That was an interesting 24 hours, but not too bad as people who travelled via Dallas, where everything got cancelled due to snow. Getting to the airport took a bus and 2 tubes; on arrival I found that all the check-in desk luggage computers had gone down so there was a small bit of chaos. Everyone was queued up, getting to go to the desks a few at a time. Once there, you gave your details to a runner, who went to one of the 2 working terminals, got the luggage tags and ran back to get your stuff in the system. It took a few hours to correct, but it meant all the crew were also delayed, leading to an hours delay in departure.
One interesting diversion in the waiting was the mouse. Sitting at the bar, a guy came up and announced to the staff there was a mouse running around. He was laughed off a little, so next he came back with the mouse – holding it up by the tail as it wiggled around. The staff had to take it away then 😉 The other setback was the lack of cold water by the gate – meaning non of the toilets worked. Not a good thing when there is a delay.
After that all was smooth. A half-empty flight meant I got a row to myself, it took less than a minute to get through immigration (and no queue), collecting luggage and transferring flights was a doddle. Food, a 2 hour wait, another 4 hour flight (with sleep this time) and I landed in Austin with all the luggage and an easy trip to the hotel.
