Prof. Dr. Eric Bodden

My December 16th/17th:

• wondering for half of the day why British Airways does not cancel my flight
• having a crazy cab ride to the airport, through 30cm of snow
• arriving at a time where my flight had a supposed “15 minutes” delay
• seeing almost all other flights cancelled
• seeing dozens of luggage containers stuck in the snow
• seeing luggage trucks stuck in snow
• seeing my flight delayed for 1:15h
• boarding the plane
• waiting for another 4h (!!!) for two de-icing sessions (first engines for 3h, then wings for 1h right before lift-off)
  • listening to “reassuring” words of the pilot: “This gotta be the craziest snow storm since the beginning of aviation! Erm… but the Canadians know how to deal with this. I trust them!”
• having a crazy lift-off
• being glad to have survived the lift-off
• dinner, funny movie, 2 1/2 of sleep
• de-boarding plane in London
• receiving a ticket for a connecting flight that is supposed to leave 20 minutes ago!
  • remembering the words “the luggage is already on that plane”
• boarding plane literally in the last second
• arriving in Duesseldorf and finding my luggage missing
• being glad to finally be picked up by my girlfriend

My December 18th:

• being glad to get my luggage delivered

So all in all, thanks British Airways for getting me out of there still on the same day, thanks for playing safe, even if it took time, thanks for getting me the fastest connecting flight in my personal history and thanks for delivering my luggage already on the next day!