A Tale of Technical Difficulties

So after a very long delay, about 42 hours to be exact, I have finally made it home to Canada. What an incredible crazy last two days! I had no idea that a simple flight home was going to turn into the longest delay I have ever experienced flying. I thought I had a bad job of it when I flew home in December with Air France. This one is definitely the new champion.

Stephen and I had no idea what we were in for when we once again started the trek to Glasgow with Steve and Heather. After they dropped us off we made our way through security and proceeded to our gate. We settled down and waited for our flight. Soon enough we were boarded onto the plane belted up and ready to go. The engines were running and it looked like everything was going to proceed as normal when suddenly the engines were turned off and our ears were greeted with an announcement from the Captain:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your flight captain speaking, I’m afraid that there will be a slight delay in taking off but we hope to be with you shortly and up and running within 10 minutes or so”

Well 10 minutes turned into half an hour. Then we heard the next announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain once again. I’m afraid that we are experience a slight technical difficulty with the aircraft. It seems that one of the ignition systems isn’t running properly. We are bringing some technicians out to troubleshoot the problem and hopefully we’ll be in the air as soon as we can.”

Another hour later!

“Ladies and gentlemen we appreciate your patience in this matter. We are all in the same boat and want to get in the air just as much as you. It’s taking a lot longer to assess the problem than we anticipated so for the time being we are going to ask you deplane and you will be issued food vouchers and we will let you know what’s happening as soon as we can”

Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:00 but at 8:00 Stephen and I were standing in a line trying to redeem our food vouchers.




(Waiting in the restaurant for news of our flight)

It wasn’t until about 8:30 we were told that the flight would be cancelled completely and that we were to reclaim our luggage and they would sort hotels out for us at the desk in the check in area. So somewhat tired and a bit disgruntled about 272 passengers trooped downstairs as directed.

After receiving our luggage we joined a queue that ended up winding like a snake to the doors to have our accommodation for the evening sorted out. The only problem is that there were about 5 different airport staff floating around saying 5 different things. What was even more disturbing was the news that the search to provide hotel rooms for us all was proving very difficult as there didn’t seem to be any available! There was a medical convention going on that weekend in the city, as well as some sort of festival and a golf tournament. By the time 10:00 rolled around we decided that we would just camp at the airport. I’ve done it before, four times to be exact, and I knew that I would survive. We managed to group with another girl named Anna from Montreal. She was quite upset while we were claiming our bags so I said she could stick with me and my brother if she wanted. The three of us were given some more food vouchers and then took our things upstairs to camp for the night. We ended up parking in a small café area in the food court upstairs and slept in these padded bucket type chairs that we pushed together. It wasn’t very comfortable at all but finally I discovered that I could sleep if I lied on my back and let my feet hang out over the edge of the chair. I think I managed about 3-4 hours sleep. I woke up at 4ish completely starving and set out to use some of my voucher money.








(Sleeping in the chairs)

We had been told that our flight would be leaving at 1:00 and that we should check in our bags at 11. We went down at 10 since we were tired of sitting in these chairs, checked in and found our gate.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly and the plane showed up as well as the cabin crew. We were sitting there talking about how we were so relieved to finally be able to get home and sleep in a real bed and laughing about how ridiculous it would be if once again we got on and we heard the captain come on and announce the same thing!

Well…..sure enough, we hadn’t been boarded and ready to go for 10 minutes when the engines shut off again and once again we heard:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain, unfortunately we are having another technical problem….”

Again, we had to deplane and wait in the lounge until we knew what was happening. We were told we would have an update at 4 and were handed some more food vouchers. I managed to find a phone charger so I was able to call people to let them know what was happening. At 4 we were told we would know in about half an hour. Finally at about 5 we were once again told our flight was cancelled but this time they would be bussing us to Edinburgh to stay in hotels there. We were to reclaim our luggage and head to the transit desk again.

This time we had a group plan! Stephen and I got the bags while Anna stood in line with our boarding passes to get us all a room. We managed to get near the front and had our rooms sorted out for us to stay at the Mariot hotel in Edinburgh. We then put our bags onto a bus and traveled to Edinburgh.


(Stephen and I on the bus to Edinburgh)

I was so glad to see a bed! We received a free meal in the hotel restaurant and Stephen went for a swim. I forgot to bring a bathing suit so I couldn’t swim but I was able to relax in the room. It was a very nice hotel and the beds were comparable to the one I stayed in at the Hilton in Boston.
The next set of information we received regarding our flight was that it was leaving at 9:10 the next morning and that we would be picked up from the hotel at 6. I was so excited. By this time I just wanted to get home as soon as I could! Not wanting to be late Stephen and I arranged for a wake up call at 5. We got down to the lobby by 5:45 and were ready and waiting. Just when you’re thinking it couldn’t get any worse….at about 7 one of the hotel staff came outside and said:

“Ladies and gentlemen I’m afraid there has been a delay..!!!!”

We didn’t end up leaving the hotel until about 8!! Insane isn’t it! We got to the airport for 9 and all pretty much ran off the bus to collect our luggage and run to the check in desk. There was only one staff member running it so it was moving very slowly. Apparently the airport staff had received word that we had been picked up on time, just a slight miscommunication!! In fact we even made the paper!


(Outside the hotel, waiting for the buses)



Despite the madness we did end up leaving that morning, though not at 9:10. We did get away for 10:20. Because of the way the schedule worked out and because they’d flown a new aircraft out for us to fly on we ended up flying directly to Ottawa first!! We were meant to stop in Halifax first and then Ottawa.

And the goodness from this madness you ask! Well because the delay was like 42 hours long, a rep from Zoom came on the airplane when we landed in Ottawa explaining we would be given letters of apology and a bit of compensation. When I got my letter I was so excited because everyone was given a free return trip with Zoom to be used within the next two years! This means that I don’t have to worry about how to pay for my plane ticket back to England in September and that I have a flight home for Christmas!! What a blessing out of crazy circumstances. I know a lot of people were muttering and laughing about the fact that they gave out a free trip when they’d never be flying with them again. Really though, I’m glad that I didn’t fly on an airplane that had problems and they staff really did do the best they could to accommodate us in such crazy circumstances. I really think God’s hand was very much in the entire situation.

Anyway, I’m home, safe and sound! I hopefully never have a tale to top that one. I don’t know what else could really and I’m scared to ask or think about it.

Tonight Stephen is taking me out for a meal since we haven’t had a decent one in almost three days!! He’s such a sweet brother. He brought me flowers into work one day while he was in England with me. What a cutie!