Stranded in Germany!

[Lovethetimeyouhave]

Well, first time to Austria and we ended up with the connecting flight back into London being cancelled due to thunderstorms. Thousands of people were stranded, we spent hours in the queue to be rebooked and given a hotel room, we then spent hours waiting for the shuttle bus to the hotel as people swarmed them as soon as they arrived, then spent ages in another queue to be booked into the hotel room. I know it's not an aibu, but would love to hear others stories of airport failures as I have to wait until 3pm to go home. My friend has my little boy and I miss him terribly

Possible outing but my plane once landed at the wrong airport at 2am. The airport was closed so they herded us all of the plane and LOCKED us in the terminal, no food or water. Someone eventually turned up at 6am and we all got a hotel for 3hours sleep before catching a ferry to our destination. I did wonder during those 4 hours if they were just going to leave us there And pretend we didn’t exist, coming back just to clean up our bones. It was hell on earth with lots of extremely tired crying children and stressed parents. Not a great start to a holiday!

At least they do some breakfast here

@sexykitten !!! That is crazy, 3 hours sleep too!!! Its mad that they can even lock you there

They locked you in the terminal that’s outrageous!

Last autumn stuck in lanzarote due to flight problems - airline asked for volunteers to be taken off flight
DD and I agreed as no commitments we needed to urgently get back for
We were offered extra night/day in luxury AI hotel, 3 room suite - transfers - meal and drink vouchers for airport, reimbursement of any unforeseen expenses and a free flight voucher each
Off on holiday again in a few weeks using our free flight 😊 so very happy

Yep. There was no one about not even cleaners. They just herded us into like a departure lounge because we could see all the boarding gates through the glass but doors leading back into the terminal and doors leading out were all locked up. You know how sparse boarding gates are there were toilets and nothing else. People who had bottles from the flight were filling them up at the sinks and handing them round. It all felt very “blitz spirit” by the end

23 hrs is my worst...
Yes, we got a hotel room, but sharing a room with my work colleagues not how I envisioned waking up on my Birthday.
The following day was chaos at the airport - because there were gates for the 23:00 from the 31 Feb to London, and flights for the 30 Feb to London an hour earlier (with a 23 hr delay). LOADS of people at the wrong gate!

My parents and I were flying home from Menorca many years ago. We got to the airport and checked our luggage in. The flight kept getting delayed and then eventually cancelled. We were then offered a connecting flight to Barcelona where we would have to stay the night and then fly back to England the next day.

So we duly arrived at Barcelona only to find our luggage was winging its way to UK already, so we were all given little washbags that included soap, toothpaste etc.

We arrived late at the hotel but they had laid on a meal for us. We had an interesting discussion about the starter which the waiter was convinced was mushroom soup but when it turned up it was green! Turned out it was asparagus.

Arrived in Gatwick next morning to find our luggage was still enjoying its holiday somewhere else so had to have that couriered to us a few days later. To add insult to injury we were stopped in customs to go through our bags ie our little washbags

Also very identifying but we were flying out with friends to see my daughter who is on her year abroad from university in Italy. We arrived at Gatwick to drop bags and were told money was too heavy so supervisor called. She looked at tickets and said you’re not flying Italy today as all airports are closed due to strikes. Lots of others had used automated bad drop and gone through to departures already so we’re stuck completely.
EJ desk were not helpful so we decided it was a coffee and taxi home, sadly.
In queue for coffee a chap approached me and asked where we’d wanted to fly to. He then produced a spreadsheet from his pocket and said Turin was still open and a flight with spaces was leaving in two hours. We ran to EJ desk and were told no because there wasn’t time but asked for supervisor to attend and stood our ground. They found those seats and booked us on after a brief discussion.
It meant a longer wait at Gatwick, a train from Turin airport to Turin, a bus ride across Turin, a train to Milan, another wait then a final train to our destination.
It took us an additional six hours or so but at least we got there eventually.

I was the lead passenger on a flight with 4 younger brothers when I was 15. We had a 2 hour stop at Atlanta and our on going plane was cancelled. We had spent most of our money on crap on the first plane and had no way of contacting our parents who were 'traveling'. We were delayed for 47 hours in the end and had to beg for food/drink from various kind ground staff. I suffer anxiety and panic if I go near an airport at all now I have my own DC.

