Bad flight experience - can anyone explain??

[Nataly 38]

Oh dear... I had an exam in London at 08:30 this morning. After realising that the exam centre was extremely close to London City Airport, I paid about 3 times the price of a direct flight into say Heathrow/Stanstead/Luton/Southampton. I did this knowing that getting into central London can often take 1.5 to 2 hours from any of the aforementioned airports whereas LCY is right smack in the centre.

So the first leg of my flight went without a glitch - Nice to Zurich. Then the Zurich to London City boarded with only 30 minutes delay - no biggie. We got over half-way (we even spotted the Parisian city lights) and then about 5 minutes from when we were supposed to land at LCY the pilot announces that due to fog, we are returning to Zurich and can be put on the next available flight from Zurich to London Heathrow. TEN MINUTES LATER we began our descent to Zurich!!!

Well, they faffed around with changing luggage and boarding passes and instead of arriving at 6:30 pm right next to my hotel, I arrived at the wrong fucking end of London when all public transport had long since shut down. A very expensive cab ride later, I arrived at the hotel around 3:00 am... Needless to say, I was not amused.

I checked and Heathrow was not shut down during this time. Why, why, WHY would they take us all the way back to get us on the next flight to LHR instead of landing in LHR??? Or any other London airport that wasn't affected by the fog???

Any ideas??? I asked - they had no explanation.

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[obelixtim 150]

LHR had 70 flights cancelled this morning due to fog. You would have got bumped because if they had a backlog there would be no slots.

Even with no backlog you can spend a long time waiting to land. From Madrid one time we arrived over London and spent an hour orbiting before getting a landing slot.

Airports are too small, with too many aircraft....

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[piisfish 140]

flight restrictions on LHR too, due to fog. Airport was open, but with little traffic only. Impossible to absorb all the diverted planes. easier/faster/cheaper to send the plane "home" at ZRH

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[MikeJD 0]

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Why, why, WHY would they take us all the way back to get us on the next flight to LHR instead of landing in LHR??? Or any other London airport that wasn't affected by the fog???

Just to screw with you.

Should have taken your rig. 'I'm not going back to Zurich. Let me out here.'

[kd5xb 1]

I carried a rig over my shoulder on a DC-10 once and all the FA's were scared to death I was going to try something!

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

[Zep 0]

Sounds about right for good old blighty, For a country that uses the excuse of leaves on
the rails to cancel the rail service what can you expect.

I live in a third world country and apart from terrorist attacks everything runs nearly to the minute.

Gone fishing

[shorehambeach 9]

Nataly,

That was a little bit of bad luck I am afraid..you just happened to fly on our worst fog day of the year as the temperature suddenly dropped overnight....

Heathrow had about 10% of flights canceled (160 or so) ... they could have brought you into London Gatwick...its by far the best airport near London and there's a fast train to central London very 20 minutes.

Next time just exit the plane when you see Big Ben and land at Buckingham Palace - there's a nice big green landing spot... watch out for the Queens little dogs when you come into land.

:)

[piisfish 140]

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... they could have brought you into London Gatwick

well not really. as Swiss does not fly to/from LGW. I bet it was still cheaper to fly back to ZRH rather than to divert to LGW

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[MikeJD 0]

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I carried a rig over my shoulder on a DC-10 once and all the FA's were scared to death I was going to try something!

Which is one of many good reasons always to carry your rig in a bag!

[MikeJD 0]

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Sounds about right for good old blighty, For a country that uses the excuse of leaves on
the rails to cancel the rail service what can you expect.

It's not 'the country' that decides whether rail services will run - it's the train companies. Slippery rail conditions (caused by our damp climate and lots of line-side foliage) already cost them an estimated £50 million a year.

Meanwhile Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, with planes landing at the rate of more than one per minute - hence the constant push for expansion.

It is frustrating to have your travel disrupted, but sometimes there really is no viable alternative.

[shorehambeach 9]

The rules for diverting aircraft are separate from those on dedicated flight paths.

Gatwick was running as normal and is the second biggest airport in the UK so it would have mad sense.

(Easyjet and BA both fly direct from Gatwick - Swiss don;t as they can't get the slots, they go to Stanstead...)

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

I have a bad experience every time I go to London. Mostly I can blame it on Heathrow. Passing through that airport already makes your trip suck. I think the negative karma generated by Heathrow drags the entire city down into a cesspool of negativity! Either that or I was French in a past life. I DO have an overwhelming urge to taunt those English K-nig-its a second time-ah! And shoot cows at them with a catapult...

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[shorehambeach 9]

We all feel the same way about Heathrow - but they've spent $1 billion on Gatwick which is a much better airport and much easier to arrive/depart and get to central London from....

[Nataly 38]

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We all feel the same way about Heathrow - but they've spent $1 billion on Gatwick which is a much better airport and much easier to arrive/depart and get to central London from....

*Usually* I don't mind LHR too much because at least it's connected to the Picadilly line, HOWEVER, *nothing* runs at stupid o'clock in the middle of the week...

My flight back, remarkably, was even worse! Seriously, I wish they had at least kept us a little bit informed of what was going on...

Actually, if the delay is more than 2 hours, they are obliged by law to propose some alternatives - they did not. Other flights (ie: other airlines) were not having the same difficulties, so it *could* have been salvaged.

