I felt like I was on a version of the Amazing Race where teams have to find their way across the globe to beat the other teams to the next destination. Well here I was competing against thousands of other contestants trying to get out of Europe and back home for Christmas.
I started and almost finished in Lagos Nigeria where, after a roast turkey and cranberry sauce dinner topped off with cranberry crumble at the Sheraton Hotel, I headed to the airport by 8pm planning to get there by 9pm at the latest. I had already checked in so I only had to get through security and to the gate before the 9:50 boarding time. By 8am the traffic should have died off and it should not have taken longer than about 20 minutes to get to the airport. That was not about to happen.
Still about 6 kilometers from the Murtala Muhammad International airport we came into a slow moving traffic blockade. We were crawling along while the time was speeding by. It took an hour to get through the next 3 kilometers until finally we came to a standstill. On the other side of the road the traffic had disappeared and then there was no more cars coming. We came to a stop opposite a jet fuel tanker truck that had lost control on the road and jacked across both the lanes. How that affected us was that the two lanes of traffic that could not pass the jacked truck were backed up all the 3 kilometers to the critical intersection and toll gate that we had to pass through. Once a Nigerian driver enters an intersection he will not give up a centimeter even if it causes complete gridlock. I knew I was screwed. I was going to miss my flight.
Then an angelic sound came screaming past our car. A brand new BMW police motorcycle literally pushed itself in-between the two lanes of parked cars in some cases smashing side mirrors if the drivers did not part like the Red Sea for Moses. Way back behind him I could hear more sirens so I knew a VVIP motorcade was making its way through the parted waters of automobiles. The motorcycle cop pushed and smashed his way all the rest of the way to the critical gridlocked intersection so as to clear the log jam for his “clients” following behind. The lead motorcade SUV only made it up to beside us before completely getting blocked. We had to wait for the intersection to clear before anyone could move again.
After an agonizing half hour the cars ahead started to move and then slowly it came our turn. The motorcade went first but we followed behind like a NASCAR driver in the leader’s draft. But slowly the motorcade left us behind and eventually we started to slow down again until about 1 kilometer from the intersection. This time the intersection was being partially blocked by another jet fuel tanker truck broken down and blocking one of the two lanes. We were moving but so slow I could not envision making it through in time to catch my flight. It was now 9:30.
My driver had an official apron pass and so he suggested we bypass the toll gate to the international and take a side road that led to a back gate into the airport parking area. I told him to go for it. We pulled over into the dirt and grass and headed to the dark side of the airport. Within 5 minutes we had left the madness and reached the gate. The security managing the gate knew the driver and let us in. I grabbed my bags and ran across the tarmac and entered the airport from a back door. It was 10:00. 10 minutes after boarding time.
I managed to get through the security checks, after being sent back through the scanner twice, once for my belt and then for my shoes, and ran to the gate getting there at 10:20. The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt had luckily been delayed and had just started boarding. I literally almost walked straight onto the plane. I was worried Frankfurt would have been closed because of the snow storm but the Captain said they were getting rain and we should have no problems getting in. I figured that if Lufthansa made it into Frankfurt then Air Canada would make it and I would get home. That was my belief and my relief. I ate my dinner, watched half a movie and slept until about 30 minutes before landing.
I missed breakfast as I planned to have it at the Senator Lounge in the airport so I was still a little groggy when the Captain announced that Frankfurt had closed the airport because of continuing snow all night. He said the airport would be snow clearing for at least 4 hours so all flights would be diverting to Munich. I am incredible lucky with international travel so I really wasn’t worried. These kind of things always happen days after I have travelled or days before. I figured if I just went back to sleep everything would work out by the time I woke up.
After we landed, however, the head purser announced that Frankfurt would be closed for at least 4 more hours and even then we would need an hour to get clearances to take off. That would get us into Frankfurt, IF THEY OPENED, by 13:30. For sure I would miss the Air Canada flight if they made it in and if they didn’t then I would have to wait until the next day anyway. This was not looking so good.
The heaad purser came on again and told us to get comfortable but refrain from using the toilet unless absolutely necessary. He explained that because the airport was not allowing us to park at a gate we were going to have to sit it out on the apron parking lot. Plus because there was no immigration or security set up to deal with our unexpected flight arrival that we would have to remain on the airplane for the duration. We were settling in for a long wait.
