At this stage I should point out that the purpose of this flight was to link up the following morning with VS19 leaving at 11:00am. It had long been my practice to take this flight and overnight in LHR rather than have the stress (and very early morning rise) of the first flight out of ORK which left a tight margin for connecting. Stress! Ha! What I was to endure that night put the stress of the early morning flight into the halfpenny place.
Traffic was light to ORK and I arrived earlier than expected at 6:00pm. No matter. I would grab something to eat and browse around the duty-free as there were some bits and pieces I wanted to get. I had done OLCI but I needed to print out my boarding pass before dropping off my bags but as the place was virtually deserted that was accomplished quickly. The check-in agent told me there was a 40 minute delay on the flight but as I was aware that the early morning flight had gone out 40 minutes late I wasnt too worried so hopped upstairs for something to eat.
Some 30 minutes later I was gathering up my bits and pieces when I glanced out past the departure gate area towards the runway when I saw an EI A321 pushing back. Now the only A321 at ORK shuttles backwards and forwards between there and LHR and at this stage, if on time, should have been pushing back in LHR at the very least or else trundling towards the runway. The last place it should have been was in ORK! So downstairs to the customer service/ticket desk which was unmanned and from thence to the still quiet check-in desk.
Me: EI722 has just pushed back?
CA: Yes
Me: So its two and a quarter hours late?
CA: Yes
Me: Which means that the 724 is going to be at least two hours late?
CA: Yes
Me: Not 40 minutes?
CA: No
Me: Which means a 10:30 departure?
CA: At least
Me: And theres a curfew at Heathrow?
CA: Yes
Me: And that flight wont be able to make it?
CA: No
Me: So whats going to happen? A couple of weeks ago the 724 was diverted to Luton. Is this likely?
CA: Possibly
Me: Or cancelled?
CA: Possibly
At this stage I explained about my onward flight in the morning and that diversion to Luton was infinitely more preferable than a cancellation. He informed me there would be further information at 8:30pm and all one could do was sit and wait except there was nowhere to sit. [V] Oh there was the bar and the food court but at that stage I neither wanted to eat nor drink and although there were seats in Arrivals further down the terminal these were all occupied with people waiting for delayed incoming flights. There was nothing to do except prowl around or use one of the internet machines which were fast being used by others looking for alternatives. I had already looked at the departures board but the only other flight was to Stansted and I reckoned that by the time we had landed and got to Central London there was no way for me to get out to LHR and my room in the LHR Hilton. During one of my prowls around the place the friendly check-in agent saw me coming downstairs and came out to tell me my worst fears had been realised. We were going to Luton! Now I realise Luton isn't Mecca, Nirvana or paradise but right then and there it sounded like it and I assured him that was fine by me but a cancellation wasn't.
Shortly after that there was an announcement that we should go to the ticket desk where all of human life was displayed. Apparently an earlier flight to Birmingham had been cancelled and people had been put onto this one. For others there had been two cancellations and each related their horror stories trying to top the other ones. When my turn came I was told that they were still hoping to go to Luton since there were 165 booked on to the flight but I asked to be protected on to the 7:30 flight in the morning in case the 724 was cancelled (and to think all this was to avoid that flight!) The lady looked at me and said that it was fully booked but I think was a bit stymied by my use of the word protect and looked at me consideringly, trying to establish if I was an airline bod. Ill tell you what, she says. Ill book you on just in case but the flight will be overbooked by one Now those of us in the know will realise that at this stage the flight would have been overbooked by much more than that number, but to argue the toss would have been akin to biting the hand that fed you. I therefore feigned abject, grovelling gratitude and bowing obsequiously backed away from the counter. [:D]
The next announcement came at about 8:15 inviting us to go to the check-in desk for refreshment vouchers for the magnificent sum of 3/5. What lavish feasts awaited us with that! At 8:30 we were told there would be an announcement at 9 but at 8:45 they confirmed that we were indeed going to Luton and were scheduled for an 11:00pm departure. The sigh of relief around the airport was palpable especially as we could now go airside to seating. In actual fact the incoming flight didnt arrive till 11:00pm as EI tried to get hold of as many people as possible who were booked to return to ORK on the last flight before cancelling it and put them on it. As a result our departure was put back till 11:40pm
We eventually took off at 11:45. The captain told us that the delays had been caused by horrendous thunderstorms at LHR as well as a security alert at T5. At this stage I have to say that the EI team in Cork were great. They kept us posted at every hand's turn and at no stage made us feel as if we were a nuisance as we bombarded them with queries. The flight was uneventful and exactly one hour later we landed at LTN.......
......to utter mayhem [:0]
We had been told to collect our bags and buses would be provided. So we arrived in the terminal from a remote stand to find a baggage carousel allocated to us. We waited, and waited, and waited and waited. At roughly 1:30 someone from the handling agents Servisair came and told us our bags would be there at 2:30am Well at that stage there was a mini-riot with people baying for blood! There was very nearly a lynch mob especially from some of the younger passengers demanding they take responsibility and bring the head of baggage handling to them - no doubt with his head on a plate! [:0] Us oldies tried to defuse the situation and get them to explain the situation. It turned out that 7 flights were diverted and they were struggling to cope. However they went on to say that baggage handling were dealing with scheduled flights and would get round to ours when that was done. Well that put the fat in the fire once more but the cavalry for the two agents - who really weren't that inspiring - arrived in the carousel starting up so there was a stampede towards it. Problem was it was with bags from Budapest! [xx(] However the strange thing was that no-one was coming to claim these bags nor others for a flight whose bags were on an adjacent carousel with the result that the carousels got jammed and broke down. By this time the mob, for such was it, grabbed hold of a couple of security guys who in fairness were more than helpful and tried to get answers but the reality was no-one seemed to know. Eventually the duty manager arrived and tried to mollify the crowd and apologised profusely which was like a red rag to a bull. Cue more baying from the mob. In the meantime the carousels were unjammed by the simple expedient of a guy tossing all the bags off into the middle of the customs hall. Once more the carousel started and the Budapest bags started coming once more but this time intermingled with them were our bags. So at 2:15 or thereabouts we were released to find our bus.
By this stage the group was falling into 3 camps, those who were being collected having sent friends and relatives on a merry chase around southern England (some people on the flight had been booked on a cancelled flight to Birmingham), those living in central London who opted to get a Green Line bus there and the rest who were going to LHR. So off we went in search of our bus. Was it a nice modern, comfortable coach? It was not! [V] It was a rickety old-fashioned double-decker. The driver wanted us to go upstairs as he needed the downstairs seats for baggage so up we plodded to find it reminiscent of buses of my youth - those of you of a certain age will know what I mean - steamed up windows and reeking of tobacco!
Eventually at 2:30 we set off. There was a scary moment when the driver nearly missed the M1 turn-off and the whole bus shouted 'Turn left! Turn left!' but an hour later we pulled into T1. My hotel booking was at the LHR Hilton and in the absence of public transport I had to take a taxi. So at 4:00am as dawn was breaking, some 25 lighter I checked into the hotel where, with the smell of tobacco redolent in my nostrils I slept not a wink
Thank you for these tales of travails...