An Expensive Mistake

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An Expensive Mistake
An Expensive Mistake

Because of my own incredible stupidity, I didn't get on my flight from Glasgow to London. Because of British Airways' incredible stupidity, I didn't get on my flight from London to Singapore.

When I was told at Glasgow Airport that there was no flight at 8am, I felt a fist tighten around my heart as I scrambled to get the Macbook out of my bag and check the itinerary. When it revealed that 8am was the arrival time at London Heathrow and that my flight was taking off in 5 minutes, I ran to the British Airways desk and asked for a ticket for the next flight.

In short, it was impossible, and I envisaged not making it to Singapore in time, where I was scheduled to start work forty hours later. As I was tearing my hair out and swearing at myself, I was told to try the BMI desk. Kudos to Sean Ho at BMI, who got me a flight to Heathrow and explained to me what to do and how to do it in order to get to my connecting flight to Singapore in time. He also explained that, because I didn't take my Glasgow-London flight on British Airways, my London-Singapore flight would be cancelled, but he called them to make sure this didn't happen.

"Actually, some people might not put that through, so I'll come over with you to the BA desk just to be sure that they have." We walked over and double checked that the seat was protected.

After arriving at Heathrow and spending a nerve-wracking forty-five minutes in queues, I ran like I've never run before, swinging bags around, drenched in sweat, my mouth and throat drier than they've ever been, and made it to the gate just as the last passengers were boarding. I explained to the woman there that because I was running late I was told I could get my boarding pass at the gate, and that my seat was protected. "No, your seat has been re-sold." I almost fell to my knees.

So I spent a horrible twelve hours in this departure lounge, drinking whisky and playing old SNES games while waiting for the next flight to Singapore. A week later, before leaving Singapore, I checked the itinerary for my return flight ten times and asked Saiful to confirm it: "that definitely definitely definitely says Thursday at 10pm, doesn't it?"

Those horrible moments at Glasgow airport were among the most stressful of my life. It's a mistake I'll never make again. And next time, I'll ask British Airways to triple check whatever they've assured me of.

London, 2010.

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Taken on: October 18, 2010
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Camera: Nikon D700, f/2.8, 1/160 sec, 50mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 50.0 mm f/1.4
Aperture: f/2.8
Exposure Time: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Tungsten (Incandescent)
Gain Control: Low gain up
Sharpness: Soft
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Software: Ver.1.00
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