Between the Rock and a hard place

I should have been in Gibraltar today.

I arrived at Gatwick yesterday in good time for the 16:40 EasyJet flight to the Rock but an hour before our scheduled departure the flight was cancelled and we were informed that EasyJet had cancelled all today’s flights to Gibraltar as well.

The reason was industrial action by French traffic controllers. “Always the French,” sniffed an airport security guard when I explained why I was having to go through security for a second time.

And the reason I had to go through security again was because EasyJet, who I don’t blame for the cancellation of my flight, were nevertheless appalling when it came to returning the drop-off luggage.

Passengers were sent to the baggage reclaim area but after the best part of an hour there was no sign of our luggage, and no mention of our flight number on the baggage arrivals board to tell us where it was.

EasyJet staff were noticeable by their absence so we had to ask representatives of two baggage handling companies if they knew what was going on. They didn’t, but they offered advice.

Luggage from cancelled flights, they told us, usually appeared on carousel 5 (there were eight in total), but there was no luggage on carousel 5 which wasn’t even moving.

Another baggage rep suggested I leave the baggage reclaim area via the customs channel (ie no going back) to find someone from EasyJet, but I would then have to be escorted back to the baggage reclaim area via the staff security route.

So that’s what I did. The only problem was I ended up in the Arrivals area which is on a different level to Departures where the EasyJet drop-off zone is. But eventually I worked my way back and found someone from EasyJet who said, “Oh, there are four bags from that flight in baggage reclaim. One of them must be yours.”

Walking very slowly, as if I was somehow inconveniencing her, another member of staff then took me back to baggage reclaim but I had to go through a staff security channel where the large unopened bottle of water I had purchased from an airside shop whilst waiting for the cancelled flight was, inevitably, confiscated.

Security staff offered to return it to me after I had collected my case but that would have meant returning to Departures which, you may recall, is on a different level from baggage reclaim and Arrivals.

By now I was getting a bit stressed but I also began to see the funny side and by the time I was escorted back to baggage reclaim I felt quite chilled – for which I credit my laid-back EasyJet handler with whom I was now enjoying some carefree banter.

As for my luggage, it was on carousel 1 (not 5) with several other suitcases, but there was still no reference to our flight on the information boards so how we were supposed to know where they were I’ve no idea, especially when other luggage from incoming flights was arriving on that very same carousel.

And it wasn’t just me because as I walked away with my suitcase my EasyJet companion was approached by a young Irishman who asked her, with some exasperation, where the luggage was from our cancelled flight. Fortunately, I was able to tell him.

The good news? I was home by eight o’clock and drank a bottle of fizz to ‘celebrate’.

PS. The friend I was due to visit sent me a message this morning. It reads:

We should have been on our way to the top of the rock by cable car followed by monkey viewing. Thence to a cave system and light show, a suspension bridge, and on to the war time tunnels including a most unlikely underground Spitfire.

The afternoon would have been taken up with a tour and tasting of local gin distillery. A wine bar on Main Street and a fine restaurant with local Spanish dishes to follow. Lions match on Saturday and a very fine Indian restaurant in the evening ….

Update: BA flights have been arriving in Gibraltar today so I’ve just booked a flight with BA, departing from Heathrow tomorrow (Saturday) at 11.00am. Watch this space!