Sun 14 March 2010
Sun 14 March 2010
31/07/12 17:49
This was the day that we should have flown home but it didn’t quite work out as planned. The first sign of trouble came before breakfast when we looked out of the hotel window and found that it was snowing, not heavily, but Beijing Airport and snow don’t go well together.
Everything went smoothly at first and we checked in for flight KLM 898 to Amsterdam and went through the formalities without a hitch. The inbound KLM flight had arrived a few minutes early and we were boarded in good time. The doors were closed and we were ready to go on schedule at 11:55, however, we didn’t move.
The Captain explained that we were number 32 in the queue for de-icing and we could be delayed for some time. Every hour we got an update on progress - sometimes we moved up the queue and sometimes back down again. Domestic flights were being given priority as the party big-wigs wanted to get home in time for their tea after a big meeting in Beijing. I was lucky to be in an emergency exit row and had the luxury of being bored witless in relative comfort.
After almost five hours, it seemed that all was lost. Air traffic control wouldn’t even tell the Captain where we were in the queue. Then, unexpectedly, a few minutes later, we got the go-ahead to push back. It took more than two hours to get to the de-icing pad, get de-iced (a process that takes around 5 minutes at a properly equipped airport but took at least 30 minutes at Beijing) and make our way to the end of the runway. We took off just after 19:00 local time or around seven hours late. Just as well that we left then as the crew were on the verge of running out of hours. By the time we got to Amsterdam, the airport was closing down for the night and our connections had long gone.
Fortunately, the process of rearranging flights for the following morning and finding a hotel for the night (at our own expense) were smooth and efficient. My journey back to the UK the following morning also went smoothly and I finally arrived home around 17 hours late.
Everything went smoothly at first and we checked in for flight KLM 898 to Amsterdam and went through the formalities without a hitch. The inbound KLM flight had arrived a few minutes early and we were boarded in good time. The doors were closed and we were ready to go on schedule at 11:55, however, we didn’t move.
The Captain explained that we were number 32 in the queue for de-icing and we could be delayed for some time. Every hour we got an update on progress - sometimes we moved up the queue and sometimes back down again. Domestic flights were being given priority as the party big-wigs wanted to get home in time for their tea after a big meeting in Beijing. I was lucky to be in an emergency exit row and had the luxury of being bored witless in relative comfort.
After almost five hours, it seemed that all was lost. Air traffic control wouldn’t even tell the Captain where we were in the queue. Then, unexpectedly, a few minutes later, we got the go-ahead to push back. It took more than two hours to get to the de-icing pad, get de-iced (a process that takes around 5 minutes at a properly equipped airport but took at least 30 minutes at Beijing) and make our way to the end of the runway. We took off just after 19:00 local time or around seven hours late. Just as well that we left then as the crew were on the verge of running out of hours. By the time we got to Amsterdam, the airport was closing down for the night and our connections had long gone.
Fortunately, the process of rearranging flights for the following morning and finding a hotel for the night (at our own expense) were smooth and efficient. My journey back to the UK the following morning also went smoothly and I finally arrived home around 17 hours late.
