>>We had where held once in the plane and I fell asleep. When I woke up we where still on the runway and I felt a great "I've got to get outside" urge I really had to get a grip loosen clothing etc.
>
>That occasion we were all dehydrating. The acres of runway act like huge storage heaters, giving off their accumulated heat. The a/c wasn't on and, during the delay we all got one lousy plastic cup of water - very uncomfortable time.
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>>same flight we where bussed out to the plane and as we arrived a bunch of guys including the pilot where standing around one engine with the side panel off and big pool of oil on the ground. Great !
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>Did you die? I think if I'd been in that situation it would have taken just one guy to go and kick the landing gear tyres (as a check) for me to demand a bus back to the terminal.

I remember sitting on the runway in Vancouver coming back to Edmonton. We'd been sitting there about a half hour when the pilot came on and apologised for the delay, "but we are having mechanical problems". Frankly, that's not what I want to hear. I want to hear that the baggage has been delayed because the baggage truck broke down. In those situations, I really don't mind being lied to.

When we used to fly from Vancouver to Edmonton, we also used to get the standard announcement before landing in Edmonton assuring us that 'there is nothing wrong with the aircraft, it's just that we're going to be landing on the worst runway in Canada'. And it was.

It also reminds me of the time I was waiting to get onto the Toronto Subway at the St. George stop. The train in the station was very crowded, so I didn't get on. The train sat there and sat there because the doors right in front of where I was standing wouldn't close. All the other doors were closed, but not those. Anyway, we stood there about 15 minutes when they announced that there was a delay at the St. George station with "an ill passenger on board." I guess they thought there would be mass panic throughout the entire system (if not the whole city) if they said that a pair of doors wouldn't close properly.

They also announced that an emergency crew was on it's way to the station and service would resume shortly. After about another 10 minutes, a guy in TTC coveralls with a toolbox showed up and got the door to close (this was the emergency crew, I guess). Finally they announced that the emergency had been taken care of, and service had resumed.

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>>>>Have you tried London City. Thats fantastic if you're going to a European destination. Its really small and fast and easy to get to on the DLR.
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>>>No, not had occasion to. A few years ago went to Rome via Stansted. On the way back we were held on the baking runway for hours and the pilot was saying that we may have to divert to Luton (3 families together - we had our 3 cars at Stansted, and it was gonna be the midddle of the night). Anyhow, eventually the pilot got a window and it was like "hang on to your hats - we're off!" and we were taken to St. By then though, I had to keep hitting the dashboard of my car to stay awake on the motorway home - nightmare!
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>>>Gatwick's great in that I get a train from Brighton which drops me right in the airport, 20 mins later.
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>>>Using it this w/e BTW - off to Egypt for a week's diving, sans famille!
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>>>
>>>>When I lived in Wiltshire we used Bristol a few times and that was good.
>>>>I like Barcelona as well.
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>>>Never been there.
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>>>>
>>>>But I've generally gone off air travel. We always seem to get hit with delays. One year we where due to fly out to spain and arrived at the airport just as the national air traffic control computer decided to stop working. Spent 16 hours at the airport with two small children then got flown to the wrong airport because our destination didn't accept flights at night so we got bussed to our airport. We where knackered when we got there (had a fantastic holday though). Also had a couple of instance of being held in the plane for hours which I really hate.
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>>>>>OTOH Gatwick (my local airport) is one of the nicest airports I've ever travelled through. Toronto used to be ghastly. Boston had no a/c in the immigration lounge and people were left sweating in a queue for over an hour. One in the UAE (somehere in a desert) where I had 2 x 2-hour stop-overs (where they had a Mercedes in the duty-free shop!) was so cold I was shivering (only had on light clothes from the far east).
>>>>>
>>>>>>If you think thats bad I assume you've never flown into Heathrow.
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Now if he can fix the Charles DeGaul Bus Terminal... I mean airport... in Paris.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Ahhhh, now that we've got a conservative at the helm in France, it's time to order up the french fries. Have a Belgian Waffle. Eat a croussant with some cheese and have a bottle of French wine. The new president, Sarkozy, loves the United States and despises the muslim terrorists! What a turnabout.