We went through to the gate at about 7pm - easyJet had graciously offered us an entirely free cup of tea so we weren't at all hungry so it didn't matter that there was only a vending machine at the gate. There were two easyJets parked outside the windows; ours and the 9:30pm flight to Gatwick - both sets of passengers were mixing in the same room and it was really hot. Temperatures increased even more when we discovered that the replacement plane was also broke.
We were told that the plane just needed some data from easyJet HQ at Luton and all would be right in half an hour, that came and went and we were told it would be another hour, then another, then another. Anyone that wanted to was allowed to switch to the Gatwick plane but that entailed getting their bags from the Luton plane and moving them across the tarmac. It was generally all the moaning loudmouths that chose to go on the other plane so once they'd gone it was a lot calmer. Unfortunately, adding them all to the plane made the Gatwick plane late by about 2 hours - I bet the passengers loved being sat on the tarmac all that time just to accommodate a load of angry tossers.
Anyway, back at the gate, the Captain of the broken Luton plane sent the cabin crew in with drinks and snacks to placate the tired masses. Eventually the Captain admitted that, even if the data arrived now, she'd run out of flying hours so the flight had to be cancelled. We were told that an engineer would arrive from the UK in the morning and so we'd be put up in a hotel and come back for 1:30pm the next afternoon. We all trooped down to the baggage reclaim area to get our bags then the staff worked out how many rooms were required. There were about 50 of us left by now but they could only find three taxis so it took ages to get us all to the Montpellier Mercure. We arrived at about 1:30am - and, of course, the bar and kitchen were both closed. Luckily Kezza had a mini bottle of red in her bag (she always keeps emergency supplies hidden).
Breakfast was very disappointing - the Mercure may be a 4* but it's not up to Hilton breakfast standards. We hung around in the hotel for the morning before taxiing it back to airport and watching the Monaco GP in the departure lounge. We went through to the gate (14... again) more-or-less on time and we could see the engineer sat on the flight deck next to the Captain. They were both head down beavering away at the computers.
We boarded at about 4:50pm and the doors closed and... nothing. The heap of junk wouldn't start. The onboard genny which acts as a starter motor wasn't working. It also runs the aircon (until the engines take over) so it was getting hotter and hotter on board. K and I were sat right at the front so we could see the cabin temperature gauge - it peaked at 36 degrees C, not pleasant. They had to start the engines using an external power unit but the first one they tried wasn't powerful enough, by the time they found a bigger one and got the engines running we had been sat there for an hour. We finally took off at 5:50pm - 27 hours late.
What a journey. We're holidaying in the UK next time.
P.S. when we got back to Luton they'd smashed the handle and bust the seam on our case.
