On Monday at 1am (same time as here) our Thomson flight was due to take off from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. This was going to be bad enough as it was, getting us home at around 5.30am to Manchester. What happened next was absolutely awful.
We sat there, anxious to get away from a very quiet airport for almost an hour sat on the runway in an uncomfortably hot cylinder. Calculations of car-parking charges, awaiting taxis/friends/relatives/train times etc.. when the pilot at last came over and told us one escape chute, opertated by a door opening, didn't indicate it was on. It didn't indicate it was off either. He then told us that the only way the plane could take off in that condition was for 59 passengers to leave the plane! What would you have done?
They orgnaised the best alternative, which was to have the 59 'volunteers' to get off the plane and catch the adjacent plane headed for Bournemouth. This meant they would arrive in the UK but needed a coach back from there to Manchester. I can only empathise with those on the half-empty Bournemouth-bound plane unable to take off anywhere near their scheduled time until they had an extra 59 passengers board their flight.
Only a few souls volunteered and nowhere near 59. They then told us we had to get off the plane. What they did was frankly terrible. They didn't need to de-board us but assumed this would speed up the numbers. They also told us a complete lie. they put us up against the clock. They needed something like another 34 volunteers in the next 15 minutes or the Manchester plane would not be taking off and the rest of the passengers will be stuck here for at least 14 hours! Some had babies and small children with them, no milk or food and the shops had all closed. This pre-empted some to take the risk and head for the Bournemouth plane. Some passengers applauded these people, all of us now wanting more to volunteer if it didn't include us.
Eventually, 57 people had agreed to go through the awfulness of being flown 300 miles from their destination airport and luggage and the requirement of a coach back home. I suggested that now their were fewer passengers, fewer air-waitresses were needed so two of them should volunteer. But the vapid 'rules and regulations' mantra was thrown at us. How come they were regarded as sacrosanct and it was only a proportion of the plane passengers who had to make this sacrifice?
All in all, it was a terrible time, stuck in a closed airport, having to re-board a plane and sit in arbitrarily chosen places (allocated by the most stupid air-waitresses I've ever come across) as rows of seats nearest the malfunctioning (properly functioning?) door were taped off.
We eventually took off at 4.50 am on a scheduled 1.10 am flight.
It was delightful, as I'm sure you can all imagine.
We sat there, anxious to get away from a very quiet airport for almost an hour sat on the runway in an uncomfortably hot cylinder. Calculations of car-parking charges, awaiting taxis/friends/relatives/train times etc.. when the pilot at last came over and told us one escape chute, opertated by a door opening, didn't indicate it was on. It didn't indicate it was off either. He then told us that the only way the plane could take off in that condition was for 59 passengers to leave the plane! What would you have done?
They orgnaised the best alternative, which was to have the 59 'volunteers' to get off the plane and catch the adjacent plane headed for Bournemouth. This meant they would arrive in the UK but needed a coach back from there to Manchester. I can only empathise with those on the half-empty Bournemouth-bound plane unable to take off anywhere near their scheduled time until they had an extra 59 passengers board their flight.
Only a few souls volunteered and nowhere near 59. They then told us we had to get off the plane. What they did was frankly terrible. They didn't need to de-board us but assumed this would speed up the numbers. They also told us a complete lie. they put us up against the clock. They needed something like another 34 volunteers in the next 15 minutes or the Manchester plane would not be taking off and the rest of the passengers will be stuck here for at least 14 hours! Some had babies and small children with them, no milk or food and the shops had all closed. This pre-empted some to take the risk and head for the Bournemouth plane. Some passengers applauded these people, all of us now wanting more to volunteer if it didn't include us.
Eventually, 57 people had agreed to go through the awfulness of being flown 300 miles from their destination airport and luggage and the requirement of a coach back home. I suggested that now their were fewer passengers, fewer air-waitresses were needed so two of them should volunteer. But the vapid 'rules and regulations' mantra was thrown at us. How come they were regarded as sacrosanct and it was only a proportion of the plane passengers who had to make this sacrifice?
All in all, it was a terrible time, stuck in a closed airport, having to re-board a plane and sit in arbitrarily chosen places (allocated by the most stupid air-waitresses I've ever come across) as rows of seats nearest the malfunctioning (properly functioning?) door were taped off.
We eventually took off at 4.50 am on a scheduled 1.10 am flight.
It was delightful, as I'm sure you can all imagine.
