Ground Crews
Would everyone who in their posts advocates that all ground staff should be sacked, and are lazy and unintelligent, please take a moment to re-consider their words.
Although a tiny minority of ground staff do fit into that category, I assure you that the vast majority of ground staff that I work with at least are dedicated, hard working, and do everything within their power (which is often limited) to get each and every flight away on time.
We are on pitiful pay (less than £6 per hour), and we do work long hours. 24 hours is very unusual, but not unheard of in my place, however, 12-16 hour shifts are frequent.
Many of the employees where I work are either uni students on summer break, or people who have been in the industry for many years and have a wealth of experience behind them.
I am a dispatcher at STN, and had the misfortune of working this evening, for the company that handles BA diversions.
Luckily for us, we only had 4 aircraft into STN, 2 x 767's and 2 x small A320 family (didn't get as far as finding out which variant) - but the pressure that put us under was immense.
Yes passengers had to endure more than 2 hours on the aircraft, and my heart does go out to the crews (especially cabin crew) who had to deal with 300+ angry and tired pax. I am sorry for the 2 aircraft (the 2 767's I believe) that at different stages requested immediate police presence at the aircraft due to "near rioting" on board.
I promise you, we were doing our best to get you sorted out. Funnily enough, we were short staffed this evening, even before your 4 aircraft arrived, 10 minutes apart, and with 20 minutes notice!
Give a thought to the ground crews who will now offer to stay on for several hours after the end of their scheduled shift in order to help get these aircraft, and passengers, back where they should be.