The Holiday Part 1
Mar. 31st, 2006 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoWell, I did promise it'd be next up. I'm not sure how many parts there'll be - or when they'll all get written - but for now, here's part one...
So. When I was planning this trip out I looked at my flight time, 11:15am, looked at the Flightlink coach schedule (because I refuse to pay upwards of £100 to park my car at Heathrow) and decided that the 6:20am bus would get me there with plenty of time for check-in, security and getting to the gate.
Ha.
The coach was on time (no mean feat given the traffic) and I presented myself for check-in promptly. About 45 minutes later, I finally reached the head of the queue. BA had got only four check-in desks open covering flights to Zurich, Mumbai, Dehli, New York and Philadelphia (and those are the ones I know about). On what planet is THAT a good move?! As I got up to the check-in desk they started calling for anyone on the Philadelphia flight to make themselves known so they could be brought to the head of the line.
I got done with check-in and started for security. This was when I became aware of a queue that literally stretched two thirds of the length of the terminal building and was getting longer. THIS was the security check queue. My gate *closed* at 10:55. It was now 10:20.
It turns out that there was a security issue earlier in the week - someone made it through Heathrow's security with a knife - so BAA, with much application of shutting stable doors after bolting horses, had tightened security to the point where it was now paralysed. Or, as I put it to the lady who was travelling to Zurich: This is making Washington Dulles look efficient.
Fortunately for all concerned, BA had staff checking the queue for anyone with imminently departing flights (like me, for example) so they could pull them out and take them into the fasttrack channel...which still had a queue, but it was vastly shorter. It was when I got into THIS queue that I discovered one reason for the excessive queuing: Heathrow has now taken to scanning laptops separately.
W.T.F.
I will at least give them their due, they had signs posted up very early on in the queue, so anyone with a laptop should have been able to get it out well before the actual scan, but it's not the world's easiest thing to do when you've only got one pair of hands and you're trying to juggle a jacket (which also has to be scanned separately), a bag and a handbag. And just to add to the general misery, they're still testing the new full body x-ray stuff which means for every two people in the main queue someone else's bags also have to go through the scanner. In what world does this make sense? If you're pulling people out of line give that section its own baggage scanner!
When I was still six or seven people from the front of the queue, I heard the announcement I didn't want to hear: Flight BA067 is now boarding from gate number 23.
Shit.
I finally got to the head of the queue and got my stuff scanned. Once I was cleared, I grabbed my bags, coat and laptop and checked the monitors. Yep. Definitely boarding. Definitely gate 23. And gate 23 is a fifteen minute walk from where I am now.
Shit.
I must have looked a sight. I had a backpack on my back, a small satchel-type bag slung around my neck in front of me, my coat under one arm and my laptop under the other and I was *RUNNING* through the terminal to get to gate 23.
I will say this: Two and a half months of constant gym attendance has paid off. I made it to the gate with still fifteen minutes to spare.
It was then that I discovered that we were being bussed across to the plane from the terminal. Again with the W.T.F. All I can figure is that some of the Heathrow jetways must be out of action or something because we had to do the same thing on return. Very odd. And all of which meant I needn't have sprinted quite so fast to get there.
Ah well. Better safe than sorry.
I made the plane, settled in my seat and we were off - one minor benefit to being one of the last passengers onto the plane was most people had already sat by the time I got there, *AND* we readied for takeoff not long after I got there, so no lengthy waits.
After the dramatic beginning, the rest of the flight was actually very calm and peaceful and, surprisingly, the food was entirely identifiable and mostly edible (ok, the smoked salmon salad wasn't so great - but I don't like smoked salmon). In fact, the only other problem I had (before landing) was the moron in front of me who reclined his seat right back. Ugh. I hate when that happens.
We landed safely in Philadelphia and here my problems began again: I again got the third degree about my frequent trips to the US. For pity's sake. I'm visiting friends. I'm only over once or twice a year. Why the hell should it matter!? Grah.
Immigration finally let me go, I reclaimed my baggage, got through customs without any problem (though there could have been, seeing as I blatantly lied about what I'd got in my case when asked if I'd got any chocolate - so not smart!) and met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ganeris, where I got a shingles update and where the scratches popped up.
But more on that later.
OK. Time to head off and do some work. More later.
So. When I was planning this trip out I looked at my flight time, 11:15am, looked at the Flightlink coach schedule (because I refuse to pay upwards of £100 to park my car at Heathrow) and decided that the 6:20am bus would get me there with plenty of time for check-in, security and getting to the gate.
Ha.
The coach was on time (no mean feat given the traffic) and I presented myself for check-in promptly. About 45 minutes later, I finally reached the head of the queue. BA had got only four check-in desks open covering flights to Zurich, Mumbai, Dehli, New York and Philadelphia (and those are the ones I know about). On what planet is THAT a good move?! As I got up to the check-in desk they started calling for anyone on the Philadelphia flight to make themselves known so they could be brought to the head of the line.
I got done with check-in and started for security. This was when I became aware of a queue that literally stretched two thirds of the length of the terminal building and was getting longer. THIS was the security check queue. My gate *closed* at 10:55. It was now 10:20.
It turns out that there was a security issue earlier in the week - someone made it through Heathrow's security with a knife - so BAA, with much application of shutting stable doors after bolting horses, had tightened security to the point where it was now paralysed. Or, as I put it to the lady who was travelling to Zurich: This is making Washington Dulles look efficient.
