British Airways - How to abandon responsibility - and regain a little

Coming from Copenhagen 3 March on a late BA flight, it shocked me that a modern airline - the World's favourite, you know! - could be so inept in resolving a fairly simple problem, with so little communication as was the case.
Certain events were clearly beyond BA's responsibility, e.g. that police helicopters over a runway caused Heathrow to close down briefly - but the way it was mishandled by the crew of our circling plane and by BAA was shocking.

It started with an hour's delay in Copenhagen, which was announced as just 20 min on the screens. 2035 instead of 2015. As usual "due to the late incoming plane" - the rubbish reason always given.
When we finally boarded, an apparent engineering defect with the flaps took a further 25 min to correct - not a pleasant thought, but you put your trust in the fact that the BA crew wouldn't like to take risks either.

20 miles from LHR around 22.30 our A320 started to circle. After several circles we were told that there was a police helicopter incident over the runway and we couldn't land.
More seriously, though, the captain was unable to continue the waiting position, as the plane had too little fuel (SIC!) - what? Too little fuel?
The Captain was unable to give us more information at this point, as he had to concentrate on the fuel problem and where to take us.
So we were redirected to Stansted.

Here we were not allowed to disembark neither in full nor partly (because of security). Fair enough.
But Stansted was unfamiliar with the flap issue, which now - together with all the other security procedures - had to be repeated.
Result: we started towards LHR over an hour later at 0000 - arriving at 0020.
The matter was made worse, as the Cabin Crew limited themselves to issue apologies and refrain from providing proper information.

Landing 3 hours late at T5 - the flagship terminal of British Airways - I found a closed underground.
If you have ever been there at night, you can imagine the panic - stuck at T5 at 0035 is not pleasant, I can assure you.
It's dead, closed, abandoned!

It appeared later that the LHR police helicopter incident had lasted appx 15 min. - but why was it that
passengers using mobiles were able to get more info from family and waiting friends than we received from the staff in the plane?

We had been promised help with onward transport if we needed it from T5 (who wouldn't need this?)
But to my amazement there was no one there to help and nothing had been arranged.
It was apparently all hot air to keep us quiet.

We were also promised help from the Ground Staff.
But no Ground Staff was available at all.
NONE.
T5 had essential closed down at 0000 with only maintenance staff (cleaners) and booked cab drivers waiting.

QUESTIONS:

Why was the A320 plane so short of fuel, that we couldn't circle 20 minutes (like so often at LHR)?
If we had been tanked up, we would have been in time, as a bit of circling in a parking position would have resolved the time-issue.

Why did the Cabin Crew not organise the promised transport - mostly taxis? They just ran away from all responsibility.

Why did the Cabin Crew not contact BAA, who could have liaised with the Taxi Management at T5?
The result was a totally empty taxi rank, something BAA should have foreseen.
Unbelievable.

Where was the BA Ground Staff? (Probably home in bed).

Why did BAA ignore the consequences of closing down Heathrow for 15 min.? There must have been several planes going through this diversion.

Why should it take an hour waiting for a taxi in a 100 people queue.

Is this a world class airport ?

How could a world class airline (!) abandon its passengers so blatantly when this incident happened?

Has BA no procedures in place for such a small matter?
I dread thinking about a big incident.

It cost me £65 for a night taxi from the taxi rank to go to Hammersmith - a mere 12 miles - arriving home  at appx 0200. There were still around 50-100 people in queue by then. The Taxi driver was angry as well, saying that NO ONE had informed him, neither the Taxi Management nor BAA.

BA actually promised to compensate £50 of the £65.
But why £50?
Because their Customer Agent maintained that I was lying about the £65, which were the metered costs in a black cab ride at 0135 at night!!
It beggars belief that The World's Favourite Airline finds it useful to add rudeness and stingyness to incompetence - but of course: it might just be a one off and a training problem..
That's what I think, as someone intervened, apologised - and paid the remaining £15.
There's hope and BA gets another chance.

Have Paris' bistrots and brasseries lost it?

I remember when you could go into almost any street Brasserie, Cafe, Bar or Bistrot in Paris and get a 'Biftek au frites', pay a reasonable amount and walk out saying: "They know how to do this, these French. Delicious".
We tried to find the old atmosphere at a recent 1-day trip to Paris, made possible by the only 2 ½ hour Eurostar door to door journey at £60 for a return ticket.
It was a mixed experience.
A confused and dirty Gare du Nord, a long queue at the single ATM in the arrivals hall followed by an even longer queue to obtain the obligatory carnet for the underground, was not a good start. It didn’t help that the EU-blessing of free travel for everyone seems to have filled Paris with hordes of begging Romanian gypsies, not to mention beggars on every street corner.

