Immigration? AGAIN?

Everyone expects to go through immigration when the arrive to a country. Passport control, queues, baggage collection, grilled on purpose of visit.... But I haven't left the country! I'm still here!

In order to collect my bags from the luggage area, though, I had to go back through immigration control. So I get down there and I explain to the BAA (UK version of TSA) person that I'd not actually arrived from anywhere, that I was a standby passenger, and hadn't got out today. She says, "What passport?" "USA." "You have to stand in that queue over there. Take a landing card and fill it out." Ok... ummm.. when it asks "flight number" and "last port of call", what do I fill in? Oh, I leave it blank. Right.

So I wait. And wait. And wait. And wait in this queue. Finally, its my turn to go through Passport Control. The officer asks me for my flight info. "I haven't actually flown anywhere. I'm a standby passenger and didn't get on my flight, so I just need to collect my bags." "So you've already been in the country?" "Yes." "Then you don't need one of these [landing cards] and shouldn't be in the queue at all. Go on through." IF I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE STOOD IN THE QUEUE AT ALL, WHY THE (not going to swear) DID THEY DIRECT ME HERE?!? Really? I did explain to them the whole thing.

So, over an hour later, I'm finally through a queue I didn't need to be in, and have my bags. And I'm waiting for a taxi to come collect me and take me to the hotel I've booked.

In the rain.

Ahhh London. Got to love it.

Still Here

I know, you were really hoping not to hear from me again, at least for a good 10 hours.

No suck luck! You're stuck with me. I was literally the next person on the list. Yep, it was that close.

So I'm standing there as they're calling for the various people who haven't made it on the flight. You know they start paging people a good while before they have to be on the flight. They even made a few announcements to the effect that if they didn't get there within the next 5, then 3 then 1 minute(s), they would forfeit their flight, because their bags would have to be unloaded from the plane.

I'm not kidding when I tell you it was after the last minute had expired when these two teenage girls come flying up the concourse. They were yelling at the top of their lungs that they were here, that their family was behind them..... etc.

Well, thing of it is, they'd already missed the boarding time. The girls were livid. And I mean HOPPING mad. When their family did finally arrive, they were yelling and making such a huge fuss. I was shocked. And appalled. And thought, you lot are exactly the reason Americans have such a rubbish reputation in the rest of the world. Shame on you. I don't care if you were detained at security. The rules state that you need to arrive 3 hours before an international flight! If you'd done that, you'd have been fine. I know, because that's when I got here. There was no queue at the security, minimal queue at the checkin counter. It's your own fault. And even if it weren't, it's not on to take it out on the poor gate personnel! First of all, the airline gets quite a large fine if they miss their departure slot. They're not going to risk that for your family's poor timing. And then, it wasn't they who detained you at security. And even then, the poor security folk are merely doing their job! We're back to getting to the airport on time.

*sigh* Such sterling examples of American civility. *sigh*