Guys
It happen to me, many moons ago. 1989 in fact.
I was a little TJ ( temp junior) with Caley at MAN, and had only been flying a month or so. Anyway, part of a designated crew members working position was termianl duty, the idea being you went over to the terminal downroute with the last passengers and back with the first. It was done from a customer care perspective "to ensure company visibility" and to liase with the ground staff, however, most crew took the opportunity to have a shop and the smokers to hide in a toilet cubicle.
It was about 4 in the morning in the old ATH airport, a nightmare at the best of times, and like a dutiful number 6 I went to find 233 tired punters to guide them back onto our 757.
After wandering around the departure lounge for what seemed like ages I couldn't locate any likely candidates, After a while our flight disappeared from the board, so I went to the Olympic desk to explain my plight. The agent had a broad grin on his face and seemed to take pleasure in informing my my aircraft had gone. My P45 flashed before my eyes!!!!!!!!!!!
What had happen was we actual had no pax at all and ops had got their figures wrong. The aircraft had a "tight slot"back to MAN, and the captain was not prepared to wait. I've never forgotten his name, M*** M*********.
I positioned back 3 hours later on the front row of Club on a BA Tristar, I didn;t half get some funny looks from the passengers in my KT uniform. When got back to MAN the Director of Cabin Services was ironically there. Thought I was for the chop!
However, I survived, Happy days..................................
Long live the Dog
