Flightmare!

GRUELLING trip . . . Colin and his wife Chris after his five day nightmare journey to Australia

Christmas trip to Oz takes five days - and bags go missing

A DREAM family Christmas in Australia was ruined after delayed flights created a tortuous five-day journey across the globe.

Colin Brown (63) left Royton on December 18 expecting to arrive in Perth the next day — but was stranded several times during the epic journey and didn’t arrive until December 22.

His wife Christine (60), who had travelled a week earlier to stay with daughter Stacey Connor-Espley, was left frantic after British Airways was unable to trace her missing husband.

Grand-daughter Molly (6) was crying her eyes out with worry over her beloved grandad.

To add to the woe his suitcase, containing his clothes and Christmas presents, was lost. It eventually arrived on December 29, the day before they were due to fly back. In the meantime he had to buy new gifts and clothes.

After his mammoth journey Colin was so exhausted he virtually slept until Christmas Day.

The couple have visited Stacey (29), son-in-law Michael and little Molly three times before with no problems and were looking forward to a family Christmas down under followed by a four-day stay at a holiday resort.

The college tutor paid BA £2,500 for return tickets for a flight to London, which then connected to a Cathay Pacific flight to Perth via Hong Kong.

But the nightmare began when bad weather at Heathrow delayed his flight to London and the knock-on effect and other delays meant he missed three further flights.

Contact details were in his missing suitcase so Colin was unable to tell his family. When they went to collect him they were told he had not turned up for the flight.

Christine said: “We were panicking as we had not heard from him. We had to ring all over the world. Eventually they said he will be on the flight tomorrow but the following day they said he had still not shown up.

“I thought he had had a bad accident or something. We were being shunted from pillar to post and it was really worrying. We could not find anyone who knew where he was. No one could give us any information. It was so stressful. I actually thought he was dead. It was absolutely horrendous.

“You wait 12 months and pay all that money to be treated like that. My daughter’s mobile phone bill will be in the hundreds of pounds plus money for petrol and the time taken to keep going to the airport.”

Colin said: “It was just a bit unreal, kicking off with the bad weather in London and going through all that lot and missing three flights. I was thinking ‘will I ever get there?’ I thought I would miss the best part of a day but it took up half the holiday.

“It was really tiring. Beijing was very disorientating. By the time I realised how critical the situation was getting in Beijing the communication there is impossible. It’s the most un-user-friendly airport in the world.”

The couple have sent a letter of complaint and copy of bills to BA but could end up with just £60 in compensation.

“For a completely ruined trip I would hope that they will give us another flight or proper compensation,” said Christine.

A BA spokesman said the firm was only responsible for the delayed flight to London and it rebooked Mr Brown on Air China for the rest of the journey. He added that the data protection act prevents airlines giving information out on passengers, which he accepted can cause problems for relatives trying to trace people.


Diary of Chris’s hell-flight

December 18: Colin arrives at Manchester Airport at 12.30pm for a 3pm flight but bad weather at Heathrow delays it by five hours. It means he misses the connecting flight to Hong Kong and he’s booked into a hotel in London.

December 19: Colin gets the first shuttle bus at 7.30am to Heathrow where BA advise him to take a different route via Beijing and Singapore. He waits all day to catch a flight at 5.30pm and lands in Beijing at midday the following day.

December 20: Long queues mean he is left waiting for 90 minutes and misses the next flight. He spends the day in a hotel and is supposed to fly at 11.30pm but a three-hour delay means it’s 2.30am when he sets off and he is given only a biscuit and bottle of water — all he’s eaten all day.

December 21: Arrives at Singapore at 12.30pm. Taken to a hotel where he washes his clothes in a sink and dries them with a hairdryer. Catches a 5.30pm flight to Perth.

December 22: Arrives at 1am to the relief of his waiting family. It’s a two-hour drive to his daughter’s house.

December 29: His suitcase finally catches up with him and arrives in Perth.

December 30: The couple return — and Colin is back at work on the Monday.