These days I feel very, very sorry for the employees of BA. Especially those working in Terminal 5. When, 2 days ago, our friendly captain finally flew us out of Aberdeen and Heathrow, he was quite optimistic that we would arrive with only 1 hour delay. But then the rainclouds hit London, and we put into a holding pattern over Heathrow. After finally landing, we waited twenty minutes parked in front of our gate waiting for someone to switch on the guidance system and man the airbridge. A clearly exasperated captain sounded very cynical during his last cabin broadcasts. Poor bloke. When we finally got off, we were 2 hours late and I had missed my connecting flight. Inside T5 things felt very unfinished. Screens weren’t working, cables were dangling freely around. The three BA members organising me a flight with a different airline were sounding very hopeless.

One said he feels like a clown in a circus of Shatnerian proportions and the only thing left for them was smile.