Gnopps

Looking forward to what is going to happen, please do go on!

jsfr

They're a tough crowd - but noboy's forcing them to read - so please give us the next installment (plane ditches in the Thames?)

mattm199

No, I'm hoping they brought out La Guillotine

Henry III

Having now had a decent night's sleep (those of you with the grit to see this saga through to the end will eventually understand) and also having read the encouraging () comments that have been posted, I shall continue my tale.

But first, a few counter-comments:

If it were simply a 2 hr delay then, indeed, this would be much ado about nothing; but it's not! But alas, no ditching in the Thames or bullet-spraying stormtroopers.

But, having spoken with several of my fellow passengers who, like me, felt that some sort of public report should be made, I feel that the story should be told (reasonably) fully, so that justice can be done to all involved.

However, I can take hints and I shall endeavour to be more succinct for the forthcopming installments - even if this means suffocating my muse!

-- H

jmbfrance

Might I suggest an abstract, then the full story ?

Henry III

Nightmare on AF5167: Chapter 4 - Champagne Supernova

To resume. I neglected to mention a small point in the last installment: just before the Gang of Twelve dispersed to various refreshment locations, the original gate attendant came down to the helpdesk to tell us that the plane would either be fixed and ready to go in 45 minutes or there would be a replacement aircraft, so we were now, at least, well-informed and prepared to suffer this (minor) delay - 2 hrs late in EDI would be incovenient but acceptable.

In the bar, it turned out that "Honourable Sir" had been told that the replacement aircarft would be arriving from Warsaw, which was extremely strange considering AF/CityJet don't go to Warsaw!

And, as an aside, we came up with a wonderful idea for a "further enhancement" to the Flying Blue programme: To offer an incentive to those who are already Platinum for Life, Flying Blue proudly announces "Platinum for Eternity!" Following 10 years of 'requalification' after achieving P-f-L, your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren (yea, even unto the tenth generation) can have the privilege of being born into Platinum Elite Plus status.

...

So, shortly before 20:30, the announcement came that the delayed AF5167 was now ready for boarding (yippee). We trudged back to the gate, where we discovered that our number had swollen from the original 12 to 18 (presumably, the other 6 had heard about the delay before our first march to the gate).

Boarding was smooth, and folks (I think/hope) resisted offering sarcastic remarks like, "So, the captain's fixed his CD Player!" and "Have you kicked the tyres?"

On board, it became clear to me that, of the 18 pax, only one was in Business (let's call him "Big Man") and I was (presumably) the only FB Plat (Big Man was in 2F, I was in 4A, pretty-much all the others were back behind the wing).

Now I have to give credit where it's due: the AF Cabin Crew were extremely pleasant - immediately offering the Big Man and I a complimentary cup of champagne. (But, as creber has said elsewhere, of all the faults one can find with AF, their cabin crew are almost invariably genuinely pleasant and truly professional.)

A short taxi to the runway and then, just as the engines were firing up and I was leaning forward to look out at what the weather was doing, there was an almighty jolt (I mean, really big) as the pilot took off the brakes, and we started accelerating. (Had they given the pilot rather too much of that same bubbly?) A young lady ("Kiwi Gal") a few rows back from me couldn't help but laugh at my clumsy attempt to remain dignified, but we were, at least, under way.

Once we were up, the FAs came round with decent snacks and much more booze (all in all, I had four good-sized cups of champagne, and was positively glowing by the time we started our decent). I guess the FAs were doing their best to get us all so merry we wouldn't offer any grief to the AF ground staff (or whoever they are) at EDI. It didn't work!

About 15 or 20 minutes before we were due/expecting to land, I realized that the plane was looping in a stack formation - which is rare indeed for EDI. Then the captain announced that, due to a sudden onset of heavy snow at EDI, there were landing delays (20+ aircraft waiting to land); we would probably be waiting for about half an hour and, in the "worst-case scenario," we may even have to divert to GLA!

At this, I grinned, and even (I think) said something like "yeah" out loud (Kiwi Gal found this amusing, even if none of you hard-nosed, poker-faced FTers do); but this expression of glee (no need for the train from EDI to get home) was obviously a jinx!

Fifteen (or so) minutes later, we got the bad news: the runways at both EDI and GLA had been closed (heavy snow fall) and the captain announced the possibilty of diversion to Prestwick ... aaaarrrgggh!

The concept of sophisticated, high-class, fare-paying AF passengers having to suffer the indignity of disembarking at PIK was truly ugly; in fact, there was a synchronized groan from almost all the pax.

But, as it turned out, we were all spared that particular humiliation: PIK also closed its runway very shortly after the suggestion was made, so we would have to find somewhere else to land.

... next: Chapter 5 - Frogs on the Tyne

--Henry

HereAndThereSC

Sadly, no. On my own dime this time.

Backthorn Dry is some tasty stuff. Even when had on the west side of the Atlantic.

HTSC

Henry III

OK, to those very few, very bored FTers who happen to be stuck/delayed in airport lounges, looking for something to pass the time, I shall bring my tale/rant to a close ...

