Getting home on time: it just wasn’t meant to be.

Getting home on time: it just wasn’t meant to be.

Arriving at Heathrow in just enough time to have a chance of getting a set on the earlier 18:55 flight, but not guaranteed. Got down to Gate 2 to be told there were no seats left. In an inspired move, I intoned the name of an upgrade voucher, so were there any seats in business?

Oh yes. There’s just one seat in business.

And then my heart sank as I rifled through my wallet to discover that I’d used the last voucher in September, and I didn’t have one after all.

So here I am in the bmi lounge, awaiting the 19:40 flight that’s due to take off as 21:55.

But I’ve got to put a good word in for bmi customer service. Realising that the departure time is not going to significantly improve, they didn’t wait the full two hours before making refreshment vouchers available. Neither did they leave it to passengers to realise that they were due something.

Instead, they put their thoughtful hats on, realised that the Costa Coffee outlet that serves hot panini* etc would close before our flight took off, and started giving out vouchers (a whole £7.50) shortly after 19:30.

Thank you bmi for making a bad situation better.

* Panini, plural of Panino

Update: expected departure moved back to 21:15!