Bad luck series 3: Flight delay

After the "fun day on your own" the day of departure finally arrived. If not for that fun day, I could have left earlier and all the following will not happen...

Anyway, I was picked up by an airport shuttle. The driver asked me which airline I was flying with. "Thomas Cook airline", I replied. You know, those budget airlines. He said, "They are not flying today! You have to wait till tomorrow". I was puzzled but then he laughed.

I arrived the airport and while there's a bunch of people around the check-in counter, no one is really checking in. Finally I asked a member of staff. He replied, with his nose pointing to the other side, that we would be delayed "for a while". At that point I was already fully prepared for a 24-hour delay. Although I couldn't quite understand how the driver knows that at least 5 hours before departure.

Eventually we were informed of a "mechanical problem" which they had "successfully" identified, and we "only" need to wait for the parts. You see, typical budget airline problem. We were then promised overnight hotel stay and breakfast, etc. My next flight to Hong Kong is no more than 48 hours after I return UK; should they delay more then I better go from Gatwick to Heathrow directly...

My bad luck didn't stop here and actually, it affected other people as well. While I was sitting in the airport, a man sitting back-to-back with me fell to ground suddenly as if he had a heart attack. After a few minutes he woke up and appeared ok, though.