Part 2

[FONT=Verdana]Paris Charles-de-Gaulle to London Heathrow
BD184 – Sunday 19 June

Aircraft: Airbus A320-200, G-MIDP

Scheduled Departure: 2155hrs[/FONT]
Actual Departure: 0020hrs (Approx)

Scheduled Arrival: 2200hrs
Actual Arrival: 0001hrs (According to BAA)

After a great weekend in Paris, it was time to head home. We had seen what it was we wanted to see and were in lots of pain after a bit of sun burn, so thought that we would try our luck with bmi and see if they would change our flight to an earlier one. At 1300hrs, we still had 9 hours until our flight but thought that they might let us change for nothing or for a small fee. A man working for a handling agent assisted us and said that we would need about €200 or €250. Not a great reply to my question. I wanted an exact amount and not a wild guess.

So not wanting to waste money on changing the flight, we decided to try and check-in for the flight for which we were booked to be on. bmi has a check-in policy which states that check-in desks open 2.5 hours before departure. We were there 9 hours before departure. There were three bmi desks open and not a single person using them. CDG does not have self check-in machines which I was disappointed by. The airline has something crazy like 5 flights a day to Heathrow alone plus many others to other UK destinations, so two or three would be useful.

To my surprise, we were allowed to check-in, possibly because we didn’t have baggage to check in, so they didn’t have to worry about storing any suitcases anywhere for the next few hours. We requested 2 window seats and were issued cards for seats 6F and 7F, one behind the other.

We returned to the airport at about 1730hrs, still a long time before the flight, but were knackered and wanted some food and drink inside us after yet another scorching hot day. We went to the basement of the airport where we came across lots of snack bars and a McDonald’s right at the end.

After managing to kill a few hours, we waited for the flight to Heathrow to appear on the departure board and then decided to go and wait slightly closer to the gate. The grotty terminal is split into satellites and there are seven of them. Other bmi flights seemed to go from Satellite 3, and not to our amazement, ours was going from there as well, so we took a walk up, just as an ANA 747 was boarding and an Aer Lingus A320, too.

We waited a little while longer and by 2130hrs, 25 minutes before we were due to go, there was no sign of our aircraft, so a delay was inevitable. We proceeded through security once the Aer Lingus flight had gone and sat at the gate area that had been used for it. A few minutes before we were due to take to the skies, an announcement was made by a very annoying lady who had been putting calls out all night. It seemed that for every call she put out, she pressed her lips right up close to the microphone so nobody could understand her. I managed to pick a few words out of what she was saying and figured out that we were going to be 40 minutes late.

By about 2205hrs, the A320 (G-MIDP) taxied past at some speed and parked up at gate 32. By this time, all the passengers were herded into gate 32 and waited for boarding. There was no rush. Gate staff wandered around aimlessly and the aircraft had been emptied of its passengers quite a while before now, so I couldn’t work out why boarding hadn’t started.

At about 2240hrs, the aircraft was running 45 minutes late and boarding began. The flight was totally full this time around and there wasn’t a single free seat that I could see in the economy cabin. The doors were closed and we were welcomed on board by the Purser. The jetty was pulled away and the television screens came down from the ceiling. We were shown the safety video which lasted a few minutes. Once that had finished, the cabin lights went off and the crew disappeared. But whereas you would normally be turning onto the runway at this point, we weren’t. In fact, we were still sat at the gate in darkness, but nobody knew why.

Eventually, the Captain spoke to us and explained another problem, something that would delay us even further! Unfortunately, the navigation system had developed a fault and the aircraft could not fly without it – obviously. He said that help was on the way and apologised and also said we could use our mobile phones again. So the lights popped back on and we waited.

A little while later, a British Airways Engineering van pulled up to the aircraft and a man boarded the aircraft and entered the flight deck. By now, it had easily been 15 or 20 minutes and we had heard no more. The Captain then came into the cabin and spoke to us yet again. The problem was being ‘looked at’ but it would be 25 or 30 minutes before the system would even stand a chance of being returned to its original working order. Even so, there was no guarantee that it would be working tonight, so if the worst came to the worst… you can figure the rest out. We would spend another night in Paris at the expense of bmi.

Well, 50 minutes or so had easily gone by. The crew had served everyone a glass of water and then realised that it wasn’t looking too good, so they served us our snack – a soft roll containing egg mayonnaise and ham or a roll containing spicy bean and vegetable. Both were very nice.

Just after midnight and just after we had been handed our food, the Captain came on again and announced that the problem had been sorted and we were ready to go again. The seatbelt sign went on and the crew practically snatched food out of people’s hands so we could get going again. The seatbelt sign went on, phones had to be switched off and the door was closed again.

The engines were started whilst we were still parked at the gate and for a minute or two, nothing happened. Then, the aircraft made a sharp, slow turn to the right. It didn’t push back. It taxied fairly quickly to the runway for departure and the landing lights (??) were switched on long before reaching it. Full-throttle was applied as the aircraft turned onto the runway and we sped down the runway, taking quite some time to get airborne. To be expected, considering this was such a full flight. The cabin lights had not been dimmed again, so we took off with a completely lit cabin.

The aircraft climbed to 24,000ft and we were told that the flight would last 45 minutes. The views from our cruising altitude were great, especially over the Channel, seeing the lights of Northern France to one side and the lights of the English South Coast on the other side.

In the cabin, a round of drinks were served. Because we had already eaten, that was all we going to get for this short flight to London.

The seatbelt sign popped on again and our descent into Heathrow was under way. Before we knew it, the Captain was pointing out the nicely lit Heathrow Airport to our right and there were plenty of aircraft moving, even so late at night – all operating with severe delays – with Heathrow Airport to blame for them (according to our Pilot). We flew a little while longer and then made a 180-degree turn to the right, landing today on runway 9L.

We touched down at 00.01hrs. We departed 2 hours and 30 minutes late but only landed 2 hours late at Heathrow, so made up a good half hour.

Exiting runway 9L to the right, we were just about at Terminal 1 and were disembarking the aircraft very quickly. The trip through Heathrow was also just as easy.

Thats what you get for flying bmi…

BA all the way…no tech issues and a lovely smooth flight to add to it though I thought a rather bizzare approach into BHX

But on the other hand, bmi were cheaper than British Airways.

And I’m sure that British Airways do encounter technical problems often enough, especially considering that they have engineers based at CDG. It was these engineers that had to come and see to the aircraft.

Well, in response to my first post, that 21.55hrs flight never left Paris at 21.55hrs. In fact, it hadn’t even arrived by that time, so we were told that it would be about 40 minutes late in getting away for Heathrow.

Once we eventually all got on board G-MIDP (an A320 incidentally) we sat and waited… and waited… until the Captain finally explained that we had a technical problem with the navigation equipment on the aircraft. A British Airways engineer came on board and we were told to sit tight for half an hour while it was looked at. There was no guarantee it could be fixed.

Anyhow, it was fixed and by 00.20hrs (Paris time) we were on our way to London Heathrow, eventually touching down in a rather hot London, with temperatures at 26C. We landed at 00.01hrs (UK time) and had arrived 2 hours and 1 minute behind schedule.

Anyway, one of my infamous flight reports will be appearing on the Trip Reports board some time soon, so keep an eye out.