Close, but no cigar

So, I arrived at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg, with a few hours to spare, went straight to the British Airways counter and checked in all the way to Arlanda airport, Stockholm, via Heathrow. My suitcase was of course, slightly overweight, 24.4kg instead of 23kg, but nothing was said. Feeling relieved, with both boarding passes safely in my bag, I went off to browse the airport shops looking for last minute gifts.

Delon came along and we had time to have pizza before I went through to passport check, just in time. I missed a numeral on my boarding pass, and ended up at gate A8 instead of A18, but a little run through the airport got me to the right gate in time.

I got to the front of the line and happily handed over my boarding pass and passport. At which point I was told I couldn't board the plane, because I didn't have a visa for the UK. I laughed at the dim guy and told him I wasn't leaving the airport in Heathrow, I was getting on a connecting flight within two hours of landing.

"Sorry ma'am, please wait on this side, someone will come and speak to you just now."

I didn't start panicking yet, because surely he was wrong. In any case, no one had informed me that I needed a visa, so they'd let me off this one time and I'd promise to make sure it didn't happen again.

Not quite, I watched all the other passengers get on the plane, one other poor girl was sent to sit in the corner with me and I was glad for the company. We were then led down a passage where our luggage was waiting for us and escorted back through to the front of the airport and dumped at the British Airways ticket sales desk, where we were informed that no one could help us in any way until Monday morning when the customer care centre opened.

By this time I had already had a good cry and was walking around with a very red face. I've never felt so powerless. Throwing a hissy fit would've been completely useless.

I lugged my overweight suitcase around looking for another open ticket sales counter. And happened upon Swissport, where an angel of a woman searched through every possible flight to find me something.

I am now scheduled to leave at 21h50 tonight (Saturday 24 September) on Qatar airlines, via Doha. And land in Stockholm at 14h00 on Sunday, 27 hours and a few thousand rands later than I had expected.

Basically I'm saying: DON'T use British Airways, DON'T fly through Heathrow, unless you have a passport other than South African, or are willing to pay for a UK transit visa. Even a Zambian passport is alright, just South Africans have a problem for some reason. Maybe Jay-Zed did something wrong while he was over there... However, there is an exception: If you're going on to the USA or Canada via Heathrow, then no UK transit visa is necessary. It just does not make sense to me.

What an absolute nightmare. It felt surreal! But now I get to go through the UAE. And I'll tell you all what Qatar is like... IF I get there....