I'm Here!!

NEVER FLY AEROLINIAS ARGENTINAS!!!

What was supposed to be a 20hour (or so) flight turned into some kind of nightmare. When we arrived at Buenos Aires airport at about 2pm we were advised that we were a few minutes late but not to worry about connecting flights as the whole airport was delayed by about 2 hours.

No worries we thought and off we all went like cattle to que up for boaring passes for the new flights.

My 2:45pm departure was reschedualed for 5:30pm, so I sat in a restaurant to have a drink and a bite while I waited. The fact that one of the waitresses was crying when I tried to order should have been a sign. I sat patiently for over 1 and 1/2 hours waiting for someone to take my order but never mind, I had plenty of time to kill and I was chatting to a girl at my table.

Around 5pm I started to walk around the transit lounge expecting the notice boards to show me which gate to go to any time now. 5:30pm came and went, 6:30 came and went... The notice boards weren't giving any other information.

People were starting to get very anxious and it seemed everytime we looked there were less and less Aerolinias personel around. Passengers started banging the counter, clapping hands, stamping feet and chanting that they wanted information. Three times the tensions grew to the point where I was sure there was going to be a riot.

By about 8pm there was total chaos. No Aerolineas staff could be seen anywhere, passengers had commandeered the counter and were calling on the phones and fiddling with the computers. I was in such a haze of tiredness and dehydration that it all seems a blur now, but at the time it was quite scary.

Somewhere along the line I found out that the airport was completely closed and that there would be no more flights at least till 11pm. At that time they would re assess the weather to see if the fog had lifted. At this point some of us started calling insurance companies to see if we could claim for hotels but we were advised that it was best to listen to the airports advice and anyway our calls showed that ALL the hotels were now totally booked out.

So with no other options we made camp for the night as best we could. God bless Lance who handed me a clean pair of knickers for the handbag and Lupe who gave me bed socks and sleeping mask to take. They were gold just then.

At about 4am there came an anouncement that another airline was going to be taking off so I trudged over to the transit counuter once more, guessing there would probably be some good sense in this. 2 Hours later, I finally reached the front of the que and was given a 9:20am departure pass. Again to the restaurant and settled in to wait the next 2 hours or so eating a sandwich. At 8:30am I'm pacing around waiting for the gate to open but as I walk past I realise noone around there looks like they're going anywhere soon. The airport is closed again I'm told.

I wonder around a little more. I've lost all sense of time or space. I can't breathe from the amount of passive smoke in the air. I've been coughing up blood since I woke from the dryness in my nose and throat. I go to the transit counter again and this time I have nothing left in me, I'm loosing it.

"I want to get out of here. I don't care how, I need to get out of this place, I'm going insane."
"But m'am, the planes will be moving again any minute, can't you just wait just a little longer?"
I'm bawling at this point, I have no dignity, no pride left, I just can't take anymore of this.
"Love, I've been here since 2pm yesterday and everyone keeps saying just a little more just a little more and I just can't take it anymore!"

One of the staff took me aside to a quiet part and pointed at my plane sitting in the clearing fog. I spent the last hour or so hidden in the loo. To my surprise when I went to wash my tear stained face I realised that the loo in non-smoking (unlike the rest of the airport) and thanks to the fans to get rid of the smells, the air in there is clean. Who would have thought the loo would be the cleanest place to wait.

It was 2pm when my plane finally started to pull out.

I NEVER want to be in that God aweful airport again.