Hi All,

I never thought 2 weeks in England would be too long... but it was! While it was great to see the family, friends, castles, old buildings, eat proper bacon, bread and curry etc, I was homesick for the US!

It all started with a pompous upper class idiot sitting next to us on the plane, who reminded me of why some English people piss me off. He was downright rude to us and to the stewards, and for no reason. We decided he was a frustrated first class traveller who couldn't afford it so was slumming it with us. Made himself feel better by having his foot over the line into first class so he could tell his pals at the golf club he flew in luxury.

The farce which is now Gatwick airport was enough to make me never go back. Oh My God what a nightmare. Continental Airlines allows you 2 pieces of hand luggage but Gatwick allows you one. So I'm frantically trying to fit my handbag into my overstuffed carry on bag when some "official" points out (in broken English) it's not going to fit. No Sh!t sherlock!! Eventually we got thru security, after an hour. Probably didn't help it's half term this week and the world and his mother were in the airport. Then I lined up for 20 mins to buy a drink and a paper!

My parents threw us a party to make it easier to see all the family and friends in one go. They hired their village hall and we took everything down there to set up for the evening. In true English fashion, when we left the hall for an hour to get changed, some little darlings broke in and took 2 bottles of vodka, a bottle of bacardi and a case of beer. Bless them!

So the first thing I bought on my return was a bread maker. After fresh bread every day I can't bring myself to eat the packaged stuff here. First loaf is happening right now, I'm excited!!

We did manage to stock up on lots of goodies, bisto, chocolate hob nobs, galaxy, mini cheddars, marmite and curry sauces. However I think next time I'll just order online... it'll be much less stressful!

Helen

Glad you had fun...sorry about the airport and the oiks nicking your booze.

AGREED!! My experience on Sunday was horrible! I knew about the bag restrictions so I'd planned for that one (they got me on that one last trip, though.) I didn't, however, plan for rudeness at the desk because I was late - yeah, I knew the trains would be delayed, just waiting around for giggles to see if you'd let me on the plane anyway. I then find out that they had refused to let others on the plane that were connecting from another AA flight to the one I was supposed to be on - even though they were there an hour before departure. Special. I was there 40 minutes before my flight (yes, late, I know. Thank you public transportation - stupid us for not allowing 5 hours to get to the airport), and was told I was too late to get on the plane. When I asked about the later flight, I got "it's probably full, but check the sales desk." What a snotty cow. I've gotten to Gatwick that late before (that time was our fault - just dragging our feet), and no questions asked. They called the gate to let them know I was there, and I sprinted to the gate. This time....noooooooo....$200 transfer fee for getting on standby for the late flight.

Yeah - I know, our fault, but how about a LITTLE customer service, huh?

I feel you, Wolf. So glad the rest of your trip went well, though! Weather was lovely up until Saturday, wasn't it?

Uh...you know better than to expect that in England, right?

KIDDING...they're usually not that bad.

Mmmmm, biscuitssssssss . . . . .

Indeed. Can I blame AA and rant at them, then? (Hope so cause I already sent a formal complaint)

Sorry to hear you had problems too Dan&Tiffany. I've flown back n forth between the US and UK regularly since I was 5, and for the first time we got charged excess baggage which didn't help my mood! Only $25 and we were 10lbs over (oops) so I shouldn't be complaining.

The weather was fantastic last week, apparently it's rained since Sunday non stop. Our first week was dreary at first, in true British fashion!

You saying about complaining to AA reminded me, I'm going to write to Continental and complain.... 4 hours into the flight, the duty free's coming around and the captain comes on "ladies and gentlemen, I must inform you of a serious security breach which has occurred in the main cabin and been brought to my attention" at this point I'm thinking shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit and my hearts racing, everyone's looking around for suspicious people but the stewards are carrying on serving duty free so we're all thinking well? what's going on? then he goes on "people keep congregating around the lavatories and this is a breach of TSA rules". You could hear the plane breathe a sigh of relief. Why the hell he said it the way he did I don't know. Why not say "just a reminder, don't stand around the toilets" (like he did a little later on).

Damn a rant feels good now n then!

Haha! You bet it does - so does sending a complaint into never never land (AKA American Airlines). At least it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Wait, so you flew on AA and they charged $200 to go standby on the next flight because you missed your first flight?

No way! Stomp your feet and refused to pay! US based airlines are usually fairly liberal on this (ie this would never happen ex US airports) You might guy the rolling of the eyes - another American, but so what!

Yep! Crazy, isn't it? When I wrote my little complaint, I also mentioned that we have flown 9 times Dallas <-> Gatwick in the past 18 months and will be purchasing 8 tickets from Gatwick to Dallas for our wedding soon, and if this is the service we can expect from AA, we'll fly with another airline. I know that may be small business compared to a lot of others, but we've definitely sunk enough into that airline to get some sort of response from them.

DO NOT every pay again! Seriously, you stand there stomping your feet demanding a supervisor. Even easyjet (though not ryanair) will transfer you onto the next flight free if you just missed your flight. Have you established any frequent flyer status with AA with all your flights? Generally, that helps a lot - even if you are the lowest tier.

This doesn't often work with Non US airlines in UK/Europe - but it certainly should for US based airlines. Their policies are much more libral (I know, I work for one!)

Goodluck and keep us posted on any AA reply.

I would go through all of that with a hot poker up my bum... just to go home right now !

Unfortunately if you want to fly direct from DFW to London your only options are BA and AA. Any other airline is going to force you to fly through a gateway.

I can top this with the number of times I've run into ultra-ultra-pompous desis (especially those settled/born in UK) shortly before landing in India.

Maybe you should have put a "broadcast" message in the OT forum asking how to overload-pack; there should be enough "experts" at this in VJ.

It ended well, at least.

I know. Sucks, doesn't it? Not much of a choice either way, there.

Virgin's been whining about it for years. DFW is AA's b!tch; BA is lucky to even get a gate there.

Oh no question about that. Of course, I think the only reason BA is in is because it's in that silly One World Alliance thing. Same reason AA is allow the tunnel off the back of Gatwick, I suppose. I just wonder if the Open Skies agreement next March will change anything at all from the Dallas/London (or any other route, for that matter) route. I wouldn't mind flying out of or in to another local airport at all if it were available.

Maybe, but AA is pretty damned powerful. They're just now starting to dial back on the restrictions of the Wright Amendment over 30 years after DFW was built. My cousin is a VP over at Southwest, so I get an earful about it whenever I talk to him.