I was not annoyed about the fog - that is outside of everyone's control. I was annoyed at being kept in the dark for over 4 hours (on the way back) with no sign either way that it was going to sort itself out (or not). I was annoyed that some better alternatives were available but no choice was given to us (ie: different flight / reimbursement / or even an APOLOG§Y, for pete's sake!).

No... They didn't want any hassle, so they decided what was best and didn't give us any opportunity to choose for ourselves if their decision was acceptable. Because of course landing at 2 AM is OBVIOUSLY the right option for *everyone*...



- rant over -

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[yoink 321]

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I have a bad experience every time I go to London. Mostly I can blame it on Heathrow. Passing through that airport already makes your trip suck.

Heathrow terminal 5 is one of my favorite airport terminals in the world and I travel a LOT. I'm typing this at LAX at the moment and Heathrow is lightyears better than this place.
Don't even get me started on shitholes like Philly or La Guardia, and for the love of all that's holy, stay away from Miami.



And in terms of rants I got stuck in Honolulu airport last week because the United flight attendants decided to go on strike - ONCE we were all on the plane and waiting to take off! Seriously - they told us themselves over the tannoy and linked it to long hours they were upset about.
When we went to the United desk to try and work out what hotels we would be put up in:
"I'm sorry, the reason for the cancelled flight is showing as 'WEATHER' in the computer, so we're not obliged to offer accommodation.'

FUCK UNITED. God. I'm still furious.

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

If you had had your rig with you, you could have maybe gotten them to drop you off before returning!

[JohnMitchell 16]

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I carried a rig over my shoulder on a DC-10 once and all the FA's were scared to death I was going to try something!

A rig on your back is a damn good idea in a DC-10.

[nigel99 587]

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I have a bad experience every time I go to London. Mostly I can blame it on Heathrow. Passing through that airport already makes your trip suck.

Heathrow terminal 5 is one of my favorite airport terminals in the world and I travel a LOT. I'm typing this at LAX at the moment and Heathrow is lightyears better than this place.
Don't even get me started on shitholes like Philly or La Guardia, and for the love of all that's holy, stay away from Miami.



And in terms of rants I got stuck in Honolulu airport last week because the United flight attendants decided to go on strike - ONCE we were all on the plane and waiting to take off! Seriously - they told us themselves over the tannoy and linked it to long hours they were upset about.
When we went to the United desk to try and work out what hotels we would be put up in:
"I'm sorry, the reason for the cancelled flight is showing as 'WEATHER' in the computer, so we're not obliged to offer accommodation.'

FUCK UNITED. God. I'm still furious.

I agree Terminal 5 rocks.

My least favourite is Chicago, closely followed by Perth.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[Nataly 38]

Thing is, I have a lot of sympathy for people who work in the airline industry because they get A LOT of abuse, and often they can't even do anything to help...

More and more, however, I am noticing that they say nothing/do nothing/have no one to talk to when something goes wrong. They simply don't want to deal with irrate or unreasonable customers. This too I can understand, but I think there comes a point where it's normal to get *some* kind of news - even if it's just over the intercom. Given you have a right to reschedule or to a refund (which you could use to buy a last-minute ticket from another airline), it's frustrating to know that you *have* options but are unable to exercise them...

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[HighJB 0]

Anything to declare ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZoYUQSU38E

ça passe ou ça frotte

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Apparently I've always had a bad time in Heathrow. Mom tells me that when I was 2 we went through there on the way to a vacation in Spain and I got hit in the head by an opening car door. I didn't remember that trip, but that blue tunnel at the end of the terminal was eerily familiar when I came through there in the 90's on my way to Romania.

The only times I ever go through there are at the beginning or end of a long flight and there's usually a long layover involved. So no matter how nice the airport might be, I'm going to be pissed off there.

When I was there, everyone smoked in Romania. And they didn't have emissions controls for their vehicles, so after a week my lungs were killing me. I couldn't wait to get on the plane so I could breathe again. We get on the plane and they announce that it's a smoking flight all the way to London. Fuuuck!

I still like hanging around in the Eastern European countries, though. There was some great wine in Romania, the exchange rate was favorable, and everyone there seems to know how to party.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[piisfish 140]

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I agree Terminal 5 rocks.

yep

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Remster 30]

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My least favourite is Chicago,

Really? ORD is actually a pretty decent airport with quite a few nice places to eat and hang out... In the newer terminals at least (trust me, I was stuck there for about 9 hours a few weeks ago...)

LAX does suck monkeys balls, no doubt tho. Who else still requires their pax to go outside to xfer terminals??????

Remster

[Zep 0]

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Sounds about right for good old blighty, For a country that uses the excuse of leaves on
the rails to cancel the rail service what can you expect.

It's not 'the country' that decides whether rail services will run - it's the train companies. Slippery rail conditions (caused by our damp climate and lots of line-side foliage) already cost them an estimated £50 million a year.

Meanwhile Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, with planes landing at the rate of more than one per minute - hence the constant push for expansion.

It is frustrating to have your travel disrupted, but sometimes there really is no viable alternative.

I was just joshing, When I was 15 I was an apprentice box boy at Orpington Kent back when it was
British rail. Fun times then with the fog and the detonators.

Gone fishing