Between madness and chaos in a strange land

The title of this entry is from a poster opposite the tram stop where we began our journey to the airport this morning. It couldn't be more apt. My mailbox this morning contained an email from Sophie saying that their cancelled flight had been reinstated. My phone has been blocked due to all the calls to BA, but Simon called BA's local office as soon as it opened and although our flight was still cancelled, they offered us a flight tomorrow, which we accepted gratefully. Since the return journey by tram to the airport costs only 12TL we decide to go there on spec, just in case there are free seats on the Walters' flight or the one we were orginally booked onto today gets miraculously reinstated.

When we arrived, I checked at the BA desk, where the queue was surprisingly short and everybody remarkably calm. A TV crew was interviewing passengers nearby. The good news is that our flight tomorrow is still scheduled to depart, and they have also left our booking in place for Saturday, as back-up. The bad news is, all BA flights from Istanbul today are cancelled, including Sophie and Carl's. When I return to Simon who was minding our luggage, he is on the phone to the Reading Post, who are looking for an update. This story could run and run.

Simon calls Sophie who, it turns out, is already in a taxi en route to the airport, and less than impressed that BA contacted her when her flight was reinstated but neglected to do so when it was cancelled again. As I write this, Simon is waiting to meet them at the entrance to departures so he can show them where to find the BA desk. I hope they can get booked on a flight tomorrow, like us. When they get here, we'll head back to the city and check back in to the Sapphire Hotel. We'll be back tomorrow to have another go.