Day 283. Head in the clouds.

Which is where I can be found most of the time but today was more literal than figurative.

I had to fly up to Aberdeen for a client meeting and decided to give Norwich Airport a go. Only 50 minutes from home and with parking right outside the terminal building (short and long stay) it was more convenient by a country mile, well we are in Norfolk, than Stansted or Luton. Ticket prices were a little steep but balanced by the cheaper parking and apparently fares to Aberdeen are expensive wherever you fly from.

Check in was quick, in fact I think I may have been the only passenger for a while, but then I was flummoxed by the scanner. I couldn't see how to scan my boarding pass to get through to departures. Perhaps the fact that it was only just 7am was the problem but I was pleased to see a member of staff heading over to help. That is until she informed me that I had to buy an ADF ticket for £10 to access departures. This is a new one for me. It felt rather like having to buy a rail platform ticket when I've already purchased the train ticket.

Apparently this £10 is contributing towards the development of Norwich airport. Is Norwich Airport run by a not for profit agency? Having checked out Omniport's website clearly not. It's estimated that 423,000 people flew through Norwich Airport in 2012/13 with all adults paying £10 each for the privilege - quite honestly the departure lounge makes you question where the money is going but still, it is very convenient. Which is a good job given that my return flight was delayed by 3 hours after Aberdeen airport was closed during the day due to a plane leaving the runway. No-one was hurt but the backlog was still being felt eight hours later. We finally left the runway at 9.30pm only to find the weather in Norwich rather troublesome for landing a cessna. Ok it was a bit bigger than that but the cross wind was so strong that our first landing was aborted and it seemed we were destined never to touch down in Norfolk. As the passengers were mainly business or oil workers there was no spontaneous applause when Captain Bruce finally touched down at 11pm. Just relief that the fire engines waiting on the runway hadn't been deployed and that we hadn't been diverted to Stansted. I wasn't asked for an additional £10 which was surprising as ADF clearly stands for Airport Deficient Financially.

6/10, must try harder.