Our flight was at 1245 and as we wanted to be at Heathrow T5 at 0945 to enjoy the delights of the lounge, taxi man “blow the doors off” Don said he’d pick us up at 0730 in view of Monday morning traffic. Actually he was about 10 mins early and that probably turned out to be one of the keys to us catching or missing our flight.
Getting out of Walderslade was a bit of a pig but Ian suggested a sneaky way around the traffic which luckily worked and M20/M26 weren’t too bad. However the M25 ground to a halt shortly before Clacket Lane services and we sat for a long time presuming it was yet another breakdown (we’d had a few minor delays already) and chatted idly about delays in general and whether Don had ever fallen foul of Extinction Rebellion protestors gluing themselves to the road or similar - he hadn’t. Time moved on and we still hadn’t moved and I finally found info online - B*LL*CKS - Just Stop Oil protesters had climbed gantries above the M25 in 7 locations resulting in numerous lane closures and in some instances complete closure.
With hindsight - what a wonderful thing that is - the Cop27 Climate Conference was on in Egypt and it’s a Monday morning. Maybe, just maybe, we should have foreseen trouble but then again how early would we have had to leave to avoid it (I did read the Police and Highways agencies had been notified that protests would start at 0740 so maybe we could have avoided it if they’d bothered to share that with the general public in advance instead of saying “please avoid the M25 area” at 0745!!!)
I then spent forever trying to phone our travel insurance company to find out what, if anything, we were covered for either buying new flights and/or total cancellation in the event we couldn’t reach Mexico City in time to join the tour. One small hope I had was that as we have First Class check-in and Fast Track Security maybe, just maybe, they may be slightly relaxed on check-in closing 60 mins before the flight. Eventually I was able to speak to BA who said sometimes they do extend check-in if there is a known problem affecting many people so just to turn up and ask. If we couldn’t get the flight they would then help us to source alternatives, but he checked on line and although could have got us to Miami today the onward flight to Mexico City was full and their next direct flight isn't until Wednesday.
I read online that J7 had reopened but as we knew various other ones ahead were still closed when we got to it Ian persuaded Don to leave the M25 thinking he'd head south on the M23 and then fiddle his way cross country - instead of which he turned north and drove smack bang into the end of another long tail back. To cut a long, traumatic, story short and thanks to a bit of speeding and pushy driving by Don we eventually go to T5 some 16 mins after check-in had closed with the plan that I ran straight in and left Ian to follow with the cases. Don parked at the far end, right in front of First Check-in and with my heavy camera bag already on my back I practically threw myself out of the car before Don had even stopped - problem was I suddenly seemed incapable of running! Whether it was being folded up in the car for 4 1/2 hours and busting for the loo or what I don't quite know, but I just seemed to wobble from side to side, like some crazy new born foal, without making any forward progress. Somehow I got to First Check-In, hurling myself in front of a couple of people about to enter, and ran to the nearest free desk, thrusting our passports under the check-in lady’s nose - PHEW I'd made it!!! I asked her if she'd watch my hand luggage so I could go and help Ian with the cases, but as I turned away he was already approaching the desk.
We really couldn’t believe we’d done it and as per usual with me having been cool calm and collected phoning around for the last xx hours and not getting stressed (absolutely no point I could not change what was happening, I was only glad we were in the hands of a very good, fast driver), once the crisis was over I got quite teary. A very thoughtful BA chap came over with a tray of sparkling water. Check-in lady kept telling me to stop worrying as in fact we had another 9 mins to complete check-in (25 mins past the official cut off time as some of the crew had been caught up in the blockade too) but as we were going from a C gate, which involves the shuttle train, to go straight there and NOT stop in the lounge.
But security was a breeze as we always have everything prepared ready, and so within just a few minutes we were in the lounge walking past the bottles of Rosé Champagne. I looked at Ian and he looked at me - 9 mins before check-in closes - just in time to down a glass or two. We must have looked like a couple of alcoholics necking down the stuff but it was so needed. I also picked up a couple of bags of crisps and got one of the waitresses to wrap up two pan au raisins for us to take with us. Blow me down when we got to the gate, boarding was being delayed another 1/2 hour - never mind, at least we had time go to the loo! We got chatting to a lady who was travelling on Bank of England business and her colleague must have arrived soon after us but had been denied check-in. We were so lucky.
The flight was excellent, plenty of leg room, nice food, good staff - I chatted one up as soon as I boarded and told her we’d need extra wine in view of the stressful morning we’d had and she ensured we were kept topped up. It really felt like BA was back to its best.
Well that was it, we congratulated ourselves several times about how we’d made the correct decisions at crucial times and weren’t faced with either a hideously long flight to try and salvage the trip or cancel completely as the next BA direct flight was not until Wednesday and we’d have been playing catch up trying to join the group who would have already left Mexico City.