I was reading the news this morning about all Paris Eurostar services being cancelled due to a WW2 bomb being found near Gare du Nord station, which must have been an unexpected delay for so many people travelling today.
Are any of our Forum members currently affected by the delay? Let us know, and share your thoughts.
It also got me thinking - what’s the most random reason you’ve experienced a travel delay? Did you have to make big changes to your plans? Do you have any contingency plans in place for unexpected issues?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments - and if anyone’s affected by the discovery of the bomb - I hope that you’re safe and on your way as soon as possible.
I am not sure it counts as random but I had a jetstar flight cancelled in Sydney “by strong winds” when there was not even a gentle breeze.
There were massive cancellations and no way to find alternative flights until 2 days later. The homeowners were expecting me in Brisbane but they were really nice and got the help of a neighbor.
I asked about all possible combinations even if that meant making a long trip with crazy connections. They booked me on a flight for the following day but when I got to the airport, early in the morning, they told the booking was not correct. To compensate for their mistake, they offered a direct flight (so they did have some availability). In the end, I arrived earlier than I would have with the wrong booking so I was lucky they made that mistake.
Once our plane was delayed because we didn’t get assigned a runway fast enough and while waiting some of the crew went over their hours of allowable service. We ended up having to wait for new crew, who apparently had to be called in.
My first trip to Europe in December I think I had train issues with every train I took, or at least it felt that way. My trip from Nuremberg to Koln was delayed because of a police investigation ON the train…huh?? So we were stopped a few times as said investigation was taking place…not sure, I just drank my coffee as we waited. My first train from Paris to Nuremberg was delayed by an hour too , something wrong with the train, so when we finally left, no food to purchase or coffee and only 1 bathroom working, so when I got to stuggart, missed the connecting train of course. My last train from Koln to Paris got cancelled so I had to take a later one. All fun stuff!! lol I survived, it was all a learning experience.
That happened to me too. When the plane we had to board finally arrived after a long delay, then we had to wait again for a change of crew.
In another occasion, the plane had to fly to a different airport because the delay meant the original airport was no longer open. So we had a 4 hour bus ride at night, arriving in the early hours.
Reminds me of our flight being canceled once and our planeload of passengers being taken to a dumpy motel in Vegas for the night. From the looks and smell of it, I didn’t want to touch anything, much less stay there. Ewwww.
Good thing the friends I had visited Vegas with had stayed later than I did, so I ended up crashing at their hotel instead and catching a morning flight.
Now I remember that my train journey from Belfast to Dublin was interrupted because there was a bomb in the rails, it was the time of the troubles in Northern Ireland and I was heading home for Christmas. They put a bus replacement for the rest of the way; I had to catch a plane in Dublin and got there just before they closed the check in counter.
A couple of years ago, I took a sit in Northern Ireland and had the opportunity of revisiting the area I had lived in, I even got to see my old landlord and the school where I started teaching. I was really impressed by the changes. Belfast and Derry/Londonderry look totally new.
After driving 4 hours to Dublin to make our flight to Toronto, we found a mile-long line of passengers outside the terminal because the entire flight check-in system was down and had been for at least an hour. We had to spend the night in Dublin and fly out the next day. It was later found that someone had set the system to reboot IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. Who knows if that’s true, but it sure made our trip to an international sit one big headache.
Just 6 weeks ago my connecting flight was cancelled, so I missed my long haul flight… For the the connecting flight: we all boarded on time. Sat on the tarmac, it all went really quiet as time ticked away. Then, after a long time came the announcement: the fuel pump system at the airport had a breakdown, so no planes could refuel! Initially the pilot said we would fly via another, closer airport, refuel there and still make our destination, just a bit later. But they waited too long and other planes had the same idea. So in the end, after about 60 minutes, we all had to disembark. That’s when I knew I wasn’t going to make my long-haul flight… I did manage to fly out later that night, and was sitting next to passengers who tried to refuel the rental car before returning it at the airport- and the fuel stations close to the airport was also affected by the fuel pump outage, so they couldn’t refuel. Funny in a way, how it affects so many of us in such different ways.
Our recent travel from Guernsey to Norwich (flight to London City airport & train to central London plus train to Norwich) was interrupted by storm Bert. What a day that was. It’s difficult to land at London City airport in a strong wind so our flight was cancelled after 6 hours waiting at the airport, but luckily we could catch the one to Gatwick that evening. The flight felt like being on a swing, just another level on a small plane. We missed our planned train to Norwich, so we quickly booked a coach from central London. The journey from Gatwick to London took us twice as long as scheduled and I was sure that we’ll miss our coach too (the last bus on that day)! We had only a few minutes left so we did a crazy run with heavy bags from the train to coach station, trying to find a right gate which was already closed but I still could see our coach there so I was literally screaming and begging to be let in. I’ll never forget this feeling after we finally sat on our seats, sweating like crazy but so happy we made it
I grew up in Dundalk, which is on the border with Northern Ireland and the last town on the Dublin-Belfast train line south of the border. It was very common for passengers from Dublin to have to get off the train in Dundalk and get a bus the rest of the way to Belfast because of bomb threats.
Talking of bomb threats I was on a train that was travelling and the guard announced calmly, “ Ladies and gentlemen we have had a bit of a bomb scare.”
A great example of British understatement! No one panicked I must admit!
This wasn’t my delay but my husband’s. Last summer after finishing 6 weeks of work in Cuba as a tour guide, hubby took a series of flights from Havana to Seattle to join me on a sit with a wonderful little dog. This was to be the start of a well-earned summer break for him. He had tight connections but made each one with a bit of time to spare.
With the end of a long travel day in sight, he landed in Seattle, tired and happy to have arrived. The plane pulled up to the gate a little after midnight. The ground crew secured the plane and removed the baggage with great efficiency, but there was no one to connect the jet bridge to the plane.
The plane full of tired passangers and crew sat at the gate for over an hour while the pilot repeatedly radioed the tower. It turns out they were the last flight to arrive for the night, and all jet bridge operators had already gone home for the evening! Finally one came back to the airport to let them off the plane, an hour after they pulled up to the gate.
UK random train excuses 