This is a [long] story about connecting to BA in ORD and some extraordinary service provided by ground staff.

I was coming back from meetings in St. Louis, ticketed STL-ORD on AA and ORD-LHR-Switzerland on BA. My colleague Marcello also returned to Europe via ORD. Marcello on UA and LH with an extremely tight 44-minute connection in Chicago. Both itineraries included a terminal change at ORD. My itinerary was much more relaxed than Marcello’s, with an hour and a half at ORD. Due to some lucky circumstances, clearly deviating from our corporate travel policy, I was holding a paid F ticket. After a week full of meetings and presentations, some relaxed F travel seemed justified, and I arrived at STL early, 90 minutes before departure time. With my F ticket and as OWE, priority check-in was a breeze. Nothing can go wrong now.

The security line was, if not packed, long anyway. Ah, STL has a priority line that is much shorter. Go for it. After a minute or two, the friendly boarding-pass-checking gentleman says: "Sir you realize that with this TSA PreCheck, you can move to the other line where you do not have to remove your computers from your bags etc etc?" Wow, I get to a line with zero people and breeze through in no time. Nothing can go wrong now.

Into the Admiral's Club for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The monitors show AA4291 departing on time at 7:35. Nothing can go wrong now.

Just out of curiosity, I open my iPad's FlightStats app to check the incoming flight to STL. Hmm, that one is 40 minutes late, due at 17:40. Departure still showing 17:35. I walk to the lounge reception, ask about the departure time and tell about my observations. They check their systems and say: "oh, the information seems inconsistent. The flight can surely not depart before it has arrived. Thank you, Sir, for being so observant!"

Next, the monitor shows a departure time of 17:55. Arrival in Chicago 19:10, still 1 hour 10 minutes to change terminals and planes. Everything should be fine.

Off to gate C6 then. Everyone still waiting for the incoming. Three people discussing their onward flights on BA to London and then Geneva, almost identical to my schedule. Loudspeaker announcements to recommend checkin in rollaboard bags, as the E175 aircraft has no huge overhead storage bins.

Hurrah, the plane is here, already at 17:35. Incoming passengers start flowing out. Fortunately, the E175 is rather small, so around 17:45 a big relief: "we now start boarding the first class passengers". Everything should be fine.

Next to my seat 4A, the gentlemen in 4C and 4D seem to also be connecting to BA. Nice to know I am not alone on this connection. The plane is filling up, but at the just estimated departure time 17:55 the flow of people is still continuous. Waiting. Nothing happens. Further passengers. Waiting. Nothing happens. Yet another family coming in. "Boarding completed" at 18:15. The captain says our flying time will be 55 minutes. Calculated from now, it would mean landing at 19:10, for the onward departure at 20:20. That is much more than Marcello's timetable with 44 minutes in between. Everything should be fine.

Pre-departure water or juice, nice even though a speedy departure would be even nicer. Security announcements. Waiting. Finally the plane moves back. St. Louis-Lambert is not a huge airport, so the runway is quite near. Finally take-off. Oops, where did all that time go? It is now 18:40. Quick calculation: this leaves us with 45 minutes in Chicago. One minute more than for Marcello. Everything should be fine.

Pleasant flight in good conditions. I get the impression that further two or three people on the front rows are connecting to BA. Landing as expected at 19:35. BA's colours to be seen on the left at T5. AA's T3, our destination already in sight. Everything should be fine.

"This is the captain. Our gate is still occupied by another aircraft, expected to push back in 10 or 15 minutes. We will park here and wait for further information." Uh-oh. This does not sound good. But they surely will not leave so many F/J passengers stranded. We may well make it.

The gate finally free, but the taxiing takes an agonizingly long time. Finally ready to walk - at 19:55, with 25 minutes left. I know the train between ORD terminals, but the other gentlemen running just before me seem to heading for a shuttle bus [I had last connected at ORD before the BA shuttle was launched in 2011]. Then, miraculously, a driver of an empty airport buggy comes from behind and stops, apparently knowing where our runner group is heading for. I did not note down the driver's name, but let's call him Bob. We may well make it.

The buggy has seats for one passenger in the front and two at the back, plus a luggage rack. We squeeze in all six, two on the luggage rack, in a truly Indian fashion. Then off towards the shuttle gate, Bob speeding and honking, again in a truly Indian fashion. After a loooong drive that would have been a much longer run, we reach the shuttle gate. Gate agent: "The last shuttle left already." While the six passengers fall into despair, Bob thinks for a while and says: "OK, we take the long way then." This means taking the train and having to go through security again. Time has lost its meaning by now, but it must be about 20:05, fifteen minutes before scheduled departure time. How on earth can we possibly make it?

Back onto the buggy, speeding towards the terminal train. An interesting feeling of team spirit is developing among the six of us, plus our leader Bob. Off we go, towards the escalator, and Bob says "Uh oh, a train is just coming". Run, run, run past others in the escalator. Bob advises to take the first carriage as it will be the closest when we reach T5. Another few minutes of our precious time on the train. Bob calls BA to warn about the late comers. Reach T5 and run again, Bob still guiding us. Can we still make it?

Just before security: "Which airline?" Six voices: "BA!!!" "Then talk to this gentleman over there." Finally someone with a BA name tag, hope prevails. "BA296 is closed. You must rebook." Shock, horror, consternation. We missed it. I had checked already from ExpertFlyer that the later LHR flights are full.

Team spirit says "let's not give up quite yet". We may not be kings or queens, but I show my BP for 1A and two others their F BPs, the other three in J. "Are you going to let half of the First cabin stranded??" Phone call to the gate. Waiting. Waiting. "Ok, we give you a pass-through". We can still make it!

Then security with no fast track. Bob rushes us past the crowd to the BP check. He explains our distress to the BP-checking security official. He does not blink. Continues examining someone's BP for ages. "Now, what's so special here then?" "We only have five minutes left!!" There is no way this guy's attitude will get us to our flight.

Bob uses his badge to get through with us and gives orders to follow to the x-ray belts. I have an iPad and a laptop to unpack - major hassle when having no time at all. Quickly through x-ray, grab iPad and laptop without packing them, run to gate M11. Gate agents with puzzled faces, but they are ready take our BPs and passports. Looks like we made it!!

Hey, my BP is LHR-Switzerland, not ORD-LHR! I left my BP and passport on the security belt tray!! Shock, horror again - I missed it... However, "team member #2" just behind me says: "don't worry, Bob has it". And lo and behold, Bob is running with my BP and passport. I want to give him a hug but just grab the documents, hand over to the gate agent – and we are all through!!

Does anyone know who “Bob” might be working for? If there ever was a perfect reason to hand out BA’s “Golden Ticket”, this would be it, but he surely does not work for BA. AA maybe?