Or this absolute classic. Scene: packed combined departure lounge in Bournemouth some 10 years ago with 2 x 737 worth of pax waiting to jet off to sunny climes. The place was heaving – maybe the 737s were both delayed – it was very, very busy! I was simply early awaiting another flight deadheading so I was watching on – relieved I was not part of the melee. The two 737s duly arrive to whisk said holiday makers off to sunny climes - one Ryanair 737 and one Thompson/TUI(?) 737 which were both turned round and were ready for boarding at exactly the same moment. The teams at the one Gate (you just walked out to your plane in them days – may be different now) went into a huddle and I could guess what the conversion was - “How do we get 2 plane-loads of pax on board asap without causing chaos? Anyone got any bright ideas?!”. After a few minutes conversation a lightbulb lit up above the Gate staff – clearly a solution had indeed been devised.
Over the Gate PA “Ladies and Gentlemen, Ryanair would like to announce that Flight 425 to “somewhere sunny” is ready for boarding and Thompson/TUI(?) would also like to announce that Flight 265A to “somewhere else sunny” is also now ready for boarding…...” and then it continued with the classic ending – as a very firm instruction “Would all passengers for “somewhere else sunny” note that you are in the blue aircraft! Thank you! - CLICK!”.
Well, that was it. The departure lounge erupted as everyone got up and piled out the Gate and 2 streams of eager pax headed for the 2 737’s and up the front stairs with an approx 50/50 split. So far so good, but I was counting off the seconds for the inevitable. Almost at the moment that the first pax reached the top of the 2 sets of steps, chaos ensued, as probably 1 in 5 of the pax were subsequently dispatched back down the stairs against the inbound flow of pax – clearly having been told by the increasingly frustrated cabin crew “No Sir/Madam, this flight is to “somewhere sunny”. For your flight to “somewhere else sunny” you need the OTHER blue aeroplane!!!!!!” - or the reciprocal instruction on the other 737. So there were now 3 flows; 2 from the gate to the 2 737’s and then a contraflow system between the 2 737’s! I have no idea if anyone actually ended up at the wrong destination – I suspect not – but the sorting out was a scene to behold! I bet there was a final PA on board each 737 once loaded just to check no strays had somehow made it on board the wrong aircraft! I felt so sorry for the respective cabin crews who, initially, must have thought the pax had gone completely and utterly nuts …. until they probably started to piece together just what the Gate staff must have said to cause such mayhem! Happy days, eh ... except not for the 2 sets of cabin crew on that particular day! H 'n' H
Last edited by Hot 'n' High; 15th Jan 2019 at 21:12.