If this is Van Rompuy’s, Baroso’s and Schultz’s EU anno 2013, we don’t need it.

At previous visits we have begun the day with a simple petit dejeuner: cafe au lait, a baguette with jam and the breathing in of the atmosphere. We shouldn’t have done it this time.
A disinterested waiter did everything he could to tell these “Anglais” that they were not welcome. He managed to ignore us, forgetting to deliver jam and butter, ignoring the need for cutlery and plates and serving the cafe au lait as if it were a badly produced cappucino.
Apparently they charge 15% for service as standard on the bills in France these days! But not only that – the prices are roughly 50% above corresponding meals in the UK, even with a falling Euro.

My wife's omelette was the only star of the show. Clearly some French chefs have retained a little self respect - but there certainly were no extras for the waiter (which is what they seem to expect on top of their 15%).

So if you happen to pass Brasserie Sarah Bernhard around Tour St Jacques, don’t feel tempted to enter.

Later we had a more elaborate dinner, trying to convince ourselves that one bad experience shouldn’t be allowed to taint French cuisine and hospitality.

At the square next to the Metro Maubert-Mutualite there is a string of typical French shops selling wine, charcuterie, cheese and fish. It is like a little market and a very attractive one at that. Next to the shops, on the corner, there’s a fairly simple small Bistrot. We have been there before some years ago and had pleasant memories of our visit.

To make a long story short, if the food there is representative of what they can produce these days in France, at an exorbitant price, I can promise you that France will not last much longer as a leading EU-country. Perhaps it is too late anyway, as apparently the Muslims in Marseille and Avignon are having some success scaring charcuterie (pork!), wine merchants and lingerie sellers away. France without wine and sausages?
Mon Dieu!

Nevertheless, Paris has a “Je ne sais quoi” and we enjoyed our 8 hours cruising Paris on foot, walking ourselves an inch shorter – even while some of the time we had to accept a light drizzle.

My personal enjoyment could of course be because of my memories from many trips to the city of cities – or Mother of all cities in today’s parlance - but we agreed it would ‘vaut le voyage’ to return.

Perhaps bringing our own sandwiches this time - - - -

In Kayak from Oslo to - almost - Copenhagen, June 1971

  3 indefatigable, optimistic, adventure-tuned members of the 6-man team from Klampenborg Kayak Club (north of Copenhagen) ready to board DFDS' Prinsesse Margrethe on the quay-side in Copenhagen, 4 June 1971, 1600 Zulu.    Me in psychedelic T-shirt model 1971

 

Kayaks stowed away on the car deck for the 15 hour voyage north.

General agreement: arrive rested and ready for a strenuous rowing trip back.

Subsequent events in the bar, on the dance floor and in the cabins belong to the individuals' sphere of privacy!

<--- Jean - undersigned - Manne

No one had considered the fact that there was a 2m drop from the Oslo quay side to the water.

Chasing around - with a hangover - in skips and bins for a solution resulted in a few meters of nylon rope, which we used to lower the kayaks. The panic was supported by the fact, that we hadn't had a dry-run stowing the kayaks, as two of them had been delivered only 1 hour before departure. Mine, for example, had had the linen deck replaced by wood, which had made it considerably heavier. That was a surprise when I started to manoeuvre with it!

I have no idea how we got into the kayaks - - - -

One person, though, kept her calm and showed everyone that 'It'd be all right in due time'.
Gammel Dansk - a speciality aquavit, that helps you keep the balance in a kayak - might also have had a calming effect on the initial uncertainty.

Mental and physical force slowly returning and after a couple of hours paddling down the sunny and almost windless Oslo Fjord, we stopped for a tea break at a small public beach at Spro.
The oil that has smeared both us and the Kayaks when entering the water in Oslo Harbour was removed after a visit to a water-side BP filling station, where we bought some oil-remover.
The water was great for a swim and the sun blessed us from a cloudless sky. Could easily have stayed!
But this was a sport-holiday - so on to new dicoveries.

Later in the evening we landed at the southernmost of 4 small islands, about 5 Km north of Droebak (level with Digerud) and a couple of Km south of the Welcome-Tower. Soft tall grass on a small sandy beach created an ideal place for our overnight stay. Oystercatchers did a few nosedive attempts to chase us away, but they relaxed, when it became clear we were not after their chicks that scurried around between the rocks. Navigation at this stage was by a tourist map, but we made an important observation: If you try to cross the fjord ahead of one of the arriving freighters, DON'T. They are faster than you! Wait.

With a little good will and 20-20 vision it should be possible to follow the thin blue line indicating our route from Oslo, down the fjord past Droebak towards Son.
Provided you get Nesoddtangen on your port side in the beginning (!), the first 50 Km don't require a better map than this at all.
Landfall is clearly indicated.

