Leading up to May 23

Packing and airlines

The week before May 23 was filled with last minute packing and dealing with the possible cancellation of my WestJet flight to Gatwick due to the potential strike by the pilots.  The packing wasn't stressful but dealing with a back-up plan for my flight plans was.  As the flight date approached there was no certainty that my flight would be available so I decided I needed a contingency plan.  An alternate flight plan was what I needed in order to reduce my anxiety level.  This was no surprise to my wife, Jenny, who from many years experience of my need to have all my plans in place and confirmed knows that I'm a real worry wart,  The issue was that whilst the pilots had given strike notice they were required to give 72 hours notice before they walked off the job.  Consequently I could not be sure my flight would take off until it was inside that 72 hour period.  Finally I couldn't take the uncertainty any more so I searched for other flights that were available that I could book without suffering a huge financial loss if I had to cancel.  WestJet had promised to refund the cost of any flights that were cancelled so I knew I was safe there.  The answer to my problem was a more expensive flight with Air Transat but which only had a $50 cancellation charge if my WestJet flight was sure to be going.  After a phone call to Air Transat my back-up plan was in place.  Two days before my WestJet flight was due to take off the pilots had not given notice of a work stoppage so I cancelled my Air Transat flight and drove down to Calgary.  After a night in a hotel I boarded my flight to Gatwick with only one small hitch.  My carry-on and my backpack were both identified for secondary safety screening because they both contained boxes of electronics and cameras.  But the flight was good because I found that I had two seats all to myself.  So, as Shakespeare says, "All's well that ends well."