Our phones were off and packed away, and I didn't think of it in the moment. My intention wasn't for it to become this huge ordeal, and I wasn't aware of the safety implications at the time. I really thought I would email CR, get some token Avios thrown at me, and that would be it.

If I had thought to get my phone out, I probably would have posted here immediately and had time to offload per the collective wisdom of FT! Really wishing I had done so, would have saved me and BA quite a lot of trouble. I wish the CC had just told us to offload -- I would have much preferred a few hours delay to all this hoopla.

As it was, I was overwhelmed by the day we had already had, compounded by the preceding 10 days of hauling two small children through Paris and London. I wasn't at my sharpest, I can tell you that much. It was a perfect storm of circumstances that made me a very easy "victim".

I can only hope that the engineering records reflect what happened and that BA will compensate me appropriately. And that hopefully my report combined with those records will lead to the responsible crew members being educated or disciplined as BA's policies dictate.