I made a spur of the moment decision to go to Rundon for Xmas because most of the people I knew in Muenchen were going away and I didn't want to be homesick all on my lonesome (oh, woe is me). Now, because I'd left it late, flights were expensive or non-existent. So that's when I decided to buy tickets with Easyjet. I have flown budget airlines before and said *No more* afterwards, but it was either go budget or pay €400+ for a flight. Via Helsinki.
Everything started off okay. I was booked to fly out from Munich at 10pm and arrive at 11pm at Gatwick. The snow had pretty much melted on my end (amazing but true!) and Gatwick was completely open! I got to MUC nice and early, coincidentally ran into Chris so we went off and got bowls of soup together, and since I already had my boarding pass and no bags to check in, I went straight to gate for boarding.
While sitting around and doing my Posh Wordfind (fanks Laulita!), there was a message on a loudspeaker saying the flight was delayed an hour. Hmmmm....not ideal but I could deal with that, I thought as I purchased from duty-free vodka. An hour later, everyone was getting twitchy as we got another announcement saying it has been delayed ANOTHER HOUR. But I tried to bear it goodnaturedly - I mean, what other options did I have?
Now, Easyjet have a one piece of handluggage policy. I had my Garfield bag and in my hands I held a plastic bag with my HTC, passport, purse, hat, and gloves. The Easyhet woman told me my plastic bag consisted of two pieces of handluggage and I needed to repack it. I was a bit *WTF?!* but as I watched someone try to cram her laptop into her roller, I put the hat and gloves on, the passport and phone into my pocket, and my purse into Garfield, locked it, and strolled onto the plane. The flight was fairly uneventful other than the kid next to me trying to use me as a resting pole, and surreptitiously turning on TeeCee to look up Soph's address for the UK landing card.
The trouble restarted when we arrived at Gatwick. Coming in two hours late, there was a bit of a backlog of planes looking for a gate to pull into. That's okay, I could deal with that. We ended up waiting for about 15 minutes when we pulled into a gate. We the waited at the gate. And waited. And waited. There was an announcment saying that there was a flight of stairs outside the plane but no one there to open the doors. Then the electricity to the plane was switched off. At this point, even the staff had a mini freak out at the thought of us sitting on the tarmac for an indeterminate amount of time. Something in the plane was turned off and lights came back, thank god. All in all, we waited for about an hour before being allowed off and into the terminal.
At this point, I had a bit of luck as I was sitting close to the front of the plane, and as a non UK/EU resident, I went to a queue that had no other people in it and got through passport control quick-snap. This is when the trouble re-started. I'd been fiddling with my lock to get my purse out so I could get money out to buy a Gatwick express ticket to Victoria. It wouldn't open. I tried and tried and tried...NOTHING!! As I mentally cursed Easyjet for making me repack my bag, I figured I'd just accept it and ask Customs to crack open the lock. Except there was no one at Customs. I waited. And waited. In the end, I just went through the gate and asked the security guy if he had something we could use to crack it open. No joy. He suggested I go out and ring the Information Desk - the desk not being manned because it was close to 2am at this point. I rang them and they suggested I go to a company called Excess Baggage and ask if they had tools for breaking it open. They didn't, and suggested I go to Oversized baggage pick up and ask them. I went to the Oversized Baggage and asked them. They said I should go to Excess Baggage, or failing that, RING INFORMATION. I gave up and decided to walk to the train section and, finding an empty bench, started to sequentially go through the combinations of my lock and call Soph to explain the further delay. Then a guy for the Gatwick express came along and asked if he could help me. I explained the situation and, lo and behold! he pulled out his keys, picked a bar from them and used it to jimmy open the lock. WHY THE HELL COULDN'T ANYONE ELSE DO THAT?!?!?
My purse liberated, I bought a ticket to Victoria, and boarded the train. Having been held up at Gatwick, I ended up missing a bus to Soph's place, and ended up boarding a bus at 3:15am, arriving at her place around 4am, cold, cranky, and pretty fucking tired. But I will not let this wreck my time! NO I WILL NOT!!! As far as I see it, it can only get better from here. Merry Xmas everyone!
4 comments:
Many comments for me to make as a wearied European traveler.
Most of the stuff you mention is not Easyjet's fault. When compared to Ryanair, they are way better. When compared to BA, my personal opinion is that they are on par - but that may more or less represent how shit BA can be. Let's just say, British mentality plays a huge part.
Flight delays departing Munich are not Easyjet's fault (unless something is wrong with the actual plane). That is airport traffic control and not under any carrier's influence.
One piece of hand luggage rule. Second nature to me now with all the traveling I've done, but it's a rule you learn with experience. Some airlines are lax, budget ones are not. I often squish everything (handbag, laptop, clothes) into the one bag (which I ensure passes carry-on dimensions/weight restrictions), go through security and then remove my handbag/laptop bag to carry it more comfortably. Again, not really Easyjet's fault, but similar rules get enforced by airlines like Tiger. No one is given exception - you are all plebs.
The delay at disembarking at Gatwick. All Gatwick's fault but also influenced by the backlog induced by the recent weather conditions.
Unavailable staff is always an explanation for not getting you off the plane. It is annoying. I would say it has to do with a combination of being short-staffed and lazy, nonchalant British mentality.
Getting through customs. I am surprised you got through so quickly. Many times, I've gotten off the plane only to queue for about 30-60 mins for my passport check. Being non EU/UK is usually reason for us NOT getting preference. The usual scene for me is to watch all the UK residents be processed at 3x the rate of the foreigners. Then all the immigration officers knock off work and dont bother coming over to process us despite seeing a long queue. Worse, some give us attitude.
No staff at British customs. This is perfectly normal, I thought I told you that. As much as the Brits go on about protecting their borders, you don't really see it ever being implemented. That is why I could bring in meat pies (or anything really - e.g jamon from Spain) from Oz. No one cares. I cant even recall ever seeing a sniffer dog. You waiting at customs - no British customs officer could be f&*ked at that hour. If I was there with you, I would've told you not to bother. Ppl complain about Oz customs all the time cos we are one of few countries which enforce such strict rules.
Airport staff sending you round in circles and giving you wrong information. You could class this as a general British tendency of 'passing of the buck'. No one gives a shit, no one wants to help, no one f&*king cares. It happens all the time - chatting to banks, mobile phone providers, electricity providers, ISPs (damn you tiscali), HMRC.. yes HMRC - ppl who cant get our taxes right.
So yes. I've had my rant and now I feel kinda angry. Not really Easyjet's fault. Hehehehe
What a pointless blog entry! You say easyjet had a 1 hand bag policy - then you rant that you had erm! 2 bag...
WTF is the rant all about - Do try and have a good Christmas you poor poor thing...
hahaha...i never ONCE had a good experience at a british airport-pretty stock standard really. welcome to UK travel! I could have written dozens of these entries. my favourite expression that i developed when I was in the uk was, "if you dont laugh, you'll cry"-very true.
this is why england is going down the tube really fast. efficiency? accountability? people actually doing their job? hell no. A country cannot function like this. It's a cess pit. I ended up doing far less travel as a result-pretty much so i didn't have to go to a british airport-absolute nightmare.
having said that, tiger airways in melbourne is just as horrendous.
You really had a bad trip to Gatwick. I hope it got better after you went to Soph's place.
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