It wasn't even Friday the 13th....

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I’m through with flying


I’ve just had a few days in Bolton, with daughter Einor and family. Saw Bolton Premier Productions’ cracking version of ‘Scrooge’ while I was there, and of course the star of the show for me, among many others, was Elinor in a flaming red wig and fat suit, as Mrs. Fezziwig.

I travelled courtesy of Ryanair. It was no fun.

First of all, some weeks ago, they changed my departure time from Liverpool from a manageable 9.00 a.m. to a much less friendly 6.15 a.m. Admittedly I had the option to cancel or to change, but what to exactly? So - taxi to Liverpool Airport from Ellie’s house, leaving at 4.10 a.m.: £45.00.

With 20 minutes to go before landing, the captain announced that due to fog at Limoges, we would land instead at Poitiers (or ‘Poytierrs’ as Ryanair staff call it). So we did. The airport at Poitiers is roughly the size of Harrogate Bus Station, and was closed for business. Our arrival had taken it by surprise and there was no café, no shop, and no information. It’s also 120 km. north of Limoges. We all milled about calling people on our mobiles, and various people, talking to their friends waiting at Limoges to meet them came to understand that there was, frankly, little fog there.

Finally, they told us that a bus was bringing Ryanair passengers due to fly back to Liverpool to Poitiers. It would arrive in about 2 hours’ time, and would then take us on the 2 hour journey back there…. A solitary and very helpful French baggage handler did his best to answer all our questions by going on the net, with 2 of us acting as interpreter for the long line of people wanting information about onward trains and so on.

It was clear I’d miss my train from Limoges to Toulouse. It had been a cheap internet ticket costing 21 euros, but only useable on one specific train. As it had been due to leave the station more than 2 hours after the plane was supposed to land in Limoges, I’d felt pretty safe to book it.

There didn’t seem much point in hanging round for the bus to Limoges and risking missing the next train from there to Toulouse - there aren't many per day. So a group of us shared a taxi to Poitiers station, and swapped stories about our not-so-cheap fares. We’d all had unforeseen nights in hotels or long taxi journeys as a result of the schedule change, and I wasn’t alone in losing a train journey. We really wondered what was going on - the decision to land at Poitiers seemed to have been taken remarkably quickly in weather conditions that didn’t sound exactly like a Dickensian pea-souper.

New train to Toulouse: arrival time: no longer 2.00 p.m. but after 5.00 p.m. Cost? 54 euros. Add to that 2 taxi fares, ‘phone calls, extra food along the way, and the bargain-basement fares offered by Ryanair no longer seems such a bargain. AND I missed singing in a concert in Foix, which was a disappointment to me, and let down the people I was due to sing with.

I accept absolutely that flights have to be governed by considerations of safety, but it DID all seem a bit odd. And badly handled. That’ll teach me to go for the non-green travel option.

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