Oh crap, we're going to miss departing on the cruise?!
As anyone who has every had to scramble to make a connecting flight you may enjoy this tale. Or it may inspire fear inducing PTSD. I'm not one to judge, I'll just relate our experience. It is a long read, but way too entertaining, after the fact, to not share.
One of our daughters graduated University this year and as a present she decided on was a trip to Europe, including going with us, which we were thrilled at. We love spending time with both Adriane and Rebecca. They were wonderful travel companions, we would definitely do this again. However, the start of the vacation was filled with more fun and excitement than we needed.
We were departing out of Grand Junction, CO. Yes, Grand Junction, despite us not normally being anywhere around that area. Why? Well the whole flight was Grand Junction to Phoenix to London to Barcelona. If we would have taken the exact same flight group starting from Phoenix it would have been a couple of hundred dollars more a person. Yes, you read that right, it was cheaper to add one more hop, by a significant amount. It wasn't too hard to adjust travel plans to end up close to Grand Junction.
So the week of the trip I'm getting ready, making sure everything is still in order and I pull up our Flight and find that our departing flight is now scheduled for 2 hours earlier. I had received a notification of a flight change a few days earlier, but all it stated was that our arrival, upon returning to the states, was now one minute later. Never got anything about an earlier departure. A mad scramble of messaging and changing travel plans and everyone one is on the same page for getting to the airport at the earlier time.
Getting to the airport, no issues. Getting checked in, no issues. Waiting to depart, let the issues begin. First the flight was delayed 20 minutes. Then 40, then an hour. Finally we start to board 1.5 hours late. It is a good thing we got moved up 2 hours or we would have missed our connecting flight in Phoenix, and that was the most important one not to miss for the whole trip.
After arriving in Phoenix, we picked up some food for dinner, and then went to wait for our flight to Europe. Yay! Its all looking good now! Then we wait. Our flight was delayed and we left a little late, somewhere around 20- 40 minutes. The flight crew, knowing that there were tight connections in Heathrow, promised to try and make up some time. Of course the airline didn't provide us with a large amount of layover to begin with, at only an hour and a half. They did make up a little time and we arrived with almost our full hour and a half to get to the next plane. Granted, since this is an international flight again, they close the security point at 30 minutes before.
The plane lands, we taxi in, get close to the terminals. This took 20 minutes by itself. Heathrow is a freaking huge airport. And then we sat. And sat... And sat. Eventually the captain gets on the intercom. "I didn't want to share anything until I knew the full story...". Not a good way to start. Turns out the gangway at the gate we were supposed to deboard at was having issues and wouldn't move and we were being rerouted to another gate. We pulled up to the gate and waited. Why aren't people getting off of the plan? See the theme going on here? The gangway at this gate refused to move too. They were about to send us to another gate again when they finally got it working. Now we had 35 minutes to get to our flight to Barcelona.
Moving as quick as the crowd of people and connecting train would allow us, we got to the security checkpoint. Scan boarding pass, "Return to Customer Service". Scan again, same thing. They others got the same message. Oh crap, we've missed our flight. Are we going to miss our cruise departure tomorrow? We walk to the customer service counter, and follow the line, pass the snake, around the corner, down the hallway. We end up standing in line for 3 hours before making it to the counter. We're a little worried as there is only one more flight for the night and it shows as full online.
Luckily we got some of the last seats on the last flight. By this time we were all tired, with close to 2 days of being awake. The two girls, who are night owls, had not slept except for a couple of cat naps since night before our flights because they had to be up so early to leave. Marsha and I had slightly more sleep but not by much. To top it off, we also found out that our original connecting flight had been delayed by 35 minutes, so they easily could have let us make it.
But wait, there's more in the Heathrow Escapade. The gate that we were departing from was ground level. This means that to board the plane we waited in line, got boarded on a bus, and were bussed out to the plane. This was not a short drive either. Since we were one of the last ones added to the plane, we were on the last bus. Out we go, and what do we see? A full line of buses, all the ones that left before, full of people still waiting to unload. Another 20 minute passes, I swear this must be Airport Standard Waiting Time. The buses then, without diverging a passenger, start driving away. Back to the terminal we go, Off the bus and back to wait in line to get out of the gate back into the airport. Here they finally tell us what is going on. The plane was having mechanical issues and they were trying to find a new plane for us. Here have $10 in food vouchers for the inconvenience. Oh and we may not be flying out tonight.
At this point we were seriously trying to figure out if one of us was cursed or just the group as a whole. Did some walking, some waiting and finally got a new gate assignment, 2 down from where we were before. Guess what, more waiting, again. We are boarded back on buses and away the bus flies. To. The. Same. Airplane. Really?! Supposedly they have fixed the issue that kept it from flying out and now we're good to go. My confidence level in them, not so much.
It all worked out though, and we arrived to Barcelona a little later than expected (1 am vs 7pm). The city was still bustling, the weather perfect, and one of the best trips we've taken had begun. If bad things are going to happen, at least we got them out of the way early.
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