Day 2
We all woke up early and met for breakfast, this was our time to make our plans for the day. First thing’s first a big breakfast was in order. As we were booked on a B&B basis you could order off the menu, unlimited.
Due to the fact we had breakfast on our outbound flight at approx. 07:30 and didn’t eat again until 22:00, we all made sure we were filled up for the day ahead. The food in the hotel was amazing.
So the plan for today was, to stop the entry into the airport, until we had control of the check in areas, we would then make it a haven of tensa barriers. Off to the airport we go!
As you can imagine, when we went to the airport, the streets were quiet, very quiet
Upon arrival into the airport, there were approx. 100 passengers waiting outside the security point for check in. With this time, we were able to ensure we had the barriers up, making organised lines within the area for each flight, instead of a mass of people compared to the previous day.
Now we had the airport setup ready for people to be filtered correctly.
We were ready to open, however this was now approx. 09:00 and we found out that the regular check in staff would not arrive until at least 10:00, Africa! However the 107 passengers we bused to the hotel the previous night, we had promised that they would be checked in first, as a priority. To combat this we took these people through the initial security door to queue for their flights, ensuring when it opens they would be through first.
Whilst we were waiting the FCO team arrived for the day, so I met up with them giving an update of what was planned for the day, ensuring we are in sync with our work. One of the FCO guys recognised me and me recognising him too, we had worked together of the evacuation of Tunisia 18 months ago, small world eh!
After an hour the regular check in crew arrived, to a cheer from the crowds, by then we had had written the majority of the boarding cards, with flight number, date, destination. We opted for free seating, as it was taking far too long on the previous day to allocate seats manually. We had to prepare these for 4 flights on day 2 and 5 flights on day 3, as you can imagine I never want to see a manual boarding pass in my life. There was also an additional flight each day, but as these were the original scheduled flights, they had a working departure control system and could be loaded electronically.
Initially the first group of people we were allocating to our early Manchester flight, and as it was the only flight at the airport in the am, it was processed very quickly and everyone came though. Then we had an update from the FCO, they had been advised by UK immigration, that they wanted some form of API, on emergency rescue flights, with no computers!!!
The team lead suggested if they emailed the sheets over and these could be done in flight and handed over on landing, as there was 6 hours in the air, this was kicked back unless they could be sent before landing. They would not accept the situation and insisted, even though 4 flights went without API on the previous day with no issues.
Luckily today we also had assistance, as we had another 6 staff fly in from the UK to help us out, as they were from the business division I am in, I was happy knowing we would have the best people to help us out, as were in the overseas area which look after all the operations once you set foot off the plane, the reps. They helped a great deal, and bought a sea of colour, of the uniform into the area.
For the API they were a godsend, as we had extra resource. The solution was, they would send through a sheet, I would get a team and go airside manually take the date and write the classic “API OK” on the boarding cards, then when boarding after the ID check, boarding passes are passed to me, where I checked and directed to boarding or api area, this worked, as there was only 1 flight in departures and it was quiet, it did not work later.
Now that flight was gone, there was a 3 hour gap between that and the rest of the flights, plus other airlines flights too, making the airport a bit busier. We were getting everyone on the earliest flights possible, with the newly arrived team, PR’ing in the outer area and the team arrived earlier on check in, I was going between the two, troubleshooting and liaising with the FCO.
Setup looks a mess but it now organised!
So we checked in the next departure, and we attempted the API again, however due to the other flights being out there, we were not able to cover all passengers and it would of delayed boarding too much, feedback was sent to UKBA and no response, so it was a wasted exercise, as passports and visa’s are checked at check in and any issues at immigration the carrier is liable anyway, so I’m not sure what the advantage was on the evac flights. Thanks for the waste of time UKBA, I didn’t API my flight and there was no delays at immigration!
However, we had 3 flights to check in, all similar times, these went a breeze and the rest of the day finished nicely. Once we closed the check in desks, cleaned up, we had a team meeting in the airport café. As you noticed, I forgot to mention earlier, we were asked to stay another night.
On the update meeting, there were some new people at the table, we were introduced to the security team, who had been flown in on the empty flight from the UK, it was arranged to have a briefing at 19:30 back at the hotel, so back we go. It gave me time to try and wash my clothes, seeing I went for a day, in one outfit, I felt awful.
So dinner came along and the security team introduced themselves, as the private security contractors sent by my company. They advised of the changing situation, as to be honest we didn’t even look at phones or the news whilst working, we were focusing on getting the passengers out as quick as possible, as this was the last advertised flying day, it was only decided last send to send some more on Friday in case of any stragglers, who ignored or didn’t show up, for various and stupid reasons.
Anyway back to it, we were briefed on the situation and advised the Senegalese army was on the border, waiting to cross. We were told to get the grab bags ready at a moments notice and have a breakout buddy, so if the worst came to the worst, everyone could escape at a moments notice. 2 coaches were allocated to leave, so it one broke down, we could swap to the other immediately.
We carried on the evening, then saw a video of the army entering the country, then we had the further official update that army had entered and to be on standby to leave at a moments notice. Then again that there has been some trouble to the buses were not here so be ready to run… This is where we put the beers down!
The security team then went around area picking up the staff who worked locally, the Nordic colleagues and airline staff, so the whole group was in one location if we needed to leave.
We sat around chatting for a bit, the Swedish and Finnish foreign office advice’s changed, meaning more flights for us tomorrow. After that we went to our rooms for some sleep, many of us sure that we would have a night time departure.
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