A Co-Pilot, A Co-Pilot, My Kingdom for a Co-Pilot

As Libby indicated below, I had a late arrival from my weekend in Berlin. We were scheduled for a 6:30pm departure on EasyJet, which was delayed multiple times before it was finally explained they were short a crew member. The problem, of course, is that the clock was ticking for other members of the crew who, once they've started their day, can only put in so many hours (this is a safety issue above all else). So we lost them, too, and our flight flew back to London Gatwick without us (yes, they can fly the plane, but after so many hours, they can't fly it with passengers). In the end, a volunteer crew came from Gatwick to pick us up. We departed about 3am from Berlin, arrived London around 4 am and made it to our flats around 5am after paying 100 pounds ($165) for a taxi. Things like this happen, but the biggest sin committed by EasyJet is that they did a lousy job of keeping us informed. We didn't fully know what was going on until the Captain informed us after we'd gotten on the plane. This weekend, I'm flying British Air to Naples, but fly EasyJet back to London. Hopefully, lightning won't strike twice.