A very slow morning, Sunday 6 June.
Despite a white night - it never really became dark -
the ferry trip and the first day, accentuated by lots of fresh air, took its toll.
This was too good to be destroyed by obstinate ideas about rowing, sport, objectives of a certain distance pr day, etc.

Nevertheless - on towards Droebak and Hvitsten, where we succeeded pulling the local owner of the grocery store away from his lunch (it was Sunday).
There is no end to what you might forget, when planning a voyage like this. We already had 5 examples from the first day: drilling the stowing of the Kayaks; what food to bring for when; Sunday limitations; getting the Kayaks in the water; where to get water (!) - - but as the only woman on the trip always said: it'll be all right on the day!
Proved to make sense.

 Overnight stay on Jeloya and the service team in action.

Tried fishing. Didn't work
Thanks to careful and professional planning (!) jungle Oil provided for a reasonably quiet and undisturbed sleep, successfully rejecting the vicious ME109 attacks .

Moving on Monday 7 June towards Moss.
The morning packing had been eagerly supervised by a group of young cows.
We had great ambitions about living in and with nature, so when one person in the team had paddled ahead and found hospitality in a summer house, the rest of us refused. Sleeping on the sandy beach was perfectly comfortable, thank you.






Moss was quite a beautiful little town - but the stench from the local fishing industry was a bit too heavy.
We succumbed, however to a craving for beer and chocolate and had a good laugh about the text on the wrapper: "Healthy, nourishing and promotes high spirits".
We had a lot of it and it worked.

After a few hours rowing rowing, where the wind had increased (according to Murphy's law straight against us), we landed at Eloya southwest of Larkollen, where we waited for the wind to abate. It became a long wait and I spent some time having a good look at the island. I am quite convinced that the many 'bumps' represented old grave mounds or small tumuli. The island was beautiful, ranging from overgrown with shrubs and wild plants to the north to a more barren, rocky cost to the south, bearing witness to the white teeth of Skagerak !
Having stilled the hunger (some more than others),

we continued south at around 1900 Z towards the coast and tried to get around a point in order to hit a planned camping spot, but were beaten back by much too high waves.
This was one thing we had agreed upon: Minimal risk - if anyone was in doubt, we would stop.





This is the route from Moss over Ellinggaardskilen to Lyngholmen
The map has been divided in three along a vertical line to save space!
The details proved more than enough for this part of the voyage.







We 'camped it out' until 1100 Z the next day, Tuesday 8 June, but had to walk a couple of Km for water and 'edibles'.
Cold, freezing, but in high spirits and comeradeship, perhaps due to the special effects of the Norwegian chocolate!








Next stage, across the bay towards southeast, strong wind from the side or back, which resulted in some interesting surfing effect - landing at Solodden.
Navigation was now supported by proper marine maps, covered in waterproof, transparent plastic and glued onto the front of my Kayak. I was not too popular, when I mistook the direction by a couple of degrees and got us 2-3 Km up the Ellingaards Kilen! That's when I pulled out the compass and hung it around my neck. The popularity level rose visibly when I got us 5 litres freshly cooked prawns from a fishing boat. Afternoon luxury lunch north of Vikane in much improved weather.

It is incredible how uniform the land looks when you have to observe it from 50cm above the surface.

Moreover, sometimes a tough decision must be made: going the long but safe way amongst the islands - or cut across a few Km of open sea.

Only a recognisance trip ashore can help make that decision

We stayed a little and enjoyed a wonderful nature, shallow water with lots of oysterbanks and
overgrown islands.
This time we chose the direct route at about 1700 Z, rowing from Stroemtangen Lighthouse across Leira Bay close to Frederiksstad.
It was about 5 Km of open water and was an incredibly beautiful experience with the sea almost as a mirror. The master of the lighthouse applauded visibly.

From Hankoe over Leira Bay via Kirkoe to Stroemstad



I don't know how much time we spent trying to fish - both with a proper fishing rod and through dragging a line after the Kayaks.
No luck.
We had to buy the fish we wanted on the way - but so what? Mackerel with a little butter, lemon juice, bay leaf and a few peppercorns, all wrapped in foil and briefly cooked in the camp fire, is a truly Michelin starred experience.

Sometimes it was just impossible to see where the gap between the islands was - only the compass, the marine map and an idea about our present position could help you find out.
Well, it worked - but here I am in an obvious pondering situation.
The others observed me carefully - they knew, that if I looked up, we were rowing on a prayer - -
We stayed overnight on a small island, Furuholmen, the access to which had to be managed very carefully, as the ice-worn rocks were only centimeters below the surface.

