It might surprise you that even a simple TUI beach holiday can be subject to some disruption when the destination of choice is within West Africa. After our amazing travels around Togo and Ghana this time last year, and so far encountering minimal disruption, returning to the airport was when we’d find ourselves tested.
Road Incident
Just 10 minutes from the airport, and on the road on its perimeter, the coach convoy ground to a halt with passengers exclaiming that there had been an accident and there was a worrying amount of smoke ahead. As a traffic gendarmerie powered past on their motorbike, dozens of cars followed them closely along the shoulder of the road, thereby blocking any other emergency services attempting to get to the scene.
The TUI rep came onto the microphone to reassure the more nervous passengers that the flight will not leave until these coaches make it and that she has liaised with the airport team and her senior management to make them aware of our situation. As other drivers exited their vehicles and walked towards the incident, a few tourists on the coach then decided the accident might be a great photo opportunity for them. Gross.
The gendarmerie managed to clear a safe driving route for smaller vehicles, which was unfortunately excluding our coach and a lorry to our left, but at least it gave us hope that we’d be moving shortly. After 100 or so cars had been allowed through the gap, the gendarmerie waved us through too, but alas we weren’t in luck, the lorry to our left refused to let us through, pushing past us at a snails pace, then a coach following the lorry did the same. Another gendarme further along and closer to the incident whistled loudly and waved hard to get us to merge, but the driver didn’t manage to force us into a space even with the help of the official.
Seconds later, still in the closed lane, we found ourselves next to a burning car, with plumes of smoke encompassing the coach with the heat radiating through my window and lightly toasting my arm. I’m not sure that was a safe way to pass, I think I’d have waited if I was driving…! Looked a little ‘explodey’ too.
Airport Antics
The plane was at the gate when we finally made it through security, but surprisingly we didn’t board until 15 minutes before departure time. This was a little strange in comparison to some of the budget flights we’d taken recently where they had us on the plane almost an hour early, even for short haul, but I chalked it up to being on Africa time.
30 minutes after we’d boarded, and 20 minutes after our schedules takeoff, the first officer made an announcement that there was a discrepancy in the paperwork which was delaying the takeoff. 20 minutes later the captain clarified the situation, stating that the airport staff had filled the potable water tank without any authority to do so and without being able to provide paperwork proving the water is safe. He let us know that he was speaking to their operations manager in the UK and trying to rectify the situation as soon as possible, offering any available solution: drain the water, provide the correct paperwork and/or provide bottled water instead.
The pilot kindly set timers for 20 minutes so that he could give frequent updates even if there was no update; I thought that was a nice touch. The eventual solution was to leave the water onboard and drain it in the UK, but said he wouldn’t depart without any bottled water onboard so we need to wait for the local crew to bring bottles on board. He did say he had asked for the weights so that he could calculate his takeoff distances in advance, but it was clear that he wasn’t getting any decent information from them.
In the end it took two hours to rectify the situation, with a few crates of water brought on board. I’m not convinced it was really necessary as the flight time is only 5.5 hours and they didn’t provide any free-of-charge water on the outbound flight, but I did enjoy a couple of free glasses so who am I to complain. I would have preferred to have just flown instead though, those seats are extremely uncomfortable for 6 hours, never mind the 8 hours or so we were stuck in them with the delay.
On another note, what is it with TUI in airports, do tourists really need a dozen or so guides to get them through??? On this last flight we had two helpers in the coach, then four more people helped outside the coach, organising the bags and retelling us where to walk (after giving multiple instructions during the coach ride too), two people also stood waiting to help in case of any issues checking in and then another waiting at security to make sure you found your way in. Do people really need this much help? Well, listening to some people in the queue, I guess it’s for good reason… given the state of the loos maybe a TUI rep could tell some of the other guests where to aim.
OK, I’m not finished ranting, quick disclaimer that I’m writing this on the day we landed so I might be a bit grumpy after only having a couple of hours sleep, so please don’t judge me too harshly… but why do the international airports in Africa have so many ‘checks’. I thought it was a chance to extort you after reading terrible reviews on the airport in Lome, but it was the same in Ghana and Senegal.
1 – We started with a brief check before entering the airport. I assume this would have been a more intense check if we hadn’t been in the coach, but as it was it was just a brief pause while security looked at the coach.
2 – We then had a passport check before we could enter the terminal, not really sure what they were looking for but it caused a bit of chaos outside with people trying to push their way infront.
3 – There was then a suitcase and hand luggage scan with another passport check, this one they didn’t bother doing for us so we were able to walk straight through.
4 – While queuing to drop our bags off we had a passport check, funnily Tarnya wasn’t actually in the queue, but joined later and wasn’t subject to the check.
5 – Normal check in passport check.
6 – Pre-border passport and boarding card check before directing us to a queue for border control. This one did irritate us greatly as we got stuck behind someone who decided to argue with the border police; when we tried to move to an alternative queue the person who had checked our passports hissed at us and shouted to stay in that specific queue. Joy.
7 – Standard border control check.
8 – Immediate check after passing the border police and before going through security.
9 – This time we made it all the way to the gate before being checked again which felt like a win; I was genuinely surprised there were no other checks. Another bonus was the shops didn’t need your boarding pass to purchase anything either, easier than Europe in that respect.
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