Many of you have asked...so here is the whole detailed story of my delay in London....no pictures....just the story...
Okay...maybe it wasn't so brief. I left the US on December 16th. My parents couldn't take me to the airport, so my cousin, Joanne, drove me there. Everything was good, however the flight into London was a wee bit delayed. Maybe this should have been my first clue. I arrived into London about an hour and a half late, but that was okay because I had seven hours to kill. I went to get something to eat and wasn't too worried when I saw on the sign that the flight was about an hour delayed. I went to find a computer to email the girls in Romania to let them know that they should check the flight before they came to the airport so that they didn't have to wait. There seemed to be a lot of flight cancellations this day going out of London but the weather wasn't that bad so I just thought everything would be okay. There also seemed to be a bit of pandemonium...but I didn't really understand that pandemonium until a little while later. About 45 minutes after they delayed the flight, they finally cancelled it and instructed us to go to baggage claim to collect our bags and then to head up to Level 3, Zone G to rebook a flight. Arriving down in the baggage claim, it really was mass pandemonium. There were so many people down there and so much luggage. Two of my four bags came quite quickly. The other two didn't come and didn't come. There was another girl down there and we were kind of working together. She lived in London and had phone contact with people that were helping here to book another flight online. After two hours of waiting for baggage, she told me that there was only one or two seats left on the flight for Sunday (the 19th). I decided to abandon my luggage and go upstairs and try to rebook my flight. My luggage would catch up with me later. I headed upstairs to Level 3, Zone G only to find out that by 8:00pm they were not rebooking anymore flights, even though it said on the paper they were handing out that they were rebooking until 10:30pm. They instructed us to go back downstairs to arrivals where there is a hotel desk and try to find someplace to stay for the night.
I stood in line at the hotel desk for about 2 hours. The line was quite long and moving quite slowly. I decided that I needed to be in contact with people, so I bought 24 hours worth of internet for 10 pounds (which is about $15). I started talking with this guy right in front of me, telling him my case, and he realized that I was online. He asked if we wanted to work together since he had a phone and I had internet and we could try to find something online. He had actually been stranded since the day before and knew of a place and just needed a phone number. So, I found the number, he called, and he booked two rooms. He called a taxi and we arrived at the Oakley Court right after midnight. Okay, so I lied...Two pictures... This is where I stayed the first night...and the second, third and fourth....
Nice castle, huh? Imagine that it is winter time and only about 6 inches of snow...
The next morning I went back to the airport. I really needed to try to get rebooked on a flight, since you couldn't do anything online and the hotline number British Airways had set up was so back logged you couldn't even get through to anyone...just a recording. The airport was a disaster. I stood in line for a long time, but, got absolutely nowhere. They stopped rebooking again and on top of everything it started to snow (This closed the airport down for two days!!). They advised everyone to leave the airport and find someplace to stay. Well, since I had already stayed at the Oakley Court and knew how to get there, etc..I decided to go back. When I went to dinner that night at the hotel restaurant, they asked if I had a voucher. "Voucher?" I asked. There were others there that had been sent by British Airways that had vouchers. Well, I needed to get on this list because this hotel was expensive and I was quickly going to be draining my bank account. So, I went back to the airport the next morning around 5 am with two purposes. One, to get hotel vouchers and to try to get the rest of my luggage. I didn't succeed at either of those tasks. I did however, but a claim in for my luggage and I was back at the hotel by 8 am. I stayed two more nights at the Oakley and then decided enough was enough.
I went back to the airport on Tuesday morning (the 21st). They had been telling people to not come to the airport unless you had a confimed flight, but I was advised that they were just telling people this and to go anyways. I knew that there was a flight going out to Bucharest that afternoon and I was determined to get on that flight. I finally got up to a desk to talk to someone and they said that it was already way overbooked and it was blocked for standby until three hours before the flight and I should come back around 2 pm. I walked around the departures for awhile, picked up a free sandwich and some free water. British Airways had quite a few customer service people just roaming around. I spoke to a guy and he called someone and he said he could get me a flight on Sunday, the 26th. Seriously!! I walked away from him still determined to get on standby that day. I spoke with another lady and she suggested that I at least get booked on the flight on teh 26th because it was at least something. So, I went back to the guy and told him to book me. I then decided to go downstairs to arrivals and see about my missing luggage. This was a pretty stupid mistake because now they had airport people posted at every door and every elevator and they weren't letting people back up to the departures level without a confirmed boarding pass. Now my only choice was to go back to the hotel and wait it out until the 26th. However, I wasn't going back to the Oakley because that place was way out of my budget! In the airport, at this point, they were offering free wifi, so I got online and found a place that was about 90 pounds cheaper than the Oakley Court.
I arrived at the White House Bed and Breakfast that afternoon, December 21st. I booked myself two nights because I thought that maybe I could still try to get on an earlier flight. I got an email that night from Mark and Rebecca Essenberg (they work with me in Romania). They said that they were going to get on a flight the next day into London because the first leg of their flight into London the next day was already cancelled. I was getting company!! They arrived into Heathrow around 11am and by 12:30pm they were booked and at the White House Bed and Breakfast. They convinced me we needed to get out and do something and I was so glad they came because we went to Windsor and visited Windsor Castle (the queen wasn't in that day, though). We had a nice dinner watched some Survivor and they went to bed early because they needed to get to the airport early the next day.
That day, December 23rd, I decided to venture out by myself and to see if I could find a grocery store. I have a microwave and a refrigerator in my room so I didn't want to eat my meals out and try to save a little money since I had already spent a ton. I found a lovely little grocery store about a mile down the road, bought my groceries and went back to my room. Yesterday and today, I've pretty much been a homebody. Just waiting for my flight. I finally get to leave tomorrow. The day after Christmas. I am anxiously awaiting to go home! British Airways has promised to pay the expenses. Let's see if they follow through!!
