Probably only of interest to the dedicated few however what happened today was surprising to say the least - however I have not travelled much recently so perhaps such incompetence in the UK is the norm these days especially where BAA is concerned and I simply haven't noticed!

I recently returned to Gatwick after a few days away visiting relatives. The plane arrived at the gate and everyone got up to queue up for the exit. Nothing happened. There was no tunnel/bridge in place so the cabin crew could not open the door. The crew apparently tried to contact someone in the airport but could not get hold of anyone who could help- rather a worrying prospect for a range of reasons. So the plane , crew and passengers sat there for over half an hour wondering what was going on, unable to get off the plane, and unable to find out what was happening. The air on the plane was stifling - the captain had to turn the engines on again to get some oxygen into the cabin. Eventually after about 40 minutes a 'Man' turned up and linked the bridge to the plane. We all got off . No explanation or apology was given other than ' no ground staff available'. The 'Man' simply laughed, clearly finding the whole thing funny.

The by now hot tired and furious passengers (including some trying to get on connecting flights )proceeded through the tunnel as directed by ' the Man ' and down some stairs only to find- you've guessed it- a blocked and locked exit .Everyone then retracted their steps back to the plane only to find that too had been shut and locked and there was no access. The 'Man' had disappeared. So around 200 or so passengers were trapped in a relatively small stairwell for a further 10-15 minutes in what appeared to be an abandoned section of the airport.
The only other exit was marked' emergency exit only'. Someone suggested breaking the breakglass to get out however that too seemed to be out of action as the break glass had clearly been broken by some other desperate passenger trying to claw their way out. So a supposed ' emergency exit' was also out of action.
Fortunately a member of Servisair staff eventually turned up (by accident rather than design) and let us all out, all over an hour after the plane had landed.

You couldn't have made it up. So is this now typical of UK Plc and what if anything can we do about it? Is there any point in complaining and if so, who to?