@Sexykitten2005 was this an Alitalia flight to Egypt by any chance?

Friend and I got delayed by 10 hours coming back from Tunisia.

The travel company took us to a hotel near the airport and fed us but there was nothing to do so very boring.

We arrived at Gatwick after the last train had left, so we slept on the floor. I got up at 4am to work my way bleary eyed through weekend engineering works to Kings Cross. I got home at 10am.

We got stranded in Austria due to thunderstorms too a good few years back. We were flying back a day earlier than all our friends after a big race because DH had recently started a new job and couldn’t take the Monday off. We ended up on a very early flight the next morning and called his boss from the airport who was not understanding and said he could come in at lunchtime and take the morning as annual leave. So we missed the party and had to take leave anyway!

Another time we were sitting in the departure lounge and our flight disappeared off the board. Asked at the desk and were told that there were no flights to London that day - how did we get through security and why do we have boarding passes then dumbass? We were put on a bus to a nearby charter airport which had nothing open and then sat for 3 hours twiddling our thumbs until we were put on a plane. Not as bad as it could have been but still so very dull.

Where are you OP? You could do as your username and have a venture out before 3pm? The transport systems are amazing here. Grab a nice lunch and a beer before making your way back to the airport?

Got stranded in Ireland due to snow. The people at the airline desk buggered off so there was no one to help us. We just sat in the airport all night until we could book an alternative flight home.

The worst thing was I had spent all my euros and my card wouldn't work over there so I had no money for food or drink!

Flying back from Israel, the flight was delayed by around 4 hours, due to a 'technical problem'. Finally got on the plane, then half an hour in, after having horrendous earache for the flight so far, we turned back over Cyprus.

Back to Tel Aviv, where they proceeded to pull the door in front of us apart. Fixed it, then stuck it together with Duct tape! The flight back was nerve wracking, although I no longer had earache, so can only assume they fixed the problem.

And being 'stuck' in an airport for a few hours is so bad compared to the risk of an aircrash?
I have had many delays at airports, get over yourselves.

{ It was hell on earth with lots of extremely tired crying children and stressed parents.}
That is not 'hell on earth'.

Are you in Austria or Germany?

Delayed for 8 hours in Riyadh airport due to a technical issue. Flight was supposed to leave at 2am. Business Class lounge food was a choice of pot noodles or stale muffins

It has improved over the years and now has a Starbucks.

Blimey, who pissed on your cornflakes?

Flying out to Rhodes on 7:00 f!ight. Nothing on the board for Rhodes at that time. Tracked down a TUI rep who told me the flight was cancelled, but they had put me on 3:30. That was no good as I needed to be in Rhodes by 3:30 to get my ferry. TUI were usless. As I'm stood there fuming, I notice a Monarch plane to Rhodes at 6:30. Rushed down to their desk and bought a ticket for about £100, and got the flight.

While on holiday I received an email from TUI thanking me for my previous email ( I hadn't sent one) and agreeing that I was entitled to compensation to the tune of £300. Nice for me, not so nice for the lovely Monarch staff as the company went bust while I was on holiday.

bigbadbadger in the days before mobile phones this must have been a nightmare, lots of responsibility for a 15 year old.

We are in Frankfurt, the shuttle back to airport is at 11:45, tbh I feel a bit frozen, it's the first time leaving ds (had to as this trip was for work) he's 7, and we left him Friday morning until, well supposed to be last night, I'd promised him I'd pick him up Sunday no matter how late :(, feel like I'm just waiting to go and get him

If I had to guess, you’re flying Eurowings. If so, it’s not an unfortunate set of unpredictable circumstances, they do it in purpose.

Once flew out from Cape Town on BA. For some unknown reason/glitch the business class tickets were cheaper than economy so I was happily sitting in business class for the 1st and only time. We tried to take off about 3 times but each time didn't get off the ground, the landing gear didn't work properly. Were stuck in the plane at 3am eating the 3 course meal watching the terminal from the plane window. Finally at 6am they moved us to nearby hotels, business class got the closest one to the airport and some friends came to visit me again during the day. We flew out the following night and I claimed compensation back for the delay. The gods were definitely on my side with the cheap ticket under these circumstances!