The British Airways Saga on our way to Italy...

Sunday 23rd December 2007
06:00 - Wake up excited about the trip ahead. Get a taxi to Newcastle airport for our 08:00 flight to Heathrow.
09:30 - Delayed 1 hour 30 mins on our flight from Newcastle to Heathrow.
11:00 - Land at Heathrow, flight to Rome scheduled for 14:30, but because of freezing fog, no departure time is displayed.
14:30 - Still no departure time, but we found a free cocktail bar in the departure lounge, so things were ok.
16:00 - We board the plane, but theres no flight crew.
17:30 - The pilot arrives, but theres no co-pilot.
18:30 - The flight is cancelled due to the missing co-pilot, we are informed we need to wait to be escorted off the plane.
19:00 - We disembark the plane and head to the baggage reclaim fiasco, where 100s of luggage bags are 'thrown' around from ours and several other cancelled flights.
20:00 - After finding our luggage and phoning the British Airways hotline, we manage to scrape onto a flight from Gatwick to Naples at 15:00 the following day.
21:15 - We arrive at Gatwick Airport after an hour bus journey and manage to get booked into the Gatwick Hilton for the night with free evening meal and breakfast. Thank God!
23:00 - After a buffet style evening meal and a well deserved drink, we go to bed looking forward to heading off the next day.

Monday 24th December 2007
10:00 - Wake up to enjoy the very nice free breakfast.
12:00 - Head to the airport to check in for the flight to Naples, scheduled for 15:00.
13:00 - After an hour of confusion checking in, due to our being transferred onto the flight, we arrive in the departure lounge, lunch and beer is enjoyed by all.
14:00 - Yay, the flight is delayed! SHIT...
15:00 - "Please wait in the departure lounge." We're getting annoyed.
16:00 - "Please wait in the departure lounge." We're really getting annoyed.
17:00 - "Please wait in the departure lounge." I'm going to kill someone.
18:00 - We get some drinks vouchers, lots of drinks vouchers, so we buy a bottle of champagne and a bottle of red wine, thinking we might be spending Christmas at Gatwick Airport.
18:05 - "Please go to Gate n" (I cant remember the gate number.) Luckily we didnt open the champagne or the wine, so we can enjoy that in Naples.
19:00 - We have lift off...! But not on British Airways, they had to call in some dodgy airline to cover the flight, 'Flystar Astreaus.'
22:00 (Italy time) - We finally land in Naples, 39 hours after setting off from my front door. Total flight time should have been 3 hours 30 minutes from Newcastle to London, London to Rome. It took British Airways 39 hours!

Thank you British Airways, may I never have the displeasure of flying with you again.