Just another flight - not! August 28, 2023

On August 28th morning, I was chuffed. I was all packed and organized for my trip from London to Chennai. I felt totally in control. The Uber driver came within 3 minutes of my calling him. Usually it’s a hassle getting one to Heathrow. Today was different. For the same reason, we breezed through with no traffic. It was a bank holiday in England. The weekend before the September Labour Day weekend in North America. Check in and security were a breeze. I found myself in the Aspire Lounge, Terminal 5 enjoying a sumptuous breakfast. I made my calls to my sisters. Utta called and everything was just going swimmingly. I made my way to my gate thinking I would be boarded in an hour. Wrong. Things began to get really hairy at this point. The entire Air Traffic Control system in London was down. Hacked for ransom or for jollies? Cyber terrorism of some form? Benign system failure with not so benign consequences grounding hundreds of planes in one swell snoop? So many questions and no answers! No one was saying anything to help us make sense of the situation. It made the news. Social media and all news media outlets were buzzing about this unmitigated catastrophe. The pilot used the word “unprecedented” to explain this unusual occurrence. With the dawning of the AI era, this catastrophe brought to the fore our sheer vulnerability in a world where we are at technology’s mercy. The worst had happened! Hundreds of planes grounded in London airports, thousand of passengers stranded. The airport, passengers and airlines in a tailspin, the effects of which would linger for days. 

We were given food vouchers worth 10 BP each and told there was no take off time. The pilot, however, wanted to do right by us and give it his best shot to get us out of London. We were on a long haul flight that deserved to be prioritized by the much slower manually managed replacement Air Traffic Control system in effect, he said. He seemed like a man on a mission, capable of taking charge. He boarded us, had our bags on-boarded and started up his fully fueled aircraft. Now it was a waiting game. We were served food and drink. The crew was super sweet but had no answers except to say there was a legal time limit for them to fly us. The count down was on now with few minutes to spare. I pieced together that the pilots had to be relieved so as not to risk fatigue. Anyway the legal time limit expired. By this time, we were 3 hours on the tarmac. The pilot still held out hope saying that he was trying to get replacement crew who would fly us out. We waited for another half hour. Then we heard the not so good news that we would be off boarded. But there was some good news. One, our bags would not be offloaded. Two, we could pick up hotel vouchers as we disembarked. And so we followed instructions. In the midst of such grave uncertainty it was nice to witness a flight full of troopers. My English neighbour and I made our way out of the plane, grabbed vouchers to get us to the Holiday Inn Express. 

We joined a group of Indians, appointed one man, who seemed good at following instructions, our leader. We made our way out of Terminal 5 taking the Heathrow Express to T4. It was somewhat convoluted in that we had to go to T 2,3 first and then retrace back to 4 in another train. We joked our way through a maze of tunnels and literally as a light at the end was the Holiday Inn Express, our haven for the night. It was massive. Hundreds of rooms visible over several floors through an atrium. With quiet efficiency we were handed card keys. I gathered that it was probably routine for the hotel staff to process rooms for hundreds of stranded passengers on short notice. Anyway, the buffet was closing so we had to eat before we made it to our rooms. There was salad, nice tadka daal, rice and some steamed veggies. I made myself a plate and joined two of my co- passengers at their table. I bought myself a cider and enjoyed the meal. Then to my room, a nice hot shower and bed. Put it down to clairvoyance, I had actually packed spare clothes in my carry-on! I had everything I could possibly need for an overnight stay. Odd. I had a good sleep with the temperature set to 17 degrees C. 

I woke up at 8 am, showered, made all my phone calls and meandered through an interminable hallway to the elevator down, for breakfast in the cheery dining hall.  The place was buzzing.  The waiters were harried but I witnessed grace and kindness in the middle of utter chaos.  I got my oats and vegetable sausage, a nice cup of coffee and some fruit.  Terminal 5 was a sea of individuals in fleece jackets that said "Heathrow - here to help"! An army had been deployed and no expense spared to ensure customers navigated safely through the confusion to their flights. The folks at security were patient and cheery even though they had to figure out how to get us through with boarding passes dated August 28.   I thought I should treat myself to a nice perfume to mark this day! So I splurged on a Van Cleef Pachouli, even proudly boasting to Utta on the phone. However, in my excitement to board my flight, I ended up leaving it on my seat at the Starbucks right by the gate.   I only realized this post boarding, and the crew could not get it for me since it was inside a store and not at the gate! Someone needed that perfume more than me, I said to them. They were profusely apologetic even though it was entirely my fault! To make up for my disappointment, one crew member snuck me a nice large bottle of Prosecco, another brought me two bottles of white wine and treats and everyone stopped to condole my bad fortune.  They offered that I should call Heathrow's "lost and found" when I returned.  I made a mental note.  So much kindness!

Needless to say, this adventure actually enriched my flight to India and renewed my faith in the good in all. So many new people and experiences. Also never had the energy on a plane been so good. Everyone displayed remarkable calmness and patience on both days. There were no complaints and no crying babies. An atmosphere of joy and conviviality. We felt like a tribe of chosen ones! And we were white, black, yellow and mostly brown, given our destination.  Doctors, sales people, motorcycle enthusiasts, young mothers, pregnant women, couples, young and old.  Maybe it was me, seeing what I wanted to see? Anyway, this was yet another experience the universe had thrown my way that I would never have wished for and, yet, I was so grateful for!  I landed safely with lovely memories of this unusual flight and a happy ending!