Hanging aground

5am start, bleary eyed and mired in traffic on the M25. We flailed into the check-in area.

'You do know the flight is delayed by 10 hours and will depart tonight?'

Our faces did not look like those of people in the know.

The customer service desk hosted a woman who is unsuitable for the role. She didn't take kindly to me intimating that information on compensation was buried. However play our cards right and we may be able to recoup 600 Euros each for the project. I do feel for Malaysia Airlines, in general crisis for a few years now. There may not be a more unlucky airline in operation.

Luckily my colleague Dan is a fun travel companion and we had both productive days of work as well as some amusing japes over a chipotle wrap purchased with our complimentary food vouchers.

Is it acceptable to refuse a Malay family's request to swap places if it means you'll be squidged on a middle seat? I wasn't sure if the request stemmed from the mother feeling uncomfortable to be sat next to a male stranger for 13 hours. I suppose the era of mass air travel does rather reduce that as a cultural concern.