14 February 2009 by Simon Mone
I have just got home having been snowed in at Stansted on Thursday night.
I arrived three hours early for my flight hoping to swap to an earlier one but that was full. A chance to get on line and do a couple of things I thought. Seven hours later the airport was closed and I had to make my way through the snow to my hotel. Luckily my wife had suggested I book a hotel when Easyjet announced that the inbound aircraft had been diverted to Nottingham. The airline were still telling us that the flight was delayed but the fact that the runway was closed should have made it clear what was happening. I got online (the wonders of a laptop and a mobile phone as modem) and got a Travelodge - the last room I was advised later.
When the airport finally gave in and told everyone to leave the departure lounge I was able to go and book a taxi which only took 15 minutes to arrive despite the advised 45 minutes to an hour. A short drive through the snow to a bed and a shower (there was even a bar that was still open). The hotel had wifi, which was lucky as I had no signal on my phone, and I was able to get online again and book a flight home the next day. Of course by then there were no flights out of Stansted so I had to opt for the extravagance of a BA flight from Heathrow.
Up at seven and out the door to get to Heathrow for my 11:30 flight. Should be no problem I thought. However, it is a long time since I flew from Heathrow and I went to terminal 1 which is where the Glasgow flight used to fly from. Not anymore. The BA check in guy told me to go to terminal 4 which involved getting a train (watching a train to terminal 5 go in the meantime) and getting to the wrong terminal again. The Glasgow flight goes from T5 not T4. By the time I got to T5 the flight was closed.
After waiting in the rebooking queue for over an hour I got to a desk and was advised that my extortionate ticket was only valid for the flight I'd missed. Luckily the kind BA lady believed my tail of woe and, after calling T1 for their approval, put me on the next flight without any further charge.
Sitting on the plane waiting to leave I was unsurprised to hear the pilot advise that there was a delay as someone hadn't boarded and the bags had to be dug out of the hold. Not too long and I got back to Glasgow just in time for the Friday rush hour.
I finally made it home, an extra £400 poorer, stressed tired and grumpy. I was soon cheered however by my wife and kids waiting expectantly at the window. Good to be home.
I am on jury duty on Monday so who knows when I might be back in the office...
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