Last Monday saw me flying from LAX-PHX early in the morning (6:30) and then from PHX-JFK at 9:55, to be followed 5 hours after my arrival at JFK by BA004 to LCY at 21:55. This in the context of a rather hectic mileage run over the USA. I was then scheduled to return to TLV on Wednesday morning.

My AA flight to PHX arrived on time, even a little early, and I proceeded to the Admirals lounge to wait for the flight to JFK. It was listed as being 30 mins late, which was no big deal, as I was to have a 5 hour layover at JFK.

Boarding went OK and we left pretty much on time. However, it had started to snow in the New York area, and I guess they began to fear a rerun of last month's saga, so air traffic began to build up around New York ...

We were put into a holding pattern for about 20 mins, then released, and then put into another one, but then the captain announced that they had told him to hold for longer than his fuel would permit, so we would be diverted to Hartford Connecticut. Oh dear ... but still plenty of time left ... or so I thought!

Arrived there OK, and anyone without luggage who wanted to deplane was allowed to do so. There was a little thin snow on the ground, but nothing major. However, there was more to do than just refuel ... the toilets also needed emptying, and the truck that did that job was under cover at the other side of the airport. More delays. The we got moving, only to stop at the deicing station. More delays.

Finally we were actually airborne for the 30 mins flight, but were soon put into another hold. The captain was not bothered at all by this as he now had plenty of fuel, but I could see my time beginning to run out. I had called BAEC when on the ground at Hartford, and they said that there was a later flight from JFK to LHR with plenty of space, so I shouldn't worry, but by now it was beginning to look as if even that would be a little dicey.

Fortunately, I had no luggage, and a literally ran all the way from the plane to the Airtrain (which is a VERY long way in JFK T8). But oh dear, it only goes one way - not from T8 to T&, but the other way - another long wait. Once again I ran all the way to the CW checkin only to arrive 3 mins too late to checkin to the 23:10 flight to LHR (closes 45 mins before departure). After a short explanation, and the agent seeing my Gold status, she agreed to check me in, only to find that it was full in all cabins. It seems that 3 AA flights had been cancelled, and they filled up the BA flight with a good number of the passengers from that flight.

So, DISASTER!

The agent reassured me that they would take care of me overnight, and there was nothing I could do anyway, so off to reservations I went to sort things out.

The reservations agent put me on the first flight to LHR in the morning, and moved my early morning return to TLV to Wednesday night, as I had a day's work to do in London which was meant to be done on Tuesday! All done within a couple of minutes and then off to the Crowne Plaza, c/o BA.

Nothing more to report really. Sent a quick SMS to my driver to reschedule for LHR in the evening instead of LCY in the morning.

The hotel was fine - I was given dinner and breakfast vouchers, although I left too early in the morning for breakfast in the hotel, but the BA lounge provided me with plenty to eat instead.

All in all, an annoying saga, which was probably the result of the pilot not taking the advance weather reports into consideration and so not loading enough fuel at the outset - the Americans on the plane were very surprised at this, and I guess they are pretty familiar with these scenarios.

BA did an excellent job of calming my frayed nerves and rebooking me. In fact, they did something I really didn't think possible: I had a kosher meal ordered on the LCY flight, which I had arranged to have served in the lounge. Now kosher meals usually need to be ordered 24 hours in advance, and reservations cannot even enter the request into the computer within 24 hours of a flight. However, a couple of phone calls later and I was assured that my meal would be loaded onto the plane in the morning. Obviously there is some room for manual intervention here, but it certainly was most welcome.

The craziest thing about the whole saga was that I had loads of pretty short connections on this trip (all well over the MCT though) and they all went very smoothly. Just when I had over 6 hours to spare did it all fall apart ...