Moving Right Along....Ah No

It is now Tuesday afternoon here in Lovely Luton.  The skies are still dreary and it’s cold, but the good news is that I keep hearing planes take off.  When I go on the website for Luton Airport I see most planes are leaving and those that are delayed are delayed by a quarter hour.  My spirits soar.

I realized as I hurried down the path for breakfast today that I was ecstatic I was going to be able to eat 3 meals today, if I wanted to.  They are actually quite cordial at the Beefeater Lounge and Restaurant. They smile, they bring you what you want, and they actually are open when I need them. And they make a killer treacle pudding.

I continue to be more fortunate than most. British Air once again today cancelled all it’s short haul flights. The T.V reports are now scathing and calling for heads to roll. It seems that in their infinite wisdom British Air Authorities (not to be confused with British Air, although I think that’s a lie) grounded all planes on Saturday not thinking about how they would clean the runway with all the planes parked there.

So there is this horrific mess of planes with tons of frozen snow under them that they can’t move. Add to that the general disarray, lack of snow plows (they have half as many as Gatwick which only has 1 runway) and the utter incompetence of planning by any of the officials and you have one very angry mob.

The other really fascinating and maddening thing is the websites for flights out. Heathrow, in their infinite wisdom, has posted the flights out (mostly to Helsinki, Sweden and parts of the U.S.). If your flight is not “scheduled”, that means you are sol. They say contact the airlines, but that’s a joke. You can’t contact the airlines here. What I figured out is to Skype them in the U.S and wait the required hour for them to tell you that it’s tough luck and they are going to do nada (see I have a Spanish word in my vocab in case I get there) That is making people angry with a white hot rage that alone would melt the runways if they let them out there.

I am hoping my ability to give up and not press on when it looks like folly will pay off tomorrow and I will get out of here. I bailed on Heathrow yesterday and paid Dear Spencer the cabdriver $300 to get to Lovely Luton There is more snow predicted (about 4 inches) but rumor has it that it will stop by morning and my flight is out at night.

Ok I just had to post this one as well. It also reminds me of the attitude of the Government and the airlines in this situation. And I guess you could say they were caught with their pants down...oops missing.

Keep your fingers crossed. And if you’re not totally bored check in again.

Keep the faith y’all