New definition of FOG

Time to blog about the beginning of my trip to Deutschland.

December 21st 2006:
I left my flat at around 2:00pm to catch a bus to Glouster Green, the central bus station in Oxford. Once I got there, I hopped onto the Heathrow bus. After a good hour and twenty minute ride, we arrived at the airport but something very strange was going on. A fog hit the entire country of England and every inter-England flight was cancelled, 100% of British Airways flights were cancelled and 60% of all international flights were cancelled. Lucky for me, my Lufthansa flight was still on-schedule, but flights from LHR to FRA before and after mine were ALL cancelled. I got off the bus and walked into a mess of people. It was raining, cold and everyone was grumpy. The airport was not letting ANYONE inside. About 20,000 people were already inside stranded because of delayed or cancelled flights. It was now a security hazard and tons of cops and firemen and camera crews were everywhere. At the entrance, airport employees were all handed updated flight information lists on the hour. They were only letting people in with children and if your flight was boarding within an hour.

I got to the airport an hour early and had to wait in a huge holding tent that had been erected. Inside there were flimsy white plastic chairs and empty coffee cups littered on the floor. After about 40 minutes of waiting inside and outside the tent, I became very embittered, frustrated and worried. It’s weird to know that your flight was still going to fly even in the horrible foggy conditions… I panicked a bit, thought about death you know :( All the while, BBC news crews were taking video of the chaos that surrounded me, I may have been on International TV who knows. So after talking with my mommy for a good 40 mins on the phone, I strategically decided to try different guises in an attempt to at least get INSIDE the freakin airport. I played the ‘Oh I’m scared and I don’t know English role’, the ‘I’m sultry and need to get inside role’, the ‘cute, smiley and flirtatious role’, the ‘disgruntled angry, time constrained role’ the ‘woman to woman role’, the ‘I have to go pee role’…. EVERYTHING. I spoke to about 25 different airport employees in the vain attempt to break one of them in letting me pass through. It was ridiculous. You know the British, no one had the same information and there is no shared information. But finally, my flight was called as being able to board and I was allowed to enter the airport. However, getting on my flight was another story.

Inside the airport, big beefy security guards blocked another entrance to the airport check-in counters. Through the glass doors, I saw a sea of people waiting in queues. There were so many people I couldn’t tell where the line ended and where it began. All I knew was that I had 20 minutes to get on my flight before it left without me. Again I tried to get in this other set of doors to no avail. After speaking with some of the employees though, it seemed like more information was getting ready to pass, and that all the flights were delayed anyway so I was NOT going to miss mine. Okay, so I waited another 40 minutes and finally, a man wearing a neon green coat came around with a new list. I begged him to find my flight on there and let me through. It was on there!!!! Flight to Frankfurt, Germany boarding NOW. But, instead of letting me through he was so quick to pass me off, I literally had to beg him to walk me directly to the police and guards and additional airport personnel and verbally instruct them to LET ME PASS! Finally, I was able to get in. I had to cut in front of oh I don’t know 1,000 people to find an open check-in desk and get my boarding pass. Smart me went right to the first-class booth. The man checking me in said RUN to the gate!!!! AHHHH it was Home Alone in London!

I ran to the security checks and almost got through when a gift I bought for Nicolas caused a bit of sensation amongst the guards. It was a package of 3 cans that contained drinking games. It was going to have to be opened and swiped with a radiation detector. Ugh, worst possible timing huh. It passed. But then there was another checkpoint for carry-on bags. I had two. You could only have one. The first lady said no way, I’d have to check it. But I saw a smiling woman next to her and she reassured me that I didn’t have to check it. She said stay calm and be smart, and she put the one bag inside the other…. I was that stupid that I couldn’t figure this out myself, travel does this to you. Thank god for Boswells’ giant white plastic bags. Obviously, it was now this huge lumping massive bag, clearly not going to be able to fit into the overhead. But, they let me pass :) I then ran to my gate. When I got there, there was a big line and people yelling at the employees. I stood there for a second and realized why they weren’t getting on the plane. They all had tickets for earlier flights that were cancelled and were begging and bribing anyone to let them onboard. I now had the golden ticket!!! I jumped to the front, and was able to get on the plane. Hooray!

Because of all this drama, running and worrying, I wanted to definitely make sure I was on the right plane. I asked this nice, young, hot steward, “Is this plane flying to Frankfurt”? He said “ No, we are flying to Berlin”….. my mouth dropped and then he said, “Just kidding”. Ummmmmm yeah, NOT FUNNY. The plane was really empty, mostly because of the hold ups outside the airport. We were delayed another hour after this waiting for more people to board. They reasoned that if our plane was able to fly out, best believe it be filled to capacity. Smart. I was lucky though, I had an aisle seat in the front row and was able to ask for water, soda and whatever I needed before the actual drink cart rolled through :) They even gave out Christmas chocolates as a good gesture.

So, we ended up flying out and everything after that was fine. I later learned the true reason why my flight was able to fly out while 100% of inter-England flights and 60% of international flights weren’t. My entire flight was filled with passengers needing connecting flights, some through different airlines. Because of the cost benefit analysis conducted by Lufthansa, instead of refunding thousands, booking hotels, and dealing with the wrath of lost profits from other airlines, they let us fly. Safe weather or not, they let us fly. Hmmmmm, makes you think.

More entries to follow… x