Wednesday 9 June, up and onwards.
We had by now given up using camping gas and learnt to manage perfectly well with a small fire for the coffee and food and perhaps a larger one to stay warm. There was plenty of driftwood around and always a safe rock or sandy beach available.
Again the wind was against us. After a vain attempt of going East around Kirkoe, where the wind from Singlefjorden did its best to frustrate us, we changed the course westwards to Boelling Havn, where we foraged. Rest at Sjursholm, difficult navigation and landed at Sandoe. Bloody wind.

A fine rain made the stay less than memorable.
Several climbs to the top of the island, decided through drawing lots, and perhaps in the hope of being closer to some power that might have control over the weather, didn't help much,

The wind gone, but still with a light rain cooling the spirits, we paddled all the way into Stroemstad, where we had "varm korv och potatis mos"
(sausage and mash). Found shelter further out in the local open air bath house.

The detail of the map used from Hankoe to Stroemstad was excellent - and necessary!

Thursday 10 June, went shopping in Stroemstad - the weekly club evening had to be celebrated in style, so wine, beer and a few delicacies were on the list.

Weather improving, the passage from Stroemstad and onwards was a delight, supported by the beautiful nature.

Passing a typical small fishing village we landed at what can best be described as a quick wormhole-trip to a Pacific island.

No club-evening in the history of KKKK could beat the atmosphere around this camp fire, with wine, steaks and spirits that didn't need any improvement from Norwegian chocolate!

Friday 11 June.
One person would wake up the next morning praising his luck for not having been closer to the water's edge during the night

No - she's not trying to get into the Kayak.

The caption originally was "One always knows where to find one's things"!

From Stroemstad via Grebbestad to Bovallasund I had copied an original map that also included the stretch to Goeteborg - a little optimistic, as it turned out! 

Stopped over in Havstensund - again an opportunity to forage, chat to the locals and be reminded of a few of the good things about civilization, such as how to wash your hair in real shampoo under a cold water tap.

The map for this stretch showed very little detail, as it was in scale, 1:200.000.
I gambled on this gap to be a hole between to islands. (Marked on the map as "Vistnok et sund" = "probably a gap").
It was.
If not, we'd have had to go back too many Km for me to win a popularity contest.

Further south, the coast became quite rocky and barren. Landing the Kayaks was not always easy and some of us preferred to stay put, while those with a sore bottom took the opportunity to stretch the legs.
The principle with a map glued to the front of my Kayak with waterproof tape can clearly be seen.
When exiting a map, the route was drawn up with pencil and a new map installed.
It worked really well.

5-6 Km south of Havstensund we had to land again due to the wind. The weather was sunny and slightly chilly, but again we had a nice and relaxed afternoon, sunbathing and swimming.

We drew lots about who should jump into the water to check if it was cold.
It was.

Later in the evening the wind had finally decided to go to sleep.
At 1900Z we continued and found a nice landing spot 3 Km south of Grebbestad, where we made camp.

Time for fishing - and the result was actually one small cod.

Saturday 12 June.
Continued  towards Kampersvik, where we foraged for the weekend.  Then to Fjaellbacka, where we tried to repeat the success with the prawns, but hit a brick wall with tourist pricing.
Stuck to mackerels!

The view was enjoyable - and free.

Again a bit of civilization: at a camping place just north of the Soten Canal, where we had a warm shower.

Met with the question: "Where do you come from?"
Answer: "Oslo".
Reaction: Open mouth.
Someone actually offered us a free cottage for the night, but we declined with thanks. The open beach was now far preferable.

Sunday 13 June.

Had time to fool around.
Demonstration of the "Greenland turn" - 360 degrees while staying put in the Kayak!

Some of us only managed a 180 degree turn and had to be dragged ashore.

Others tried to row standing up.

- - - but only one managed that trick!

Monday 14 June.
The final leg was a hard piece of work, rowing to Kungshamn, where we had something to eat. Later we tried to row south from Kungshamn, but hit waves that would hide a person completely between the wave crests. We agreed this was madness and found a landing spot 1 Km north of Kungshamn - in darkness. Managed to get the Kayaks - and ourselves - safely ashore, contemplating we had been lucky.
Organised ourselves with whatever we could find as shelter.




The little curl on the route shown at the end is an indication of our battle with the elements.
Our final camp was close to the Abba Fishing Industry - forever chisled in our minds!

We had time to have a good look around.
Here Hasseloesund, as we had decided to - - - - -

send the biggest and strongest guy home, collecting a car to take us back. He returned Tuesdag 15 June and we all set foot on Danish ground Wednesday morning 0500Z, not exactly making it even  close to Copenhagen. A little more luck with the weather, the wind in particular, and a few more days - and we would have made at least Gothenburg. We spent a lot of hours waiting for a calm spot. But what a holiday!!!

In memory of Manne, Ib, Hutters, Kristian and Jean - a couple of whom are still with us!