Bad weather, good crisis management

I've never had the fear of flying planes. Not until last Friday when I was on board the Lithuanian national airlines' Boeing, which some 20 minutes before landing at Gatwick airport in London started shaking, jumping up and down and trembling due to severe winds in London. At that point I realised how people who have this fear feel... I just wished I wasn't on the plane or the pilot didn't even try landing at Gatwick. But Lithuanian pilots are brave and very confident and they did land. Thank God and them - successfully!

Only when we landed and I rushed to collect my luggage (Grace, I'm sorry for not saying good-bye, I wonder what your impressions of that flight were?:), did I find out that London had been hit by hurricane-like winds, which turned the public transport system into a total mess. Trains were late some 60 minutes (so I missed the business meeting in Victoria that evening), some stations were closed (e.g. London Bridge as its roof - litterally! - went off), some streets in Central London were cordoned by police.

When I learnt that the transit train from North Terminal to South Terminal was closed due to bad weather conditions (!), I understood that London was under another crisis. Just like the last time I was in this city, in December. At that time thick fog outside London paralysed Heathrow airport (some 400 flights were canceled), Gatwick was less affected.

In December, just before Christmas (a high travel season!), people travelling from London were in a bit of stress because of disruptions of flights. And then I witnessed the excellence of British authorities in crisis management. This time when the transport system in London was again severely hit, it again came to my notice how well the Brits manage crises.

For example, in December the flight cancelations, delays and disruptions caused thousands of travelers to seek information on the websites of Heathrow, Gatwick and other airports. So did I. And all the websites were automatically re-routed to a single point of information - a website of the air transport board which had no other information but regularly updated times and flight numbers in all London airports. This "shadow" website was on standby and ready for launch in case of a crisis. And my personal experience shows that such crises occur every month...

This time I was impressed by the way the Brits manage crowds. In Gatwick dozens of officers wearing yellow vests directed travelers to the coach stops as the train connection between the airport's terminals was closed. The officers would come up to you if you looked lost and show you the right way as well as the temporary signs directing to the right direction.

I was a bit stressed due to plane turbulance and a bit annoyed by the mess in London's transport system but it was obvious that the crisis was being managed professionally and that it had been prepared for. Well, the British way of crisis management deserves the highest mark of evaluation!

I hope the plane on Monday will not tremble and I will successfully return to Vilnius. Fingers crossed!

Nature Morte @Clyde's restaurant, Washington DC, July 2006.

Photo by Giedrius CP