At that point I decided that waiting around for my fate to hand me deliverance was not the answer. I went up to the head purser and asked If I could be let off in Munich. I explained that it made no sense for me to go to Frankfurt either way and that there was a Toronto and a Montreal flight leaving Munich later today. Since the weather was bright and sunny I knew they would make it in and out of Munich with no problem.
By then a couple came up behind me and said that their destination was Munich anyway. Again there was no sense in them going to get stuck in Frankfurt when they were already at home. The purser agreed and called the Captain, the Captain called the tower, and the tower called the airport management. The airport agreed to set up a special immigration desk and security check-point to receive us and to send us a terminal bus.
In the end about 14 of us decided to get off. When the bus came I stood on the top of the stairs looking across the sunlit apron covered in bunkers of piled snow wondering if I wasn’t jumping out of the flying pan into the fire. The Captain made the announcement that any of us could de-plane here in Munich but once we were down the stairs we were not going to be allowed back on.
Munich to Frankfurt – Cancelled
To cut a long story short I had to wait until the Air Canada check-in counter opened to rebook my routing and request a seat. I was the first in line and the young lady immediately got flustered with the reality that her first check in for the day was a tough one. She actually told me to go to Lufthansa to get my ticket reissued. I pointed out that it was an Air Canada ticket. She told me that without a booking reference she would not know how to rebook me. I pointed out that the booking reference was on the printed out e-ticket. She actually told me that rebooking flights was tougher now that everyone had e-tickets. Huh!
Finally when I wouldn’t go away she decided to give it a try and was able to rebook me for the flight, but on standby. He supervisor had shown up and explained that there was 25 “standbys” ahead of me and most of them were from yesterday and the day before. Munich had just recovered from their portion of the winter storm and not everyone had yet been accommodated.
I took my standby ticket and waited as they boarded the incredibly long line of weary disheveled passengers. For some of them this was their third day of waiting for a seat. The rest of the 25 “wanna-seats” huddled closely around the counter straining to hear their names. The Air Canada supervisor printed out three extra tickets and called the lucky winners. It was like winning a lottery and each time I heard a shout for joy. One lady beside me, however, had only arrived yesterday from a diverted flight. She had not been waiting for three days. So when they called her name I asked politely “What is your secret?” “How did you get on?”
“I got here early,” she said “and registered with Lufthansa.”
I had done that as well but I will still on the bottom of the list. Then it dawned on me that she was prominently holding her Air Canada Elite Card. I looked at my ticket and realized that the very frustrated young lady that had originally rebooked me had not swiped my frequent flyer card. I went up to the desk and tried to get the supervisors attention. She originally dismissed me saying that after she attended to the next batch of names she would attend to me. I knew that might be too late so I held up my card and said very loudly, “I don’t think you put my Elite Card on my standby request.”
She took my card and stopped to stare at it for a second. Then she yelled out loud, “Ladies, I have an Elite Member. Let’s reload.” She immediately tore up the boarding passes she had just printed and they all murmured and pointed at the computer screen discussing who they were going to “OFFLOAD.” Ok, the supervisor said, “Let’s OFFLOAD this guy.”
The way they said the word it sounded like they were physically removing cattle from a freight car. She then printed out a new boarding card. She picked up the card and looked at it like it was a news bulletin and yelled out “MR GOULET”. I called out “HERE” feeling like a school kid at roll call and she looked over as if she had never seen me before.
“You can board now Mr Goulet.” The rest of the gathering silently looked on in despair. In the end about 12 passengers still did not get on. The head purser had been notified that I was coming so he met me at the door and stopped me for a moment while he diverted a lesser passenger to the back of the plane in order to get me a better seat. He stowed my carry on and made sure I was comfortable.
My original flight to Frankfurt ended up sitting on the Munich tarmac for 6 hours and did not get into Frankfurt until very late. My original Air Canada flight (Toronto to Frankfurt) did make it into Frankfurt minutes before they had closed the airport that morning but was delayed by the closure and left for Toronto 6:30 hours late. But they ultimately left before my Lufthansa flight arrived. I would have missed Air Canada for sure. And they would not have known why I didn’t show up. In other words, I would have still been in Europe today. In this version of the Amazing Race I was the clear winner.
Past Snow Storms. Can anyone see a trend here? Do you think it is about time Europe invested in a snow blower or two?