Nightmare on AF5167: Chapter 5 - Frogs on the Tyne

So, after a few minutes of guessing where we might eventually land (LCY was still open, aparrently), the captain announced we would be landing at NCL very soon (by aircraft standards, NCL is not really that far from EDI). Fine! "Kiwi Gal" was curious about the fine city of Newcastle, and we even talked of the possibility of a 'night on the town', if AF should offer us overnight accomodation (he said, optimistically). @:-)

We pulled up on the NCL tarmac at just about 10 pm (the original scheduled arrival at EDI was 8:15) but then things just went from bad to worse ...

Although (obviously) the ATC and runway folks at NCL had been informed of our arrival (and that of several other diverted flights), it seems that nobody had bothered to inform the ground-staff management (I think they're called "dispatches"). We were clearly in for a long wait on the tarmac.

Shortly after us, a Leprechauns, Inc. (FR) plane pulled up (I later discovered this was the diverted DUB-EDI flight), quickly followed by a FlyBe machine.

The captain came round to each of us (I think), personally apologized, and asked what our feelings were between the options of an overnight stay at NCL or a bus ride up to EDI (it's about 2� hrs up the A1 in good conditions); if we had been able to disembark fairly quickly, the bus option was still reasonable for some - even most - of the passengers, but by this time, those of us with onward travel requirements would now have been 'stuck' in EDI.

After two hours of waiting on the plane (but even more champagne, until the supplies were exhausted), the NCL ground staff had finally organized a bus to the terminal - but we stopped en route to pick up the folks on FlyBe. At the carousel, there were two ladies from SwissPort (NCL's version of ServisAir), but they were clearly stressed out and could offer no real assistance: they just told us that we would be transferred to EDI by bus.

I then complained (politely) that arriving in EDI (airport) at 3 am was not really any good for me, as I had to go onwards to Glasgow. The reply was, "The only obligation Air France has is to get its passengers to Edinburgh airport, and this we will do!" I'd now given up (the Champagne was probably doing its job); maybe a short night at the Hilton, or a Taxi to Glasgow (around �80) if the road conditions permitted it.

Once outside, as folks were getting on the coach, I asked (really politely) the lady who was sheperding people onto the right bus ... two for AF and FlyBe, a different - and less comfortable, presumably - one for the Leprechauns (we wouldn't want AF passengers discovering that they'd been treated exactly the same was as the FR gang, now, would we?) ... if there was any chance of some 'written proof' that I had been given no option other than the bus trip (for any future claim I might make from AF). The answer was, "if you raise your voice at me one more time, I'll call the police!" Remembering the stormtroopers at LCY, I just said "sorry" and went for a couple of cigarettes.

So that's about it, folks! The bus got to EDI airport (no stop in the city centre) at 3 am, and (unsurprisingly) there was no sign of any AFKL staff to offer help and/or advice. The first shuttle bus to the city centre wasn't until 5 am, with the first EDI-GLA train at 05:55.

So I had lots of coffee, found a gang of delayed Welsh Rugby fans - who had some strange reason to be cheerful - and just killed two hours. I finally made it home at 8 am, came to work yesterday afternoon and decided that I would have my 'moment of glory' on FT.

Please accept my deepest apologies if my excessive ranting has bored the pants off you, but I've now vented my spleen and can get on with my life again ... which involves another AF flight this coming weekend: first leg is EDI-CDG, and there's heavy snow forecast for CDG (oh, joy)!

I'm also pleased to report that, yesterday evening (just after my first post) I got an email from Air France:

Dear Dr Iii,

I write to you further to the delay to your flight on the February 8, 2009. Please accept my sincere apologies on behalf of Air France for any inconvenience this delay may have caused. Let me assure you that the delay you experienced on this occasion was not in line with the high levels of service we aim to provide.

As gesture of genuine regret for the inconvenience suffered on this occasion, I am pleased to inform you that 2000 Miles will be credited to your Flying Blue account within the next few days.

I very much hope you will give us another opportunity to welcome you on our services and that your future flights with Air France will be to your entire satisfaction.

Yours sincerely,
Air France
Customer Relations Department

... kinda makes the whole thing worthwhile!

HereAndThereSC

While most folks "this side of the pond" would say it's pretty much business-as-usual for snow issues... I did find the story-telling entertaining and amusing.

Thank you

HTSC

BearX220

Executive summary: The LCY-EDI flight operated two hours late owing to weather and diverted to NCL, also for weather. Everybody had lots of apologies and champagne and eventually a bus up the A1. 2000 miles deposited in compensation.

All in all, better than the average day at ORD.

Henry III

OK - point(s) taken! I guess if we were going for jobs in journalism, BearX220 would be the sub-writer for a tabloid and I'd be the correspondent for the broadsheet Sunday supplements!

Back to 'proper' FT posting for me now, honestly!

--Henry

ajamieson

Trust me, the requirement for getting to the point is no different The ability to adapt to the interest of your audience is a social skill for everyone as well as a professional tool for some.

You had bad luck with a tech delay as well as a weather diversion. Sounds like it was very well handled by the cabin crew and flight deck and much less well handled on the ground (a familiar story these days). If 2,000 FB miles are useless I would write to Air France KLM UK customer relations and ask for a travel voucher instead. I suspect they would decline the request but you never know.

Personally I find people who strike up conversation with other passengers in the event of a delay are usually insufferable bores. But each to their own

Shuttle-Bored

And most appreciated

Richelieu

I quickly lost interest after realizing there would be no overnighting with kiwi girl.

Henry III

Wasn't there?