#895252 by Sealink
11 Feb 2015, 01:47
The flight home from a snowy Scotland...

Arrived at a packed Inverness Airport, immediately aware that something was afoot. Inverness Airport is many things, but packed is not one of them!

And this was the reason why...
Plane skids off runway

The runway was closed causing all sorts of delays.

I made my way through to the tiny executive lounge, which is the scene of some of my earlier "triumphs" and managed to find a seat. I had no sooner gulped down a G&T, when I received a text message from TripIt advising me my flight had been cancelled. A few seconds later the lounge receptionist came to tell me the same thing.

In my haste to get to the ticket desk, I forgot to ask for my 5 minute visit to be voided!

So, my first ever REAL delay, with REAL consequences, how would Flybe stack up?


First impressions were not good. All of us London City passengers had to queue at the check-in desk behind people checking in for other flights. That annoyed me greatly. We were a special case! I was a special case!

After about a 10 minute wait, I took to Twitter to politely enquire as to what was going. Within five minutes someone from the Flybe Twitter team was on the phone to me, rebooking me on the next morning flight.

Her advice was to book a hotel in Inverness (she loooked it up on Google which was not re-assuring) and that FlyBe would refund me. (That was also not re-assuring.)

I tried my luck at the ticket desk, explaining that I was 140 miles away from my bed for the night.

Not to worry! Flybe would arrnage for taxis to Inverness, with dinner and breakfast in a hotel.

The taxi to Inverness arrived about 40 minutes later, so quite a faff hanging around with no where to go. (Just to put this in context, none of us knew when the taxi would arrive... communication from the airport staff was in the 'need to know' category!)

What hotel would I end up in?

This one... Penta Inverness. Free Wifi, Free movies etc.

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Dinner was included too, which was nice enough, topped by one of the nicest things I have ever put in my mouth.

Sticky Toffee Cheesecake.

Yes.

Sticky.

Toffee.

Cheesecake.



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At an ungodly hour the next morning, a nagging thought.

The plane that was cancelled last night to London City, would have returned to Inverness to overnight. That flight was also cancelled.

Where would FlyBe magic my plane from?

ANSWER - they wouldn't.

Yes, my reprotected flight, BE1322 to London City at Oh God Seven Fifteen Is This A Real Time was cancelled.

However, we could get easyJet to Gatwick at Oh Six Forty. Boarding pass in hand, I headed to a very packed easyjet plane, with great crew and an on time arrival at Gatwick.

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Arriving at Gatwick was like being slapped awake though. I didn't have a case to collect, but the train station just can't cope with all the passengers.

I got on the awful Gatwick Express as I needed to get to London fast. Don't get the Gatwick Express. Seriously.

How much for all of this? £20 for the Flybe flight. £19.90 for the Gatwick Express.
#895264 by hiljil
11 Feb 2015, 07:40
Thank you for a tale of ups and downs !
Enjoyed the photos, thank you.

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