Journey from Hell

[usedbustickets]

Jan and I left Calis at 6am on Sunday and finally arrived home last night at just after 9pm ... a journey time of just over 39 hours!!  I knew that travel via Istanbul would take a little longer, but I did not expect it to take quite that long .... is this a record?

I could write a book about how bad things were on the journey, and how unco-operative companies and their staff can be in providing information, indeed in some cases how they lie to your face just to get you away ... and have you ever tried to find a manager when you want one?  Not just a Turkey problem, but we Brits excelled as well, as we travelled from the the diverted Stanstead airport in the Essex Wastelands, back to Heathrow, across London, in order to collect our car.

Best of all Turkish Airlines did not tell us until we were in the air that the plane was actually going to Stanstead, and not Heathrow.  And when we arrived there was nothing laid on to get us back to Heathrow, we were literally dumped there and left to get on with it!!

Anyway on a serious note if you are travelling in the next week or so, wherever your journey ... be prepared.  Make sure you have warm clothing, spare cash, some water and sandwiches wouldn't go amiss, and take a book to while away the hours .. hopefully you will not need any of it, but nothing is lost in being prepared.

[stoop]

Terrible service but it makes me realise that booking on an EU carrier would at least have given you some rights when things went wrong. I guess you had to pay your own way to Heathrow and if so your holiday insurance should pay out if you have kept receipts.

It's appalling that Turkish Airlines did not inform you that Heathrow was shut or lay on transportation - everybody must have known how bad it was in the UK Saturday and Sunday.

[Scunner]

I just wonder, football matches survive through undersoil heating. Is under runway heating a ridiculous idea? I imagine it would be quite expensive to run but surely it would be cheaper for the country than the loss of working days caused by the likes of Heathrow being closed.

[jwood]

I believe Oslo Airport has 'under runway' heating !

[stoop]

The technology is ready:

http://www.icax.co.uk/Solar_Runways.html

[badger]

 Stansted airport in the Essex wastelands,you should have insisted to be diverted to Mogadishu


             Badger ( Proud of my local airport campaigner )  

[bewva]

I remember about 15 years ago flying to Florida via Bangor, Maine airport. We circled the airport while they snow ploughed the runway, then had to snowplough again and de ice the plane before we jetted off to the sun. Outside the terminal building there were 2 foot snow drifts. The airport was fully operational. Our Country's understanding of dealing with the weather is absolutely crap. How can it be acceptable to close a facility like Heathrow because of snow? They should make provision when building these airports etc to accomodate this sort of weather its not like its a supprise that it will snow!

[stoop]

Well I understand from the news this morning that the Spanish owned company that runs Heathrow spent the vast sum of £600,000 on winter preparations this year compared to about £5mil at Gatwick (not Spanish owned).

..and they wonder why it all went pete tong.

[Cavfan]

remember flying into JFK in a blizzard! we circled for about half an hour whilst the runway was cleared enough for us to land. There were several fet of snow piled up as we landed. the freeways enroute for NYC were cleared and traffic flowed freely! As we alighted our taxi in Manhatten my mother in law , fairly short in stature, nearly disappeared in the snow piled up on the edge of the pavement but nothing stopped moving and people still went about their business! Only in the UK does the world stop moving due to bad weather! Anyone would think we were an island in the northern hemisphere!

[Scunner]

I remember someone on TV saying they landed at an American airport late on Christmas Eve with heavy snow as far as the eye could see. The airline arranged for the flight to be met by a Santa on a real sleigh, coming alongside to meet them. Some can only see problems, others see opportunities