Pushed back and then we sat there......finally the captain came on to explain that although we were ready to go there was a problem with the flaps on the left wing. It wasn’t clear what the problem was, but as a result we couldn’t go. He explained that we would need to move off the gate as we had pushed back and needed to be parked up before the engineer could come and inspect the wing. We therefore taxied around the airport to a non-airbridge gate and parked up. There was one further announcement that at this time, it wasn’t clear how long the problem would take to fix or the exact nature of the problem. There was no further general announcements about what was going on until we were ready to go much later on. We were upstairs, so the flight crew were coming through regularly, and also explaining what the nature of the problem was, so at least we were in the know. Basically it transpired later on that there was a clip that held two air hoses together that had broken and so the hoses were not attached and hence why the flaps didn’t work. Apparently this wouldn’t be possible to test on stand, hence why it only was noticed as the engines were started up. All in all, this took nearly 3.5 hours to identify, source the correct part and then have it replaced and tested!!! During this time, they turned the entertainment on, served plenty of glasses of champagne / soft drinks upstairs and also did the hot towel runs. I had not had much breakfast in the lounge, so was grateful for some Club World nuts that were also available. I wonder what it was like down in Economy (or even down in Club World on the main deck) – at least there is lots of room to more around upstairs and it is bright and airy upstairs. Lunch orders were taken on the ground, well there was plenty of time!! Finally, we were told that the problem was fixed and that everything seemed to be working fine – this meant that left the second gate 3 hours 53 minutes late.
During our time on the ground, as time passed by, it became apparent that there was no chance of us making our connection in LAX. We were concerned that this wasn’t an inter-linked booking (the LHR-LAX was a points/cash fare in Club) and the LAX-SAN was a cash fare. We attempted to ask the crew whether the ground staff could speak to AA on our behalf – they are both in One World and even though they weren’t interlinked bookings, they might be able to help. It was firmly explained that they were far too busy “doing things” on the ground to be able to help, and that we would have to sort it out on arrival in the US. This seemed to be rather rude – it wasn’t like we were at an outstation – this was LHR, the home of BA and you would have thought that they might have one or two staff members who might be able to help out!! With no obvious help from BA available, I turned the iPhone on, searched for a UK number for AA and then called them myself – the agent at AA was very helpful indeed – she explained that even though they were separate bookings this wasn’t a problem as they were both One World flights and that on arrival, we should go to the AA terminal and they would rebook us on an alternative flight. At least this made us feel less worried!!
Finally, we were taxiing down to the runway for take-off. Soon after take-off the crew came around with lunch - they decided not to do the usual post-take off drinks round. I was hungry by then and grateful for some food. The menu for the flight was:
Starters
Cornish crab tian with gazpacho and almond salad
Mediterranean vegetable terrine with rocket pesto
Main
Fillet of Aberdeen angus beef with stroganoff sauce, beetroot and gherkin boulangere potatoes
Chicken tikka masala with coriander rice and onion pakora
Pea and ricotta ravioli with mint pesto cream and semi-dried tomatoes
Tuna salad
Dessert
Mango and blackcurrant duo
Cheese
I had the Cornish crab tian, which was very good indeed and then the chicken tikka masala – my boss commented that he never thought the curries were that great on BA, but it sounded nice. This was certainly NOT a tikka masala – at least a madras or hotter!!! The mango and blackcurrant duo was a mousse and a cheesecake – very tasty indeed! I also went for the cheese as I was feeling a little hungry. One thing about the serving the lunch without the post-take off drinks, was that we had finished by about 2.5 hours into the flight. That meant we had been on the plane for nearly 6.5 hours but still had over 8 hours to go!
The remainder of the flight felt very long indeed, probably all that extra time spent on the plane on the ground. Upstairs most people seemed to be awake for the whole flight – watching the entertainment, having a drink or two and enjoying themselves. I wandered downstairs and noticed that everyone was asleep in all the cabins (well no idea about First!). Towards the end of the flight, the CSD finally came around explaining to people what was happening about flight connections – apparently there were over 150 people who needed to get from LAX to SAN on the flight. Therefore, they were working on options to get everyone down to SAN.
Afternoon tea was sandwiches or a za’atar-style salad with marinated feta – this looked nice but appeared to be small. I almost missed the scones as I wasn’t served one.....but the selection of apricot sponge, chocolate brownie and pistachio cupcake were very tasty.
We finally arrived in LAX over 4 hours late. As we left the plane, there was an agent who was dealing with people and my boss was off before me, and they had checked our names were on the list and explained that they were running four coaches to SAN airport which were leaving once full. The next available seats on a plane were the following evening! An express walk to immigration and a relatively quick 30-40 minute wait and we were through! Bags were going around as we got to the baggage reclaim, but unfortunately there was an hour wait to get through customs – typical!!
As we exited arrivals, we asked the direction to the coach – initially the agents there had no idea what we were talking about, but finally we were told to go to the far end outside and someone was dealing with everyone. Once outside there appeared to be quite a bit of confusion – our names weren’t on the list of people going on the “coaches” but the groundstaff simply added them. We waited and waited and kept on being told that the coach would be there in about 5 minutes. Finally a super shuttle van turned up – yes a van and not a coach! Thankfully allocation of the seats was on the basis of first come first served, and so luckily we were the last two to get seats. Interestingly everyone on the bus was from upstairs Club. Before we left, the driver tried to tell us how much it would cost....we explained that it was being sorted by BA/AA, which she finally checked and then we left. Now this is a 125 mile journey, which at the time we should probably have taken 2.5-3 hours....the driver, who was on the phone the whole way, managed to do it in 1.5 hours!! When we arrived at SAN airport, as we got out she stated that we owed her $375 plus tip! Luckily some of the other people were more vocal and seemed to be dealing with this, so we headed off to get a taxi to the hotel.
Overall, it was a very long trip to SAN – we hadn’t been able to go direct as there was a huge dermatology conference on as we later found out, which explained the really high prices! The handling of the delay on the ground was very poor – no announcements were made at all to keep people updated and they was no assistance offered to people with connections to sort them before we left. The solutions sorted on arrival were equally as poorly handled – luckily we were in the first “coach” leaving, and I have no idea if everyone finally made it from our flight. Hey ho, we made it in the end, but BA could have handled the whole thing just a little bit better.
