Traveling has upsides and downsides, which are rarely more keenly demonstrated than on Tuesday. After much of Britain was hit with significant snowfall (the most in the past 18 years) in the last 48 hours, Southampton airport was closed that morning. Their website stated this, even for some hours after it had been reopened (as I was more reliably informed by phoning them). Not knowing whether my flight was running or not, I decided to take the Cat and cab to So’ton in case. I entered an airport in disarray – most flights were cancelled, a few were delayed, there were people all over the place and a queue as long as the terminal trying to reschedule cancelled flights. After a minor battle to check in, I had time to down a coffee, a sandwich, and start on a pint before being called to board.
We stood on a bus for ages. Then we boarded the plane. Then we waited. And waited. Then we were told we were waiting even longer for de-icing. We waited some more. We were subsequently informed that the flight was cancelled due to the weather, so we’d be moved to the 18:15 flight. It was fine outside, and other planes were flying. We piled back into the bus to return to the terminal. They wouldn’t let us off the bus. “We’re trying to convince the pilot to fly” was their excuse. Convince the pilot to fly! That sounded like a great idea. Their powers of persuasion failed, it would seem, as we were soon kicked off the bus and asked to wait around to collect our checked bags, so that we could check them in again. There was, at least, a friendly atmosphere of comradery amongst the passengers, who were generally taking things in good spirits.
However, after queuing for some time to get assigned to the later flight, things kicked off. The handling of the entire situation was erratic at best. Some people were given tickets for free food in the terminal. Others were not. It culminated in a confrontation between a very mild-mannered Scottish guy and the airline. He wished to take in violin on as carry-on luggage. He’d done it many times before with this airline, on the same planes. But this time, he was told it was not possible. After talking with them for some time, he said something awful – something utterly and unbelievably offensive. He said: “This is stupid.” They called the police. The Special Branch, no less! He was asked, at one point, to stand back because he was offensively close to a staff member. When, later, a staff member stood that close to him, I was pleased that he said the same to her. The copper was very reasonable, but in exasperation said that the easiest way to get out of this is to cave and apologise to the staff.
So, it seems that in this country we are no longer allowed to express an opinion about services for which we pay. It won’t be long until we won’t be allowed to return a poorly cooked meal to the kitchen, or a faulty TV to the shop. Just in case we offend someone. Which would be awful. Just awful.
We stood on a bus for ages. Then we boarded the plane. Then we waited. And waited. Then we were told we were waiting even longer for de-icing. We waited some more. We were subsequently informed that the flight was cancelled due to the weather, so we’d be moved to the 18:15 flight. It was fine outside, and other planes were flying. We piled back into the bus to return to the terminal. They wouldn’t let us off the bus. “We’re trying to convince the pilot to fly” was their excuse. Convince the pilot to fly! That sounded like a great idea. Their powers of persuasion failed, it would seem, as we were soon kicked off the bus and asked to wait around to collect our checked bags, so that we could check them in again. There was, at least, a friendly atmosphere of comradery amongst the passengers, who were generally taking things in good spirits.
However, after queuing for some time to get assigned to the later flight, things kicked off. The handling of the entire situation was erratic at best. Some people were given tickets for free food in the terminal. Others were not. It culminated in a confrontation between a very mild-mannered Scottish guy and the airline. He wished to take in violin on as carry-on luggage. He’d done it many times before with this airline, on the same planes. But this time, he was told it was not possible. After talking with them for some time, he said something awful – something utterly and unbelievably offensive. He said: “This is stupid.” They called the police. The Special Branch, no less! He was asked, at one point, to stand back because he was offensively close to a staff member. When, later, a staff member stood that close to him, I was pleased that he said the same to her. The copper was very reasonable, but in exasperation said that the easiest way to get out of this is to cave and apologise to the staff.
So, it seems that in this country we are no longer allowed to express an opinion about services for which we pay. It won’t be long until we won’t be allowed to return a poorly cooked meal to the kitchen, or a faulty TV to the shop. Just in case we offend someone. Which would be awful. Just awful.
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