Another queue to join, as we have to go through the security checks again. Alarming news on the flight information screens. Our flight was listed first “20:00 Venice. Scheduled to depart at 19:40”. Surely some mistake but with it being Iberia, nobody was taking any chances so another massive queue had formed at the Iberia Information Point. As we queued I took another look at the monitors to see that another flight with the same code had been scheduled for a 9:50am departure. No other information was offered. We soon found out after more screaming that the flight had been delayed until 10:57am.
19:50! Would we ever get to Venice.
The mood amongst the passengers was ugly. It seemed that a riot would erupt at any moment. It seemed that Iberia staff had the same feeling. The shutters were down around the information centre, leaving only one side open. The attitude amongst the few Iberia staff hadn’t improved either. Their response to the continuous questions being asked of them was to phone the Guardia Civil. Soon there were more security guards and Guardia officers than Iberia staff.
Another crowd of passengers for Iberia to ignore.
At 10:00am the gate was announced for our flight, H3. This is the furthest gate possible from the information centre. It is also next door to a “Guardia Civil” control point, where a few guards were already stationed. A “Comet Air” plane is standing at the gate and some activity is seen in the cockpit and on the ground. Two Iberia staff arrived at the gate and once again a large queue formed ready for boarding.
10:36am and no sign of the boarding process starting yet. Tempers fray and the crowd start shouting at the Iberia staff again. More Guardia Civil staff appears. Looks like more bad news is going to be announced. A few minutes later and bags are seen being taken off the plane. The mood isn’t improved when the gate screen changes the departure time to 11:10am. Its now 10:50am and its clear to everyone in the queue that we weren’t leaving at that time.
Bags being unloaded from plane.
More shouting and an announcement was made by a Guardia Civil officer. Anyone in an agitated state will not be allowed to fly. This prompted loud shouts of derision and made matters much more heated. The Guardia officer decided it would be better not to repeat his announcement. An hour later and we finally started to board the plane. The assigned seats on our boarding cards were useless and it was a free for all. We managed to find two vacant seats at the back of the plane.
12:15pm and all the passengers are on board. The captain announces that a couple of passengers had failed to arrive at the gate so there baggage was being located and removed from the flight. Then we would be off on our 2-hour flight to Venice. 12:30pm and the cabin crew close the doors. 1pm and we are still on the ground. Passengers were getting restless and we demanded more information. None was forthcoming. Finally, the plane began to taxi to the runway at 1:15pm.
We landed at 3:15pm at Marco Polo airport. We had the lost the day but would soon be in Venice for a late lunch. Iberia still had another nasty little surprise for us. Our bags were not on the belt. Another queue at the lost and found desk formed. We were told to check the next flight arriving from Madrid. The next flight arrived at 3:45pm and still no sign of the bags. The queue grew bigger as passengers from the latest flight also had not received their bags. Finally, our bags were located in a backroom of the airport at 5pm. No explanation on how they got there or why they hadn’t been put on the belt. Monica swore that this would be the last time we flew with Iberia. We have to get back to Málaga with them first. A trip we both weren’t looking forward to.
Lost and Found. Great another bloody queue!
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