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Thread: Travel woes

  1. #1
    Craftsman zoiksy's Avatar
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    Travel woes

    Just about to leave the UK, then have an aborted take off from East Midlands airport.

    So, as I currently sit slowly cooking on a rather too warm plane, I wonder what other travel woes the forum has suffered...?

  2. #2
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    I travelled with Easy Jet a few years ago.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptainSlow View Post
    I travelled with Easy Jet a few years ago.
    You should try Ryanair matey.

  4. #4
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    5hrs at the Eurotunnel prior to the Belgian GP- ironic as I live about 2 miles from the terminal
    Then another 4hrs on the return leg

  5. #5
    Craftsman zoiksy's Avatar
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    God don't say that R airlines name! Worst I have ever flown and by a long shot!

    Currently "flying" with Jet2, and East Midlands airport had a been a pleasant experience up to this point. Bearing in mind we usually fly through Luton, it is better by a long way!

  6. #6
    Craftsman Kris's Avatar
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    2 hour delay at Heathrow, followed by a 6 hour delay in Munich last Sunday en route to Poland

  7. #7
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    We've just had a 26 hour delay at Hewanorra airport and tried to claim for the delay from American Express insurance which we thought should have been £100 each but rejected because it only pays out on receipted out of pocket expenses,bit difficult that when the airport was shut once the plane had started boarding.
    No compensation for the 6 hours spent in a hot airport queuing,3 hours return trip in a hot minibus and an extra days annual leave lost.
    Still waiting 2 weeks later to hear back from BA on our EU delay claim.

  8. #8
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Well, I've experienced most travellers problems; 24 hour delays, flight diversions, lost luggage, aborted take offs and landings and so on. I have learnt to a) relax, b) carry a good book and c) never fly with Ryanair.

    It's annoying when it's my own fault though. My Colombian and Cuban visas are in different passports. A few weeks ago when flying to Havana I forgot this and turned up (late) at the airport with only the one for Cuba. Not my finest moment, it took a lot of sweet talking at immigration to convince them to let me leave Colombia and then I had to get the other passport brought over to Havana for me.

    I hope the wait isn't too long matey.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  9. #9
    There’s a saying that ‘everyone has a book in them’ and if so, mine would be about this topic.

    Not that I’m particularly unlucky, but I’ve done a lot of travelling and so the the incidents rack up proportionally - as well as exponentially the further you leave the first world.

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  10. #10
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    Suffice it to say that I'll never, EVER fly with that shower of weaselshit RyanAir again.

    Last time I did I was going to Perpignan but they decided to drop us at Nimes instead. As we were coming through baggage reclaim, the Ryan Air jokers were shutting the shutters on the desk and running - literally - out of the terminal.

    We eventually talked a local coach company to come out, pick up a planeful of people and drop them at each hotel in Nimes that had rooms. I didn't bother.

    It had its upsides though - very much so. Ended up discovering Montpellier the next day on the train to P'nan. Better still, ended up in a back street bar packed with lads from 2nd Regiment of the Foreign Legion. Now that was a proper party.

  11. #11
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    Other budget airlines like Jet2 and Monarch are much better than Ryanair, and once you've added on bags and reserved seats etc, they're sometimes cheaper as well

  12. #12
    Master draftsmann's Avatar
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    I regularly use Ryanair and Easyjet and find that while they have upped their game somewhat, the traditional airlines have gone to ratshit - at least on the domestic/shorthaul bus routes I travel every couple of weeks.

    Case in point, last December I was on a BA flight from the Isle of Man to London City. To be fair, there was a major air traffic problem in the south of England, but we actually got to within sight of City Airport and circled the Thames Estuary a couple of times, before being told that we would have to be flown back to the IoM "to refuel", after which we would be flown back to City (they never did explain how it was "safer" to fly the length of the country with apparently all air traffic control systems down than to land in London in daylight and clear visibility). And of course the bunch of scrofulous pudenda lied and unceremoniously tipped us off the plane, which they then used for their next scheduled flight, and quite literally abandoned a planeful of passengers on the IoM with no staff present and no assistance whatsoever. Ordinarily I would have just gone to our flat in Douglas pausing only at the curry house en route, but Mrs Draftsmann was on a train from Leeds to London and being a country girl needs her hand held when daahn the Smoke, so I and the office on my behalf frantically rang around to try to find another flight. The only flight available was to Manchester, so I took a £280 minicab to our London address, with bill sent to BA accompanied by a suitably vitriolic letter, copulate you very much.

