Flying Home

The trip home took a little longer than usual due to the cancellation of our connecting flight from KL to Melbourne. Malaysia Airlines did notify us about this before we left Melbourne so we had plenty of notice however we still had fifteen hours to spend at the airport.

We left our hotel just after 7 am on Tuesday (London time) as Alistair drove five of us to Heathrow Airport. Robin had received a message to say that the 10.45 flight to KL would leave an hour later but all the notices at the airport still had the earlier boarding time. Apparently the plane arrived an hour late and we did not leave until 12.20 - less time to wait at KL.

The flight took 13 hours and when we landed there was a problem with connecting power from outside to the plane so we had to wait another 15 minutes before this was resolved. However the highlight of the trip was the smooth landing of the plane by the pilot. We congratulated him as we left.

How to fill in time at KL Airport. We located the Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge, explained our problem and then purchased a day pass to use the facilities. Consequently we were able to wait in comfort for the time to pass. The chairs were comfortable, access to food and drink as required and we were also able to have a shower. We sat in arm chairs by the window with a view of a quieter part of the airport. The sky was overcast and grey with some rain later in the afternoon but apparently the temperature was in the low 20s, in the morning anyway.

Boarding time for the flight to Melbourne was 9.10 pm (KL time) with the plane due to leave an hour later. A number of the other players arrived on a later plane from London to connect with this flight to Melbourne. (We had tried to book on the this later flight, without success, when our plane was cancelled.)

Our bags were screened, we went through the security scans, had our tickets inspected then sat down to wait until we could board the plane. Then came the announcement that the plane would not be leaving from Gate 2 but would now leave from Gate 16 at the other end of the terminal. We then went through the full scanning procedure again. Eventually we were allowed to board the plane.

The plane arrived in Melbourne at 8.10 am. We then discovered that the plane had landed away from the terminal so we all slowly exited via the front door to be greeted by an extremely cold and windy Melbourne day. A bus then took us to the terminal.

Timothy met us at the airport to drive the exhausted travellers home.