What a day I have had! My feet are up and I am lounging on the couch prepared to tell the tale.
It begins at 4AM this morning with two alarms going off to wake me up.
I finished packing all my bags up for Cape Town, had breakfast and just before I headed out the door at 5:30AM I decided I would phone Evita just to see if there were any changes. It's still dark out at this time by the way.
I punch all my codes into the phone and Evita just clicks then silence. Strange.
Then her voice comes back and she reports that my flight is going to be delayed until 9:50AM from 8:50AM. So suddenly I have an hour to kill and my bags are at the door.
Sent a couple of emails, skyped Mum and Dad and then headed out on the bus. Noticed while I was skyping the parents that a thick sudden amount of fog was beginning to take over everything outside my window, so much so that I couldn't see the cars on the road or the balconies next to me. Figured out perhaps that is what the delay was for maybe?
Arrived into HQ at 7:20AM, checked my mailbox and meet up with some old batch mates back upstairs to chit chat before doing a little studying and then checking in.
Tagged my case and put it on the conveyor belt that takes it to who knows where?
Headed to the briefing room, presented all my documents and settled in for the talk.
Right near the end of things when we were all getting ready to pack up and head out the Captain steps into the room however this time it was in a very unofficial way since he kind of just burst in through the doors at us. Said we shouldn't rush because our plane isn't even here yet.
It's in Al Ain (Said LA like Los Angeles) so when I first heard him say that's where the plane was currently located I scoffed out loud and said guess we won't be going anywhere soon! I got a lot of crazy looks (Al Ain is located a two hour drive or 30 min flight from Dubai - Good Move Leanna)
After shutting my mouth we sat around and waited. Waited. And Waited some more. 9:50AM came and went. When we checked again it said we would be departing at 10:30, still no plane though to take us there. Then two hours later we checked and it said we would be delayed until 2PM and still no plane to take us there.
Durring this time I was pulled into the Duty Managers office to argue my situation. I was hoping it wouldn't come up but I wasn't legal to fly to Cape Town because my Cairo flight came in after midnight the evening before and in order to operate a layover you need to have two nights acclimatized in Dubai, that I did not. So I smiled really big and he let me go.
We were not the only ones with a messy situation, the entire head quarters was buzzing with people. It felt like snow day at school or something equally cool since I was able to run into so many old batch mates roaming the halls waiting for planes to arrive and depart. There wasn't a single briefing room that wasn't being used, so a lot of crews were left out in the hall to sit and wait. It was the weirdest scene.
Suddenly down the hall we all spot the Captains hat above the heads coming towards us.
He announced for us to gather our things and follow him. Excitement started to fill the group up again, maybe he had found us a plane and we were on our way!
Into the duty managers office we all marched before stopping short to realize that this didn't mean we were going to Cape Town. He apologized said we were on a rescue mission now to go save a crew in Al Ain (our plane) that ran out of duty time and isn't able to fly the 30 mins to Dubai, after we arrived back in Dubai he said we were free to go. Lots of blank stares. "So we aren't going to Cape Town today?" "Not today."
So we were all offloaded the Cape Town rostered flight and exited back the way we came through security five hours previously, the first and only time I want to do it (if you do it for any other reason it's because you are in a boat load of trouble for something or other!) then we hopped a crew bus that took us the two hour drive to Al Ain to save our plane and crew members.
We found out upon arrival that the crew and it's passengers were coming from Cape Town to Dubai and had been waiting on the plane and in the tiny airport for over six hours now. That and the Captain also informed us that the other reason for all the messy delays and ugliness was because some electrician was monkeying around with the runway lights and ended up shorting them ALL out this morning at 3AM, causing 28 planes to be redirected away from Dubai because they were not able to land without the lights and in the fog. Horrible combination. So now we have 28 flights - 27 now that we saved one scattered around Dubai in various locations that as of noon today have run out of legal duty time and won't be able to operate the flight again until 24 hours later, so there's a lot more craziness going on after I left head quarters this evening after my duty was done.
We brought our crew, passengers and plane back safe and sound to Dubai airport so that another crew could prepare it for the flight to Cape Town. Sigh, not us though.
I was paid for 3 and a half hours of duty today. I have been awake since 4AM and I got home at 5PM today. I just missed out on 18 and a half hours of duty pay because of this mess up with the runway lights. I am so not pleased. That guy better tuck his tail and run far away from here.
I am on standby duty tomorrow night from 6pm-Midnight and the day after I am on Can Use. So at any time they can pull me for a flight. I am okay if I get a flight tomorrow night during my standby because it's a quick turnaround I will still be legal for my 3-day Hong Kong flight, if they pull me for a layover there goes my Hong Kong trip.
It's a very fine line what is happening right now, but whatever happens happens. I have learned here that nothing you say or do can change much. So just take it or leave it.
Please cross your fingers to save my Hong Kong!
That's all I have for now. It's been a very long day for going no where.
Leanna xo
P.S Good thing I had leftovers in the fridge since I wasn't planning to be home right now for dinner!
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