General Holiday Enquiries, Hints and Tips

General Holiday Enquiries? Got General Hints & Tips? Post Them Here.
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We were diverted from Aberdeen to Edinburgh at the beginning of October due to high winds. The pilot tried to land twice and the second time the plane tilted about 45 degrees so he aborted the landing. He said 5 or 6 flights in front of us had tried and failed to land.

We got a bus back to Aberdeen which took about 2.5-3 hours. I don't like travelling on buses either so I slept most of the way.

luci :wave
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Luci - I can cope with a short journey - say up to an hour, but after that I become a shivering wreck. It does hamper somewhat the resorts we can stay in when abroad. I do need something less than an hour travelling time from the airport, although twice I have stretched it to 1 1/2 hours, but struggled. Not the sort of thing you want to start off a holiday.
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We was on a flight from Tunisia a few years ago when a passenger had a heart attack,we was about 1 and half hours into the flight,meals were being heated up,and we was diverted to Nice,in France,we landed and paramedics were on the plane for about an hour before they took the passenger off and to hospital,we had to wait on the plane for about another hour for a new flightplan to fly us on to Manchester,then we was told that we couldnt land in Manchester due to the runways being closed and the airport itself also,something to do with repairs through the night,and we was flown to Liverpool instead and then coached to Manchester,this was end of November and our daughter was still waiting to pick us up at Manchester,freezing cold at 5am in the morning,we ended up not getting our meal on the plane,because they couldnt reheat them,but hey,I can now say Ive been to Nice!. :)
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A few days before Christmas a couple of years ago, we were supposed to land at Bristol Airport but because of the fog, the plane was diverted to Birmingham. The time was around midnight and we waited ages in the cold and damp for the coaches to come. Some of us tried to get a cab but the price was about £190!
The journey back to Bristol was horrible - it was so foggy and dark. All of the coach windows were steamed up and we were all freezing, tired but couldn't sleep and very fed up but what made it worse was nearly half the passengers on the coach lived in Bristol and asked the Driver to drop them off outside their homes which was lovely for them but not for those who had a long drive back once we got to the airport!!! After visiting many addresses, one chap stood up and shouted to the Driver, in a very angry voice "DO NOT STOP AGAIN - we all want to get home - just take us all back to the airport"
Silence in the coach after that!
We would not choose to fly to or from an airport that far away from us, mainly due to my dislike of motorway travel, especially on a coach which I hate.
Our only consolation was - better to be safe than sorry and the passengers safety is paramount but I wouldn't like to go through that experience again.
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a few years ago we were returning from Bendirom and had to divert to Toulouse on France as one passenger had a heart attack and another one had a stroke. The usual two hour flight to Gatwick took five!
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Many years ago we were returning from Germany where we had been living for 2 years.
I was staying in the UK but my husband had to go back to be demobbed.
Our flight to Manchester was diverted to Gatwick because of fog.We had family waiting at Manchester to pick us up as we had loads of luggage and a pram!
We had to find our way up to London and the get a train up to Newcastle,lugging 3 cases and a pram!
Luckily my 5 month old baby slept most of the way. :D
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We had problems on our trip to La Palma over last New Year. Our outbound flight from Manchester took off on time and we had no problems until we tried to land in La Palma. Due to cloudy weather, the pilot was unable to see the runway and the landing was therefore aborted at the last minute. We were instead flown to Tenerife and then sat on the tarmac for an hour, awaiting further news. You can imagine how pleased everyone was when we were told that the plane would not be attempting another landing in La Palma and instead we would be transferred there by ferry that evening! We were then taken to the Princessa Dacil hotel in Los Christianos where we were given lunch, before being picked up much later that day and being taken to the port to get the ferry. The crossing took 2 ½ hrs over very choppy waters, meaning that we finally arrived in La Palma 11 hrs later than planned. In some ways we were lucky though - the passengers due to fly back to Manchester ended up leaving a day late (via Tenerife), and the Gatwick return flight was delayed by 2 days due to a technical fault!
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Many years ago my husband and I flew from Bristol to Rhodes. On our return Bristol was fogbound so the pilot announced we would be landing in Cardiff. Great I said, nearer home. Then my husband reminded me that our car was in Bristol :whoops
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Several years ago, a friend and I were returning to Gatwick from Zante and when airbourne we were then told that we would be stopping off in France to refuel as the aircraft was unable to take on board sufficient fuel at Zante for weight reasons.

