In reply to gul dukat's gripe of the 2/9/2001.
I was the flow manager who was responsible for the revisions to your flight that night so I'll explain.
The Flow management position at London Air Traffic Control Centre advised us that they were short of staff for the night shift - one of the controllers had gone u/s in the car park on his way into work. Unfortunatly he was one of only two who held a validation for the Seaford sector that night. The result was that they had to physically close the sector every two hours for 30 mins to give the other guy a break (legal requirement).
Because of the short notice the flow measures had to be applied immediately with the dreadful results that you experienced.
Normally we do not revise slots for flights within 30 mins of departure, but if the airspace is closed its closed, full stop.
We then worked as fast as possible, with London, to move traffic that did not have to fly through that sector, and improve flights into free slots so created. London also agreed to move some traffic in flight. If you received a revision it would have been as a result of these efforts.
So don't blame the guys at Eurocontrol, don't blame anyone. We are all trying to do our jobs to the best of our ability and sometimes that involves dealing with ****ty situations such as the one you experienced.
SO, I've stuck my head above the parapet now, but I'll be happy to try and answer some of your questions. There are some angry pilots out there, but we can talk........
flowman