Whats your worst airport delay story

[Barry Izbak]

What's your worst airport delay story.

My parents are on their way to Florida today - British Airways from Heathrow.
Check in 7.15, Board 9.00, sit on plane...................
They are in World Traveller Plus (got a few bob) and 5 rows in front is Prince Andrew.
text me at 11.00, still sitting on tarmac, tech probm, plane surrounded by old bill
text me at 1.30, still sitting on tarmac, tech fixed, but now they've got a sick passenger and expect to leave at 2.30 when the sickie's luggage is off.
Ring me at 3.10 - flight abandoned, they're off to a hotel and hope to go tomorrow.

what a fkg nightmare. Sitting on a plane for six hours for nothing!!

What's the worst you've had?

 

[Frutos]

Going on a family holiday to the Channel Islands a few years back, our plane was delayed and then cancelled due to fog in Jersey, wouldn't have been able to get another flight for three days (weather permitting, of course), so got a train from Gatwick airport to Poole and took the ferry over instead.

 

[steward 433]

17 days stuck at port stanley in the falklands due to frozen runway (under a foot of frozen snow)

p.s. minus 25 average whilst waiting

 

[bright1064]

I feel quite smug about this one actually.

The worst I had to put up with was last summer.

Me and my mates were due to fly back from Nice, but the flight was delayed by 3 hours.

That's the worst I have ever had to put up with

 

[Jam The Man]

What's your worst airport delay story.

My parents are on their way to Florida today - British Airways from Heathrow.
Check in 7.15, Board 9.00, sit on plane...................
They are in World Traveller Plus (got a few bob) and 5 rows in front is Prince Andrew.
text me at 11.00, still sitting on tarmac, tech probm, plane surrounded by old bill
text me at 1.30, still sitting on tarmac, tech fixed, but now they've got a sick passenger and expect to leave at 2.30 when the sickie's luggage is off.
Ring me at 3.10 - flight abandoned, they're off to a hotel and hope to go tomorrow.

what a fkg nightmare. Sitting on a plane for six hours for nothing!!

What's the worst you've had?

I think they'll get £250 each compensation for that wont they?

 

[Napper]

Delayed 5 hours going to spain one time......was a mare at the time as was the middle of night and meant wouldnt be able to get out on the lash when i landed. Hardly bad in the grand scheme of things though

 

[sod1]

way back in 1985 we were due to fly to Alicante from Gatwick at 07.15.
we took off 3hrs late as it was but the plane developed at fault on takeoff which meant we had to circle round Sussex to release fuel then make an emergency landing with fire engines following us down the runway.

we disembarked and then had to wait in the departure area for a replacement plane, we boarded this plane, which would you believe also went "technical" and we didnt even move from the boarding gate.

after waiting for a second replacement plane we eventually took off at about 02.00 hrs the following morning.

And this was my first time on an aeroplane !

We received if i remember correctly about £25 in compensation ,quite miserly i thought at the time for all the hassle

 

[Deleted User X18H]

way back in 1985 we were due to fly to Alicante from Gatwick at 07.15.
we took off 3hrs late as it was but the plane developed at fault on takeoff which meant we had to circle round Sussex to release fuel then make an emergency landing with fire engines following us down the runway.

we disembarked and then had to wait in the departure area for a replacement plane, we boarded this plane, which would you believe also went "technical" and we didnt even move from the boarding gate.

after waiting for a second replacement plane we eventually took off at about 02.00 hrs the following morning.

And this was my first time on an aeroplane !

We received if i remember correctly about £25 in compensation ,quite miserly i thought at the time for all the hassle

Mooooooooo !!!!

 

[The Timekeeper]

Worst delay was in 1997. Due to fly to Alicante with Peach Airlines. An Airtours plane had earlier overshot the runway at Gatwick. All Gatwick flights were diverted, mine had gone to Manchester. Due to take off from Gatwick 4pm. Plane turned up at 2.30am and then went technical, bloody old Tristar!! when things were eventually sorted we took off at 5.50am. Some bloke two rows in front puked up and it went everywhere. Then the seat belt light came on with the captain annoucing heavy turbulence due to thunderstorms over France. I am a nervous flyer and reckon I shed three stone in sweat during that flight. PEACH is an abbreviation of CHEAP. Should of seen it coming really.

 

[Razi]

Being on the other side, dealing with the guests who are stuck at the airport when the plane is delayed, I've noticed some interesting things. I've had guests for Cardiff overnighted (flight postponed overnight, guests put into a hotel) and they didn't cause a fuss, and went to the bar to get drinks. I've had guests for Belfast overnighted, they didn't cause a fuss and went to the bar to get drinks.

But if a Gatwick flight overnights? I get a couple of hundred people demanding instant compensation, letters confirming exact delay times and reasons, quoting human rights legislation, the Montreal Convention/air passenger rights.. ugh.

 

[Beach Hut]

About 8 hours flying out to Cyprus a few years back. I think we got £5 compensation each

 

[Happy Seagull]

Flying back from Dublin with Air Lingus. Got over halfway back to Gatwick and then we turned around and went back to Dublin. This was due to a technical fault that apparently couldn't be fixed in Gatwick. Had a wait of an hour or so in Dublin airport (given a 4euro food voucher) and then back on the same plane to Gatwick.

