After spending all day obsessively watching the Heathrow live online departures board, and everything going according to plan, I dragged my suitcase all the way to Heathrow and the flight was cancelled. Why? I can only assume it was related to the arctic weather, but it's hard to be sure as the BA staff were unhelpful to the point of obstructive. They closed the line to the rebooking queue as soon as I got there, instead advising frustrated travellers to ring the one rebooking phone number, which was constantly engaged. A mini scuffle broke out between a particularly dismissive BA staff member and an enraged American who'd been in Heathrow for three days. I got back on the tube and hauled my baggage all the way back home. When I got to the front door I realised I was too weak and pathetic to get my suitcase back up the 3 floors to our flat, so Jez had to come to my rescue.
I tried the BA number on redial for the next half hour and of course no-one answered, as I discovered online that the number had been closed all evening. Just as I was contemplating going back to Heathrow at 6 the next morning to rejoin the rebooking queue, I had a huge epiphany. I'd not made the booking myself, it had been done through the college travel agent, who have a 24 hour emergency hotline. I called it and no-one answered that either, but at least it rang. I called it again, got through to someone, and she sorted it all out for me. Booked onto the next available flight.
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