Stranded in Copenhagen...

When you travel as much as I do, there are bound to be a few little hiccups.


I have experienced delays, diversions, cancelled flights, re-routing via buses on boiling hot days, sitting for hours on end in Zurich airport, waiting for a rescheduled connecting flight and the best yet, turning up to the airport at the defined time, only to find that my flight is not on the board AT ALL.  It's been rescheduled and the airline have notified the Travel Agent, but the Travel Agent, Expedia in this case, have not informed me.  Or any of the other anxious passengers at the SAS desk. Including the couple who HAVE to get to Copenhagen in order to join a cruise around the Fjords.  In a situation like this it's not even down to the airline to sort out an alternative flight as they have fulfilled their obligation by giving more than 48 hours notice that the flight has been cancelled, hence a long but eventually fruitful conversation with an off-shore Call Centre, punctuated with much Bollywood style phone music and an unscheduled re-route via Hamburg.


So, business complete, if you don't count the afternoon of missed meetings due to the Hamburg re-route, and I find myself at the airport on Friday evening.


'Ladies and Gentlemen, (they never say 'and Mice'.  Personally I think this is a bit rude, but anyhow I'll continue with the proper story), we are sorry to inform you that this flight is overbooked and we are looking for two volunteers to stay in Copenhagen tonight, at SAS's expense.  Have dinner on us.  And we will give you 150 Euros in Compensation.'


Nobody moves.  Apart to shuffle uncomfortably and bury their collective noses deeper into books, iPads and snuffling children.  Time passes.  Eventually I have a little think.  I am, after all, a Travelling Mouse who has been travelling to Copenhagen for a year and has never experienced even a sniff of the place outside of the airport.  So, after much time, deliberation and a call to my small boss, Edie, to get permission, I agree.  On one condition.  I want my suitcase. It has all of my best Mouse paraphernalia in it and I want it.  They agree.  They also inform me that the compensation has increased to 250 Euros which can also be used as a travel voucher and is then worth twice the value (wow! A Mouse could go a long way for 500 Euros).


The man has been so nice and thankful that I expect him to take me by the paw, give me my cash, get my case for me and drive me personally to a top class five star hotel and offer me a choice of vegetarian or vegan delights.  Instead he shuffles over, hands me a voucher and some other pieces of paper.  'Here are your boarding passes for tomorrow Miss Mouse.'


'Boarding passes?'


'Plural?'


'Yes Miss Mouse.  You are flying via Frankfurt.  There is no direct flight home tomorrow.'


I feel my fur start to bristle and look wistfully out of the window and my now departing overbooked flight. I am ushered off in the direction of the Arrivals desk with a brief reassurance that my suitcase will show up on carousel 8.


The arrivals hall is quiet. It is the evening of the England / Sweden Euro 2012 match and all sensible Miss Mouses and Miss Mooses are at their homes, beer in hand, discussing the merits of the players (that one has nice legs, I like his ponytail, that sort of thing).


Carousel 8 is revolving reassuringly and I wait. One, solitary, lonely bag is travelling around and around and I start to worry that it may belong to a fellow chucked off passenger who was told that they couldn't locate his bag - maybe it's his and they think it is mine.  I am beginning to regret packing my MacBook, notebooks and all of my clean underwear in the suitcase.  Eventually the solitary bag is claimed and the carousel comes to a terrifying, rumbling halt.  No suitcase.


In the meantime I have been and looked on every other carousel, just in case, and every luggage trolley in the arrivals department.  I am starting to seriously regret my decision to stay.


Eventually it is my turn at the Arrivals desk.  I am given a hotel voucher and metro ticket.  The hotel is 2 stops down the Metro - in the suburbs - not the evening in Copenhagen's City Centre I had imagined then.  However the nice man behind the desk does locate my suitcase for me.  He makes a call and says something in Danish which I translate as 'get off your tea break and get your finger out NOW', and my bag appears in sight on Carousel 7.


In the light of this new experience, I thought I would compile my top tips for if you get bumped off a flight.  So here they are:-


1. Never, ever, pack your most precious things, the things that you are not prepared to lose, in your suitcase if you are checking in your bags for storage in the general hold. I know this sounds obvious but in a year of no mis-haps, I had become a complacent Mouse.


2. Always carry spare underwear in your carry on luggage.  Also a fur brush.


3. If the airline is asking for volunteers, wait a while before volunteering.  The more desperate the are, the more they are likely to meet your demands, which are:-


4. Always say that you are prepared to consider volunteering but only if they raise the compensation amount. Have a figure in mind and don't be too cheeky.  Luckily a more seasoned traveller, the first to volunteer, had done this for me or I would be none the wiser.


5. Before agreeing make it clear where you will and won't stay - in this situation I would volunteer again under the condition that they put me up in The Hilton, on-site at Copenhagen Airport, or in a Central Copenhagen location.  The benefit to you, of course, is that you then get to at least experience a bit of where you are.  Or sleep later.


6. They will promise you a meal but this is likely to be a set menu from the Hotel.  By set menu I mean no choice.  You get what you are given.  Throw them a curveball.  Tell them you are vegetarian, or Vegan.  Or a raw foodist. Or that you only eat Cheese. They will have to make you something nicer.


7. When they say 'we will fly you home tomorrow', don't, as I did, simply ask what time the flight tomorrow will get you in.  Ask very specific questions about the route.  Is the flight direct? If not, where will you be changing? what is the waiting time? You may find that any amount of compensation is not worth the hassle of spending your Saturday hanging about in some airport halfway across Europe and not even in the right direction for home, waiting for a flight which may also then get cancelled or overbooked.


8. When you go for dinner at the Hotel, don't smile or make eye contact with other lone diners, unless you don't mind being joined at your table for dinner.


9. If another lone diner in a similar position does join you for dinner, talk to them.  You never know who you are sitting opposite.  They may be interesting. Swap stories of your experiences; from childhood to travel to music.  Whatever comes up. But do make an effort.  This also helps you to suss out if they are a bit of a weirdo, in which case you can make sure you run as soon as dinner is over.


10. During dinner conversation don't discuss your work or employer, and if you are asked about this, smile enigmatically and remain silent.  Your companion will think you are a glamorous spy and you won't get into trouble for accidentally revealing inside secrets to a rival or competitor.


11. Enjoy it.  Make the most of the experience.  I watched the football with Danish Mr. Elks, Swedish Miss Mooses and others from America, Russia and Poland.  I cheered for Sweden.  They are much better looking. 


With much love and dirty washing,


Mouse xx