 

[bhaexpress]

Flying to Santorini (an small Agean Island) about 1987. Was delayed five hours both coming and going thanks to an Italian ATC strike. Been pretty lucky since then, only had one delay and that was to Newark because it was closed by an Ice Storm. Last year coming back from Manila I got diverted from Gatwick to Heathrow because Gatwick was closed by snow. It took two hours to get steps to the aircraft at Heathrow (quite understandable actually).

 

[Cian]

Had a plane have to turn back and crash land due to problems with the undercarraige, extremely minor damage to the plane but was trasnferred to a different, bigger plane that couldn't land at the destination airport (Plymouth or Bristol, I can't remember now) so got sent to Gatwick and bussed over! Would have been quicker taking the car ferry and driving by the time we got there...

 

[Boroseagull]

26 hours last November from Delhi - LHR with Virgin [never again] Atlantic. Plane with "technical problems" & a crew out of flying time. No back up craft or aircrew kept at Delhi & no ground controller to take charge. Made Ryanair seem rather efficient.

 

[seagullsss]

about an hour delay ive been lucky

 

[cjd]

Good reminder this....!

Last year (january), had to land at Goose-bay Canada, (passerger ill). Got stuck in army barracks.total delay about 24 hours. The best part, is that we were supposed to be going to Florida, (nice and warm, about 28 Cent) and we landed in temps at -40 degrees (according to CBC news and Juan Albion who lives in Canada).
I wrote to Virgin after, but have not had a reply.......I forgot about this until this thread. We were supposed to get a ticket for half price to anywhere in the world as compensation. I know what I,m doing tomorrow morning now...LOL..!

 

[Boroseagull]

Good reminder this....!

Last year (january), had to land at Goose-bay Canada, (passerger ill). Got stuck in army barracks.total delay about 24 hours. The best part, is that we were supposed to be going to Florida, (nice and warm, about 28 Cent) and we landed in temps at -40 degrees (according to CBC news and Juan Albion who lives in Canada).
I wrote to Virgin after, but have not had a reply.......I forgot about this until this thread. We were supposed to get a ticket for half price to anywhere in the world as compensation. I know what I,m doing tomorrow morning now...LOL..!

Make sure you do just that!! We made a stand & settled for 25000 airmiles each, only problem is they are Virgin ones!

 

[The Face]

I remember when I was younger we got delayed about 9 hours in Majorca, that weren't nice but there was nothing they could do and we were treated ok in the circumstances.

The worst time was on the way back from Barcelona when our plane had technical problems, we were at Reus airport and that closed at a certain time so we were pushed from pilar to post before they eventually transferred us to the other airport in Barcelona. Even then we were given so much false information and the delay gradually got longer and longer.

Argh theres nothing worse than airport delays!

 

[Bigtomfu]

My family's name has often been synonymous with ludicrous and intangible airport delays, but the following has to take the biscuit:-

I was seven years old and had just had the holiday of a lifetime in Florida. WE were due to fly one August evening from Orlando to Gatwick. We arrive at the airport, check in and are called through to the boarding gate. Everything is fine.

Then my dad was paged by the gate staff, we wander up and make ourselves known- apparently a rather portly american gentleman has broken mine and my dads seats. They request that two of us are bumped off this full flight and wait overnight for the next flight home.

This was obviously unacceptable for a multitude of reasons- my mum was recovering from Chemotherapy, my dad was due back at work the following day and my sister and I were both under ten.

The check in staff coped with this really well and after much discussion we are all upgraded to first class. Woohoo you are probably thinking. We settle down the flight takes off, and the stewardess is just about to decork my parents chapagne.

There is an explosion and the plane lurches to the right, just as the cork flies out of the bottle, smacking an elderly lady in the head and champagne flies everywhere!

One of the four engines has just blown up and is on fire, but not to worry we are told that the onboard extinguishers have put it out but we will have to land back at Orlando. We come in to land, the runway having been spread with foam and fire engines following us down the runway. All very exciting for a seven year old!

We disembark and spend approximately six hours in a shut down and deserted Orlando airport. No food, only water at hand. They announce they have fixed the problem and we try again. Lo and behold the same problem is encountered....

We land again and wait for a further seven hours while the requisite part is flown into Miami on Concorde and shipped up to Orlando... In the meantime we have been bused to a crappy ORlando hotel for literally five hours of sleep.

After breakfast we try for a third time- but this time we last an hour out into the Atlantic... The decision is then made to divert us to JFK instead as they have a more comprehensive engineering department there... We circle out to see burning off fuel before we can make a safe landing weight. Again we get the fire engine treatment...

This time we are given a plush hotel to stay in and another plane is flown out to actually take us home.

We arrive in the same set of clothes twenty two hours late, and to cap it all off BA lose everyones luggage at JFK as they assume our extra flight is one of the days standard JFK-Gatwick services.

I loved every minute of it, but if it happened to me as a grown up I would have been spouting all sorts of EU/IATA/ABTA/WARSAW PACT directives.

Incidentally, with the compensation my parents booked us flights to Faro with BA the next summer. The same summer BA make the press for crew strikes and widespread disruption to their flights. It was our crew who started the strike!


Moral of this story is never, ever fly with me anywhere!!!!!!!