We landed somewhere in France. I've no idea where, and it was certainly not a civilian airport and there were soldiers on the ground. We were a little concerned about this at first until one of the flight crew stated this was normal practice for many flights out of Zante.

But nothing was mentiond about this at the time of booking.
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Stop from Zante is usually at Brindisi (Italy). Stop inbound from Zante is necessary only with high temperatures and the wind from the north and with a full or almost full flight. Never planned but often happens in the peak, hot summer months.
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Returning from Alicante to Glasgow a few years ago, flight was diverted to Edinburgh, not a long diversion and for us it was hardly a blip. We had been due to be picked up at Glasgow by brother and when we were able to turn the mobile on when we arrived at Edinburgh there was a message to say he had heard about the diversion and was on his way to Edinburgh. By the time we collected our luggage he was waiting for us and as there is only about 5 to 10 minutes driving time difference in the distance from either airport we were home more or less at the time we should have been.
I did feel sorry for other passengers from Edinburgh, Perth and Aberdeen who had to be bussed back to Glasgow to collect their cars.
I think we have been reasonably lucky with flights. Last Saturday (2nd January) our Easyjet flight to Glasgow was on time but the Newcastle flight due to leave 5 minutes later was cancelled with less than hour's notice.
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About 5 years ago my flight from Tenerife to Luton was diverted to Gatwick due to runway repairs at Luton.

Our airline arrange coaches to take us all to Luton and this is when the nightmare began. It was about 2 o'clock in the morning and I get the impression that our coach driver had just been called out after a night on the bottle. It was the longest 70 miles of my life. Us passengers had to keep shouting at him as he started veering either on the hard shoulder or into the middle lane. He then came over the microphone to announce to every that he 'was not pi55ed' and could we all shut up.

I became so concerned for our safety that I actually rang 999 and spoke to the police who took details of our location and said they would come out and try to intercept. That was the last I heard of the police, they never did a thing.

Somehow and to this day I don't know how but we managed to get back to Luton and those who have pulled up outside the airport in a coach will know there are road humps, and to add insult to injury our driver announced on our approach 'for your own safety could I ask you to stay in your seats when going over the road humps', I nearly leaped out my seat to deck him there and then.

I wrote a letter to our airline to tell the about the experience and they wrote back to say that some of their own staff members were also on the coach and had reported it, they promised that they would never use that coach company again, and for that I will have to take their word.

I have never been on a coach since!!
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We were diverted to Toulouse on a flight from Edinburgh to Alicante when a passenger collapsed. It took ages to get going as they had to empty the hold to find his luggage. Then we had to fly the rest of the way at a really low altitude as they had used up all the oxygen on board for the patient.
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We flew back from PMI to BHX last year, and were diverted to Luton. However, no announcement was made that we were to be diverted and the first some passengers knew was when the pilot came over the intercom and said "the observant amongst you may notice that we are not in Birmingham" Apparently they had received a message from Monarch HO that all planes of a certain type (Airbus?) were to be grounded immediately! We were sent to Luton as they had a plane that they could use to return us to Brum.
We had to change to the new plane and we did get a complementary drink, but there was not enough time to finish it before we landed.
The plane had been ahead of schedule so we weren't too late, but you do panic when you come in over an airport and realise it isn't the one you thought it should be!
P
x
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I was on the first charter flight to Sri Lanka, a 3 day trip in December. Engine problem diverted to a very cold Budapest where we had to stay the night with only clothing for nice warm Sri Lanka.

New aircraft the next day to take us what was now a 2 day trip to Sril Lanka.

It was an industry event so wasnt paying but made for an interesting trip.

Kind Regards
Stewart
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when we returned from holiday just before xmas 21st dec 09, from sharm to Luton the pilot came on and said the good news is we are ahead of schedule, the bad news is Luton has just closed due to snow storm and I can't get anyone to take us everywhere's full, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham so we all looked at each other and then he said he had managed to get us into Doncaster, the Airport had shut but they brought in staff and for one other plane also diverted from Canaries to Luton. There were no faciliteis open and after coming from 28 degrees to -5 bit of a shock, but must admit thomson(FIRST CHOICE) were terrific and laid on coaches to get us back to Luton it was a bit cramped as I sat with a suitcase between my legs how that driver got us back ... only knows it was foggy and the snow was coming down in buckets, got back to the airport 4 hours late we had to dig the car out but we were all ok. :que
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