The rendezvous was set for 6.30 a.m. atOrly airport! While the parents may have looked grumpy as they handed over their most precious possession to the accompanying teachers at this early hour, the children were all smiles! At last, they were off to Greece, the land of the Olympics, to see with their own eyes the vestiges of what they had been studying all year!
The departure went well, although flight TO3520 was a few minutes late for take-off to avoid a bottleneck on arrival in Athens, but the small team remained in good spirits!
At 11:24 a.m. (French time), the captain reportedly announced over the loudspeakers that the Boeing 737-8K2 had a technical problem and that they had to turn back to Orly (editor's note: it was actually a crack in the aircraft). According to the teachers present, the message said that everything was going to be fine, but that it was still a good idea to take a look at the safety brochure, just in case! A reassuring message for the 9-12 year-olds in the group.
Relatives in Paris saw the plane turn back on tracking applications and called the airline Transavia, which assured them that all was well and that the plane would arrive in Athens at 1:15pm, as scheduled.
The aircraft finally landed atOrly airport at 11:27 a.m. - 18 minutes ahead of schedule, according to FlightAware!
The children and other passengers on the plane were disembarked, credited with €5 on their boarding pass so they could eat something at the airport before boarding a new aircraft!
Settled into a new Boeing 737 and ready for takeoff, passengers heard a new announcement from the chief purs er that the aircraft had an engine problem and would not be able to take off! A mother recounts on LinkedIn that"the cabin crew asked the passengers to all move to the front so that the plane wouldn't tip over because of the engine, which also had a problem", while a child says that"they made half the passengers get out because it was too heavy".
The group was again moved to a 3rd aircraft, scheduled to take off first at 4.15pm and then at 4.50pm. The children arrived at the airport at 6:30 that morning. They were due to arrive in Athens at 1:15 p.m. and then continue their journey to their hotel in Delphi, with a 5-hour coach journey and a "snack" stopover in Corinth.
At 5.05pm, after more than an hour's wait in the aircraft, the plane still hadn't taken off, this time due to the air traffic controllers' strike. With the children at the end of their tether, and with no visibility on take-off time, the teachers took the decision to call it a day and walk off the flight!
Teachers and children then spent several hours in the baggage hall to collect their cabin baggage (which had been placed in the hold by the airline), while parents scrambled to get to the airport as quickly as possible or organized to collect the children of those who couldn't make it!
At 7.15pm, i.e. 2 hours after the group had left the plane, parents were told that no one knew what time they would be able to collect the luggage, and were left with the choice of continuing to wait for the suitcases to arrive, or collecting the children without luggage, leaving the teachers to bring them all back to school!
The children, disgusted to see their trip cancelled, were finally reunited with their parents at 7.20pm, in an outpouring of hugs and tears, for some, and left the airport (without baggage) before the plane finally took off at 8.05pm to finally land in Athens "on time" at 11.59pm! The remaining passengers therefore had to wait 4 hours in the plane before a 2h55 flight.
The teachers who stayed behind were only able to collect all the suitcases at 9pm before heading back to school. A trip the children won't soon forget!
