PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Wednesday 18 January 2012

Hijacked at Florence Airport

Of course I accepted when I was offered the chance to spend a week in Florence.  The very first thing I did was to buy an 'Easy-Peasy Learn Italian' cd and book; then I got to studying it.  I was determined to learn at least a few basic phrases as I would have to spend the days on my own while George was at work.


Amazingly,  for the first time in my life I found myself really enjoying a new language.  School days had been grim,  years of learning French and German had left me able to speak only English!  Italian just seems to be a beautiful language and my brain accepted it readily - unfortunately, it left just as quickly.


I used the internet to pre-book myself in on lots of sightseeing tours. During working hours I would be on my own so I was completely self-indulgent and booked guided tours around the wonderful Uffizi Gallery, Bargello Museum, The Duomo and tours during which we wandered around Florence from monuments to palaces, via churches and piazzas.  It was bliss.  A feast, and totally fascinating.


I had a brilliant time.  George had a good time, but his days were spent in business meetings.  


At the end of the week we were dropped off at Florence Airport.  It's only small, people were friendly, we were relaxed and happy.


There was a delay announced as we waited in the departure lounge.  There were groans and grumblings, but what can you do about it?  Finally our flight was announced and the bus took the first load of people out to the plane which was waiting on the tarmac.  The rest of us queued patiently waiting for the bus to return for us.   Suddenly all hell broke loose.  Screams and shouts reverberated, and people came running in shouting angrily, placing themselves between us and the departure gate.


We didn't have a clue about what was happening, everything was happening too quickly, plus we had the language barrier.  The airport police, with guns, arrived and a very heated shouting match ensued.  The invaders held their ground.  Their ranks were swelled by some people who came along pushing a young man in a wheelchair.  They proceeded to lay him in front of the exit onto the tarmac, to prevent us going to join the rest of the passengers on the plane.


Men (and some very feisty women)  posted themselves all around us, no one could come in or go out, toilets were out of bounds, we were not allowed to get a drink.  We were held captive and the armed police just stood around, watching.    It was bewildering.


Finally, a female television presenter turned up, complete with camera crew.  Negotiations went on for about two hours.  They wouldn't let us leave,  they wanted the passengers to get off the plane and let them get on.


It transpired that there had been two flights due to take off, our flight to London, and a flight to Palermo.   However,  there had been a problem with the aeroplane due to fly to London.  These people had been on the Palermo flight and had been taken off their plane and were told that there was a problem with it, so they would be put up in a hotel for the night.    Then they saw that we had been called forward and were being taken out to their plane....  fiery Sicilian temperaments were not going to stand for that (quite rightly), especially as the airport was going to close for the night!


Eventually the agreement was reached, on camera, that if they let us join the plane they would have another plane come for them and they would be in Palermo that evening.  It was agreed that Florence airport would remain open until the flight arrived and also that Palermo airport would stay open for their arrival.  Reluctantly, they let us leave.


We joined the rest of the passengers on the plane - to find that they hadn't been told what was happening back in the departure lounge!  Some interesting conversations ensued, take-off was scarcely noticed which was the one positive of the experience as far as I was concerned.


I have done a lot of travelling, but I really don't like flying.  I pretend to be calm and collected, but inside I am terrified.  I belong to the school of thought that believes that if we were meant to fly we would have been given wings... add to that all the noise, the anger, the shouting, the guns and I confess I was not a happy bunny.  Only George was aware of that, of course!


I have rambled on far too long, so I'll leave it here.  Part II will follow in a day or two.  Our late arrival had some very interesting repercussions!



16 comments:

  1. I'll be holding on with bated breath for Part II..

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    1. Just carry on breathing, I'll try to post it later today!

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  2. You forgot to add "and then I woke up"!

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    1. That would have been a lovely option, it was like a nightmare - but only a tiny taste of what a full-blown hijack must be like.

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  3. Holy moly. Can't believe you can recall what you actually did during the trip.

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    1. That week in Florence was one of those rare times when I was able to completely submerge myself in the delights of sculptures, paintings, history and beautiful buildings and didn't have to worry lest a companion was bored, hungry, tired!

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  4. What an exciting - and scary - story. Beautiful photos of Florence, but then the switch to the horror in the airport. Look forward to hearing what happened next.

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    1. It was a trip with a difference! Drift off to the airport, head full of the wonderful things I had seen, and then wham! We have a completely unexpected and frightening experience. Truly memorable. Luckily, in my mind, Florence is still more important for all the right reasons.

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  5. Ruddy continental types. No self-control.

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    1. ...enviably able to express themselves and get a result would be another way of looking at it! Just as well we don't all behave that way though.

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  6. Why are the people sitting in a plane always treated like baggage?
    It seems that happens a lot. It makes you reluctant to submit to being packed in like sardines and left to stew helplessly.

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    1. It is awful, they were just left sitting out there on the tarmac - mind you, it wasn't much fun inside the Departure Lounge either. There was no help from the airport authorities.

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  7. I love Florence, one of my favorite cities in the world. But I never had this level of excitement. Of course, this very Italian way of officially dealing with a dispute is what made me decide I wanted to live in Spain! So glad there was no violence. What year did this happen?

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  8. Florence is a wonderful city and I would visit it again tomorrow. I think it was probably June, 2006 when we visited. Did you live in Florence?

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  9. I'm still trying to wrap my mind about the young man in the wheel chair being laid in front of the entrance. Glad no one was hurt -- and it does give you a VERY interesting story to tell.

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  10. Janet, It was unbelievable and awful. I suppose it was a measure of how passionately they felt wronged, but the poor chap shouldn't have been used like that.

    Obviously more happened than I have told, but my husband wanted me to keep the posting low-key. Perhaps he thought that the Mafia would come after me..

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