Just as when we arrived it was raining as we started out on the return journey. We went via the County Clerks office to experience some American bureaucracy. All the form filling in the world will not stop the officials finding something to correct you on, and they are not always right! We stopped at Chick-fil-A for an early lunch and then spent along time on I-85 headed for Atlantic. It probably wasn't any longer than usual, but the rain and the spray reduced the visibility and increased the concentration required. Once at the airport we said goodbye to our excellent hosts Karen and Robert, and also to little Robbie, who we are missing already.
I had been given a fast track through security, I'm not sure why they would do that (isn't it a security risk?), but as Jo didn't get one it was a bit pointless. We were at the gate in plenty of time. I tweeted:
"At gate, only 90 minutes before boarding, now moved, back where we have come from"
as the gate for our flight was changed to the other end of Concourse B, and then a few minutes later:
"Now at new gate 70 minutes before boarding#HateAirports #bored".
How wrong can I be, there was no time to be bored. Just a few minutes later the gate changed again, and the flight was marked as delayed. Then there was an announcement that passengers with international connections should contact customer services to get a re-booking. At Customer Services we were tersely directed to the phones after queueing for 10 minutes. Our passage was re-booked to a flight on Concourse F. We had 50 minutes to get to the plane, our bags would be re-routed.
On arrival at the gate we were told that the Itinery had to be updated first, we had to visit customer services in Concourse F. There was, thankfully no queue, and the guy who produced the Intinery said "At last something simple", we got the documentation and returned to the gate where they printed the boarding passes. We were among the last dozen or so passengers to board, we were sat at the back of the plane, so all my careful pre-journey check-in had been pointless.
I was unable to sleep on the plane. We arrived at Heathrow slightly early and stood at baggage reclaim until a young lady told us there were no more bags on the flight. We visited the baggage reclaim desk and were told that our bags had been sent to New York on the original flight, and given a tracking number. The latest status suggests that the bags are STILL on their way to the UK, on different flights!!
I had been given a fast track through security, I'm not sure why they would do that (isn't it a security risk?), but as Jo didn't get one it was a bit pointless. We were at the gate in plenty of time. I tweeted:
"At gate, only 90 minutes before boarding, now moved, back where we have come from"
as the gate for our flight was changed to the other end of Concourse B, and then a few minutes later:
"Now at new gate 70 minutes before boarding
How wrong can I be, there was no time to be bored. Just a few minutes later the gate changed again, and the flight was marked as delayed. Then there was an announcement that passengers with international connections should contact customer services to get a re-booking. At Customer Services we were tersely directed to the phones after queueing for 10 minutes. Our passage was re-booked to a flight on Concourse F. We had 50 minutes to get to the plane, our bags would be re-routed.
On arrival at the gate we were told that the Itinery had to be updated first, we had to visit customer services in Concourse F. There was, thankfully no queue, and the guy who produced the Intinery said "At last something simple", we got the documentation and returned to the gate where they printed the boarding passes. We were among the last dozen or so passengers to board, we were sat at the back of the plane, so all my careful pre-journey check-in had been pointless.
I was unable to sleep on the plane. We arrived at Heathrow slightly early and stood at baggage reclaim until a young lady told us there were no more bags on the flight. We visited the baggage reclaim desk and were told that our bags had been sent to New York on the original flight, and given a tracking number. The latest status suggests that the bags are STILL on their way to the UK, on different flights!!
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