    That said, having clocked up what must be an average of 30-40 flights a year over the last 20 years, on the whole I've had very few real disasters. These days I no longer travel with a loaded hip flask but iPhone, iPad, iPod with around 12000 tracks on it and a portable charger for the i-stuff means I can survive most things.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by zoiksy View Post
    God don't say that R airlines name! Worst I have ever flown and by a long shot!

    Currently "flying" with Jet2, and East Midlands airport had a been a pleasant experience up to this point. Bearing in mind we usually fly through Luton, it is better by a long way!
    Just back from a week in Cyprus flying out of Luton, awful experience. I thought Stansted was bad but Luton seems keen to drain every penny and every ounce of pleasure out of its passengers! Landed at 1am and took an hour to get out of the airport, shocking stuff.

  14. #14
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    In the mid 90s I was on an AA flight out of Dallas to San Diego changing from London. It had total and utter power failure being backed off the terminal for take off. I took the 20 odd hours it took to get from London to San Diego as an acceptable swap for that failure happening on the ground....

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by zoiksy View Post
    Just about to leave the UK, then have an aborted take off from East Midlands airport.

    So, as I currently sit slowly cooking on a rather too warm plane, I wonder what other travel woes the forum has suffered...?
    Had an aborted landing at Leeds-Bradford a couple of years ago - we were only a few feet of the ground when the engines went full throttle again. Came in for a second go and thumped it down. Cross winds were over the threshold for landing apparently but just under for the second go.

  16. #16
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    Aborted landings - due to undercarriage not fully extended, bad weather (3 times round before a very scary landing), almost hitting the A/C in front...... turning round due to engine failure, technical difficulties, bad weather at destination; having a child in the "wrong" country when the ash cloud comes down, red cross blankets at St Pancreas when Heathrow closed before Christmas one year, hijacking on a train in the Andes and a stand off with the Peruvian Army - to be honest so long as i arrive safely these days anything else is a bonus!!!!!

  17. #17
    Grand Master mart broad's Avatar
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    Back in the day i flew a lot and my worst experience was taking off from Mexico City on a small domestic plane and as we got airborne watching oil streaming out of one of the engines to say my rear squeaked is an understatement we got down ok.As an aside just got back from a break in Gran Canaria and flew Jet2 and must say it was faultless both ways, my third experience with them and far better than either of the other two budgets or indeed BA who seem to be plumbing new depths.
    Last edited by mart broad; 11th May 2019 at 10:29.

  18. #18
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    I don't drive and but one of my jobs takes me all other the country occasional further afield.
    I was working away and the client was responsible for booking travel, there policy was to fly you to your nearest airport, I explained that I just wanted to get back to the UK and didn't care which airport I landed at, but got the policy is the policy line.
    After working away for a month I boarded the first plane with no knowledge of my connecting flight, then the best part of 8 hours was spent in Turkey awaiting details for my next flight, an email came through I was off to Amsterdam for a connecting flight after landing and no confirmation I ring the office to be told they haven't been able to book a flight to Bournemouth so will be putting me up in a hotel until they could, I managed to book my self on to a flight later that day back to Southampton.

    Had some nightmares with coaches being late and missing connections missed the last train from Ripon after work so had to get a series of busses finally ended up in Birmingham after several changes and then went to Oxford before London and on to Bournemouth something like 16 hours to get home.

  19. #19
    Master yumma's Avatar
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    Both ski trip related...

