We are home. Here’s the BA plane we were waiting to board at Queen Alia International Airport near Amman early yesterday morning. You can see the Passenger Boarding Bridge – or Jetway – is fully connected.
Shame they had such a job connecting the one waiting for us at Heathrow’s Terminal Five when we arrived. Smooth journey but bit of a hold up at this end. Looked like they were employing a trainee to connect us and they just couldn’t get the thing to line up with the doorway of our aircraft.
Reminded me of what the RAF call a ‘stable gadangle’ which l witnessed on board a Hercules in the middle of the South Atlantic during the refuelling, in mid-air of, our aircraft.
Another Hercules – carrying our fuel – lets out a flexible pipe with a cone on the end. That has to connect with the probe on top of our plane. Once the connection is made fuel is pumped through it.
I marveled at the accuracy of that – as l do every time a space capsule docks with the International Space Station – but this little ‘docking’ exercise at the Uk’s premier airport was not going well.
While this was going on, passengers were standing in the gangway – with overhead lockers half emptied – waiting to get off.
Eventually, they seemed to give up on the Jetway and – according to the latest announcement from our pilot – they had sent for a set of steps instead.
Minutes later we were told the steps would be attached at the back of the plane so everyone shuffled around to face the other way. Then we were told they didn’t have enough airport crew to ensure we were directed safely into the terminal building.
Time ticked on, and finally, it seemed they were able to successfully attach the jetway and we were able to get off.
The whole operation, from taxiing to a stop to disembarking, must have taken nearly an hour. I think they had just sent for someone who knew how to operate the Jetway controls!
Not impressed with BA either. A light snack on the way out turned out to be a packet of crisps and a bottle of water!
While, if you order coffee, you get a cup of hot water and a coffee bag! Even EasyJet come around with a jug containing ready-made!
Plus, we’d ordered extra leg room – and paid extra for it too. However, on the way back, BA had decided it had too many ‘club class’ clients due to fly and changed our seats – pushing us back towards the tail end . We will be making sure we get our extra-leg-room money back!
PS. In common with much of our infrastructure, British Airways isn’t British anymore. It’s owned by a Spanish company.!!
