Years ago, I was meant to fly out of Gatwick (LGW) with Garuda. Got to the airport nice and early, but it had snowed and when that happens in the UK, everything stops, maybe not so much anymore but was true in the early eighties, but I digress.
Plane couldn't land and was diverted to Manchester (MAN). It was decided that we would be bussed up the motorway, took a little while, got to the airport about sixish. Got on the plane and waited and waited.... Apparently the guy doing the de-icing completed his shift and left, without completing the job. By the time it was completed and we were ready to go, it was realised that the crew would be over their hour limit.
Off the plane and to the nearest hotels, would have been past midnight by then, up early after not much sleep and back to the plane, of course a big cheer went up when we finally lifted off. Not all was lost though, I did get a free copy of The Guardian at the hotel and we were given vouchers for food. As I wasn't being expected back home, it was a surprise xmas visit, it wasn't that important for me, but of course it caused issues with some others as we all missed our connections out of Jakarta (GCK).