Fortunately for all concerned, BA had staff checking the queue for anyone with imminently departing flights (like me, for example) so they could pull them out and take them into the fasttrack channel...which still had a queue, but it was vastly shorter. It was when I got into THIS queue that I discovered one reason for the excessive queuing: Heathrow has now taken to scanning laptops separately.
W.T.F.
I will at least give them their due, they had signs posted up very early on in the queue, so anyone with a laptop should have been able to get it out well before the actual scan, but it's not the world's easiest thing to do when you've only got one pair of hands and you're trying to juggle a jacket (which also has to be scanned separately), a bag and a handbag. And just to add to the general misery, they're still testing the new full body x-ray stuff which means for every two people in the main queue someone else's bags also have to go through the scanner. In what world does this make sense? If you're pulling people out of line give that section its own baggage scanner!
When I was still six or seven people from the front of the queue, I heard the announcement I didn't want to hear: Flight BA067 is now boarding from gate number 23.
Shit.
I finally got to the head of the queue and got my stuff scanned. Once I was cleared, I grabbed my bags, coat and laptop and checked the monitors. Yep. Definitely boarding. Definitely gate 23. And gate 23 is a fifteen minute walk from where I am now.
Shit.
I must have looked a sight. I had a backpack on my back, a small satchel-type bag slung around my neck in front of me, my coat under one arm and my laptop under the other and I was *RUNNING* through the terminal to get to gate 23.
I will say this: Two and a half months of constant gym attendance has paid off. I made it to the gate with still fifteen minutes to spare.
It was then that I discovered that we were being bussed across to the plane from the terminal. Again with the W.T.F. All I can figure is that some of the Heathrow jetways must be out of action or something because we had to do the same thing on return. Very odd. And all of which meant I needn't have sprinted quite so fast to get there.
Ah well. Better safe than sorry.
I made the plane, settled in my seat and we were off - one minor benefit to being one of the last passengers onto the plane was most people had already sat by the time I got there, *AND* we readied for takeoff not long after I got there, so no lengthy waits.
After the dramatic beginning, the rest of the flight was actually very calm and peaceful and, surprisingly, the food was entirely identifiable and mostly edible (ok, the smoked salmon salad wasn't so great - but I don't like smoked salmon). In fact, the only other problem I had (before landing) was the moron in front of me who reclined his seat right back. Ugh. I hate when that happens.
We landed safely in Philadelphia and here my problems began again: I again got the third degree about my frequent trips to the US. For pity's sake. I'm visiting friends. I'm only over once or twice a year. Why the hell should it matter!? Grah.
Immigration finally let me go, I reclaimed my baggage, got through customs without any problem (though there could have been, seeing as I blatantly lied about what I'd got in my case when asked if I'd got any chocolate - so not smart!) and met
ganeris, where I got a shingles update and where the scratches popped up.But more on that later.
OK. Time to head off and do some work. More later.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 08:19 am (UTC)I'm glad you made it there and back with your sanity intact! ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 08:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 08:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 08:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 09:24 am (UTC)I'm actually surprised that Heathrow has only now started scanning laptops separately; I had to unload mine at both Düsseldorf and Minneapolis/St.Paul/Reno as far back as 2004. But you're right, WTF/what a bother! And when I had to mail my nailcare set to Mele (I had accidentally packed it in my cabin luggage and apparently they were afraid I'd kill the cabin crew with a nail file) in full sight of the security check, after being escorted all the way by a security guy and went through again, I had to unpack the laptop AGAIN, because, you know, I might've stored a bomb in it ... grrr.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 09:38 am (UTC)I wouldn't mind, but it's so frelling inconsistant.
And yeah. That's why I tend NOT to bother with things like nailclippers/files/tweezers. If I need them while I'm away, I buy a cheapo set and then bin it at the end of the trip. It saves the agro.
And thank you :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 10:06 am (UTC)Guess we're all homicidal terrorists underneath ...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 10:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 10:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 11:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 03:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 03:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 03:28 pm (UTC)Otherwise, pfffffffffffft! *grins*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 11:00 am (UTC)They don't allow chocolate??? Is this part of their no foodstuffs thing?
Though saying that, I seem to remember the chocolate in Russia setting off metal detectors at St. Petersberg airport....
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 11:03 am (UTC)Ooops...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 11:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 12:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 12:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 12:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 01:44 pm (UTC)I was fortunate that I packed for American security and had not packed a laptop, or I would have had even more of a problem.
As for American Immigration/Customs - bleh. I'll stop here before I get into another rant.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 02:12 pm (UTC)And at least with yours, given you were late leaving Stockholm, there's always the possibility that they might hold the plane (particularly if there's a number of people transferring).
Then again, given it's Heathrow where the tendancy is "first call, second call, last call, final call, tough shit" I'm not sure I'd want to bank on that! (I've been in airports where the same flight has had at least six 'final' calls, but Heathrow is NOT one of them.)
Part of me says I'd have less immigration hassle if I were to get a US tourist visa. Part of me says they'd just find some other way to hassle me.
As for customs, I don't know why they bother. Do they honestly think people fill the forms out 100% accurately?!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-01 02:29 am (UTC)As for deadly weapons, I'm still bitter over the confiscated (and vitally needed to keep those particular glasses functional) mini-eyeglass screwdriver. I'm sure I could wreak more havoc with the airline's plastic spoons.
No idea if the tourist visa would help. Friends who came every year to see their grandchildren were denied visas a few years back, for suspiciously visiting "too often." Didn't the fact that they went home promptly every time show they didn't mean to become illegal immigrants?