After a quick look around Terminal 5 (it was my first visit, except the arrival two days before), I headed for the lounge, which really impressed me.. Sat down with a coke, and relaxed for a bit.. Then, the messages started to appear on the PA, that "all short haul flights with a departure between 17:00 and 18:30, had been cancelled", and all flights after that (including mine), were "pending".. Then, it showed a departure time for my flight, 02:15
.
This did however, turn out to be some kind of ATC equipment not working, so they could not handle as many planes as normal, and long-hauls were gioven priority. I even think it affected whole England, and not just LHR:
Then, as i got up to see if I could find another place to sit (needed a seat with some power outlets), and noticed that my flight was cancelled as well.. Hooray!! i gathered my stuff, and went to the lady behind the counter i the lounge, who directed me to Flight Connections Center (FCC), and I would find it at gate 14 or 16.. Oh well, off I went, and there i did find a BA service center, for rebooking.. However, someone were shouting out that passengers with cancelled flights should proceed the the FCC (I was still no quite sure where and what this FCC was - I though I had found it, but obviously not), through gate 14. At this gate, we were led down a couple of floors, and ended up at the FCC (ah, there it was
).
I was told to get in line, and that line was looong
. Did however find out, that I should aim for the Club/Silver/Gold desks to the left, so I found the end of the correct line, and started waiting. I think I stood there for three hours ot so. Was a bit annoying to see that some staff members suddely left, as they were obviously finished for the day, and went home.. At one point, I think the desks for the premium customers, were served by only a cople of agents, while the "regular"desks were fulle staffed (meybe 10 in total?), and the line for the economy-travellers seemd to move much faster..
It did however become my turn, and as soon as that happened, things went a bit smoother again.. I was asked which flight I wanted to go on the next day, and since the first one left quite early (08:somethin), I went for the second flight, which didn't leave untill somewhere around 13:00.. I was also given a voucher for a hotel stay, which included dinner and breakfat, and free tickets for the Hotel Hoppa, to take me to the Holiday Inn (MFJ4, or something). I thanked the gentleman, and proceeded through the UK border, found my bag at baggage claim, and then found the correct bus, on which I was about the last person to be allowed on board..
Arrived at the hotel a few minutes later, and was checked in quite effeciently, in a seperate desk provided for those who were not realy supposed to be at Heathrow at the moment.. I also learned, that Air India uses the hotel for their crew.. Got upstairs, and found my room. And by the way, some very clever person had managed to put me in room 669, meaning that everytime I opened my door, the first thing I would see, was the number "770" on the door opposite mine.. 770 was the flight number of the flight I was supposed to be on
Dinner: Was a buffet, so it meant "eat all you can, on BA's expence". However, I had to pay for drinks myself.. I then told the waitress that I needed to get money from the ATM in the lobby, which was no problem. I did, and when I got back, she never did.. I was actually finished with my entire meal, before I had a beer in the table.. Not good.. and neither was the beer..
The room however, was quite ok.. A sofa and a table in addition to a double bed. Do also seem to recall that the internet was rather expensive. Another thing that anoyed me a bit, was that they actually phoned me from the front desk in the morning, to remind me to pay for the internet.. Did they really have to do that?? Now, the rest of the £20 bill I had used to pay for my beer the night before, was exactly enough to pay for the internet..
After check out, I went back to T5, checked in again,and went the lounge again however, I tried the other one this time.
After some time in the lounge, I went to find my plane. The gate was 10b, and i quickly learned that it was a bus-gate.. We were put on the bus, and taken out to the plane, and everyone was onboard on time.. However, due to traffic or somehing, we had to wait a bit longer. I think we left an hour late, or so.. Went up, and the service onboard was great, es excpected..
Landed at OSL, then had to wait approximately forever, to get my bag.. (I think there were four different flights sharing that baggege belt, resulting in what seemed like 1000 people trying to stand as close to the belt as possible at the same time..). Did however get it, and walked down to where I work, picked up my car, and went home after a nice, and different trip..