baggage trolleys at the train platform which made things more difficult. So we had to manhandle those bloody suitcases on and off the train and find our way out the other end.
We were directed to the BA first class check-in where we discovered that we were not booked on that flight at all. The business class was fully booked so we had not been checked on!!! Our young lady promised to find out what was happening and went off to find a supervisor while we sat comfortably in the first class check-in lounge watching the hoi polloi check in. I am sure I saw Bill Wyman and his partner at one stage but he did not seem to have enough wrinkles.
Anyway our Gulf Air girl did return about an hour later with a supervisor but they could only report what we had feared that we were on stand-by. Off they went again back into the fray of the main hall while we sat and drank coffee and waited. I mean, she must have been all of 19, what could she do. Anyway, a young lady in a Qantas jacket approached us and enquired as to our problem. It was not the first time someone had approached. Obviously if one stayed too long in one place one becomes a security concern. Anyway, she was terrific. She did not know why or would not admit why Gulf Air had done what they did but assured us that she personally would get us on that flight somehow. But first we were to have our baggage checked in and labelled so that we were officially on the 'list'. That was fortunate because she only asked for an estimate of the weights of the suitcases and I somewhat undervalued them.
We certainly could not complain at the help we got from all the ground staff. It was just the procedures that were unmoveable.
We now had to wait for the flight to close which was at 10.30am for the 11.15am flight. Right on the dot the girl beckoned us over, sent our baggage down the chute, and handed us boarding passes. [She admonished me briefly that my estimates on weight were a little out ...by some 10 kilos on each...but she just smiled and tied HEAVY labels on the cases. ] Some wayward traveller(s) had missed out. Another instance where a large conglomerate makes a lot of money by collecting a fare twice.
Now, with 35 minutes to go, we had to get through security and dash for the appropriate departure gate. Security was a nightmare. No longer do they allow hand bags as additional carry on cabin baggage. One piece of cabin baggage means just that, so one medium bag plus hand bag was not on. BUT I was allowed to take my laptop on board as a separate item. By removing it from my large black carry-all we could just squeeze Anne's bag and mine into it. Then we had to take our shoes off, empty our pockets and once through have my laptop scanned for chemicals.
We had five minutes but the gate was not far and the crowd had hardly moved. We 'business' travellers went to the front of the queue and boarded in plenty of time. BUT due to a 'technical difficulty' the flight would be delayed 20 minutes because they had not put enough food on board for me. Then it was delayed another 20 minutes while they waited for a new take off slot and then it took another twenty minutes just to taxi to the end of the runway in line with several other large and small jets.
We were very comfortable, thank you very much, in our 'sky beds' although they were in the centre of the aircraft. Anne chatted with the lass to her left who at first seemed interesting with her talk of businesses she ran in Europe but, as Anne said later, she became a dizzy pain after imbibing grog at every opportunity. Why do some people drink so much on long flights?
Singapore was a fuel stopover only but we had to vacate the plane and were allocated different seats upon reboarding which was weird but at least we were nearly home and had good seats at the rear of the business section by the window.
I watched the Borat movie, Love Actually, About a Boy, some BBC funnies and very amusing Melbourne comedy festival debate. I snoozed in between but those seats are still not as good as your own bed. Then there is the constant drone. I felt really sorry for all the cattle class down the back ...NOT!
We arrived in Sydney earlier than our original flight was scheduled to arrive! As we were disembarking one of the stewards gave us a bottle of wine and guess what...we dropped it on the concourse near the duty free shops....bugger! Anne bought my Scotch and some perfume and we sailed through customs with nary a glance.
Our son was there to meet us as was our Gulf Air driver...which impressed me. Once again...no problems with the people on the ground. He was quite happy of course not to have to take us home seeing that transport was on hand. It was a bit of a squeeze but the baggage all went in the Magna and we arrived home to a house you would not believe had been lived in by several couples. It looked terrific. Things like the carpet and the paintwork I had half expected to have lost their sheen but they were just as I remembered when we left. During the following days we found a few things in strange places but the only things missing were those that our son had taken the previous year. The car was in good nick and registered. A few extra dents on the fender that was all. The garden was a bit of a jungle but that was to be expected.
That's it. We are back in the Wonnie...and it's too hot!
