Anonymous
One year I had to look after one of my boss’s church Holy Land tours while he was on holiday, which he said would simply involve a quick airport meet and greet.
However, on arrival at check-in on departure day the check-in staff advised me that a strike at Tel Aviv Airport had just resulted in an airport closure with all flights grounded for the day.
It was obviously a disappointing experience for all passengers but all left the airport as instructed, with the check-in staff promising that they would be updated when flights resumed.
Not my group, who instead became collectively angry. One woman stood up saying, “God came to me in a dream and told me I must go to Israel on this specific day. It is his will that we travel today!” A young girl burst into tears saying how important it was that she turned 18 in God’s land on her birthday, and so on.
The check-in staff had heard enough and closed off the counters leaving me alone with the angry mob. At a loss and wanting to get them to disperse as quickly as possible, I offered to drive through to the airline town office to see if there were any alternative airport rerouting options, promising to call later with an update.
I arrived and sat at the group supervisor’s desk looking at a number of different options with her, until we were advised that the group had followed me there and were causing a commotion in reception.
Here we found the group sitting holding hands in a circle and protest praying. The group supervisor explained that with an airport closure there was very little she could do and that there were complications regarding re-routings such as cross-border transfers and visa requirements. She pleaded with them to go home but they refused, blocking the entrance for hours, and causing the staff a lot of anxiety.
Eventually the supervisor threatened to resign and walk out for good – couldn’t they see she was doing everything she could to help them? Finally, after the gm had pleaded with the group, they dispersed. The airport reopened the next day and the group had a wonderful trip which had only been cut short by one day but I swore never to get involved in group bookings ever again.
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