    Worst was travelling back from Moutiers on the Snow Train, got to Lille and the train stopped, sat outside Lille in a queue for several hours, found out there had been a lorry fire in the Channel Tunnel, train went back to Paris Euro Disney, sat there a while, went to Paris Gard Nord got off train with all luggage & 2 sets of skis and stood in a queue to no where for 5 hours, got put back on train and taken to Euro Disney at 10pm for a nights sleep, up and back on the train the following morning and finally back to Blighty. All in 24 hours of hell.

    Other was flying in to Innsbruck, low cloud coming into land, just got under the cloud almost at roof top level, pilot had slightly missed the runway, gave it full thrust, stomach turn upside down, poop came out and flew on to Munich, spent 5 hours on a coach back to Innsbruck and then transferred on to St Anton. Not the greatest start to a holiday.

    But no one died and all pretty trivial really and cannot be helped.

  20. #20
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    Coming back from turkey a few years ago got to the airport knackered after a long coach journey and just wanting to get on our 8 pm flight spent the night at the airport trying to sleep on a 4 ft long metal bench I’m 6 ft1, plane arrived at 8 am the next day

  21. #21
    Grand Master GraniteQuarry's Avatar
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  22. #22
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    I use EasyJet for flying to Spain. It is a 2 hr 20 min journey without the frills. However the cost of two return flights averages about £180 or £45 per person per flight and that is pretty good value. If you moan about that then you will moan about anything.

    When I fly long haul I opt for the full frills package in the big spacious seats spaced well apart with the booze and snacks included. However the price is horrendous but it is my choice, so no moans from me.

    Air travel is usually efficient and good value.

    If you are delayed, the compensation comes in and it is more than fair.

  23. #23
    Used to take 100+ flights a year for work. Highlights include:

    Sitting on an old Aeroflot plane (string luggage rack and several seats without upholstery) in some godforsaken Eastern European airport waiting to take off. And watching the rainbows formed by the aviation fuel leaking out of, and streaming over, the wing surface and dripping onto the tarmac. Luckily they were serving booze.

    Landing at a tiny airport in Northern Scandinavia somewhere and stepping off the plane to be greeted by signs saying 'Beware Of Bears'. I didn't really know what to do as I had forgotten to pack any anti-bear kit (#sarcasm).

    Usual array of delays, windy landings and a**e-tightening aborted takeoffs and landings.

    Highlights include being stuck in Amsterdam for four days on expenses when that Icelandic volcano closed UK airspace.

  24. #24
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    Air India 2007.........got to the airport well in time for departure, for some reason they were rushing us through checkin.......got to the other side to be told of a 6hr delay........ 6hr delay became a 3hr delay. When people were making noises they decided to rush us on the plane....... Btw it was 30 degrees outside. When we got on the plane they could not put the ac on as the plane was still being repaired, it felt like we were in a hostage situation as they would not let us off the plane. Mothers were stippin their babies down just to try and keep them cool.........no compensation whatsoever.

    Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

  25. #25
    Grand Master hogthrob's Avatar
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    Luton Airport is an undeclared circle of Hell. I'd rather drive an extra two hours to Heathrow than use Luton.

    Conversely, Southend Airport is the best 'London' airport. Or at least it was, while only EasyJet were there. RyanArse are moving in as well, so things might go downhill.

  26. #26
    Master jukeboxs's Avatar
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    No flying woes - although I'm not a regular flyer (bad for the environment). As bad as it gets for me was being stationary for 3 hours on the motorway while they dealt with a multiple-vehicle collision.

  27. #27
    Ryanair cancelled my evening flight out of Birmingham to Malaga - gave us a replacement for two days later... found next morning one at my expense from cardiff in order to lose as least as possible from the break planned.

    Funnily this comedy of errors began with monarch going tits up and we rebooked with Ryan air - the monarch liquidators had offered charter flights to/from Garrick not Birmingham - so we *had* to use Ryan air....

    ..which of course made it a bit tricky knowing what to claim back on the travel insurance... seeing as the original flight had to in essence be rebooked twice
    Last edited by Xantiagib; 14th May 2019 at 08:49.

  28. #28
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    I spent 2 days in Gran Canaria airport in mid-September 2001 whilst the world worked out if people could carry on flying...

    That was fun.

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