We checked out of the hotel and made the long walk to Terminal 2 at Gatwick and checked in for what we believed would be out flight home to the Orlando. Security was a breeze and we sat in the BA First Class lounge and Janie had a mimosa with strawberries and we had a light breakfast. Finally we had to make our way to our gate, which meant taking a bus to a special set of gates in a remote part of T5. The time past when we should have been boarding and seeing the flight crew disembark and rejoin was not a reassuring sight. Soon we were told there was a problem with the AC on the plane which they blamed on the unusually hot weather. After quite a while, they came back and said they were replacing a part, then said the plane had failed inspection.

They moved us to another gate nearby and gave us electronic vouchers for lunch. J. R. got a dry sandwich from Pret a Manger and stocked up on candy bars from the store. The poor cashier struggled with dealing with all of the passengers and the vouchers which required manual intervention to scan. The time past again for us to board our new plane and it was delayed again. Finally the captain came out and told us the second plane had a hydraulic issue and our flight was cancelled. We were told we would be given information on hotel stay and transportation and were escorted back out onto a bus to pick up our bags.

There was no agent at baggage claim but we did receive a notification at 1428 we were rebooked on a connecting flight the next day through Dublin, but it was from Heathrow, not Gatwick. We went to the Club World check in desk looking for help. When we were in line, we got a notification at 1446 to choose a hotel for the night, but they were all at Gatwick. We told the agent this and she suggested we take the hotel at Gatwick and come back in the morning to transfer to Heathrow. But our flight was at 0620 out of LHR and to be there by 0430 to check in would require being at Gatwick at 0330 when everything would be closed and no trains or buses running. So then she told us to book our own hotel and file a claim, which we did.

We decided to take a taxi to Heathrow rather than trying to deal with our luggage on the train. We were halfway to LHR when at 1508, we received a notice BA had booked us into a hotel at LHR "as a special courtesy". We rejected this as we already had a non-refundable booking at the Hilton at Heathrow and will file a claim. We did get 40 GBP in transfer vouchers but the taxi was over 100 GBP so we will be claiming that as well. The vouchers did not arrive until 1524, 90 minutes after our flight was cancelled.

We checked into our room and had to repack our luggage because we were allowed 70 lbs. per bag on Club World with BA but only 50 lbs. per bag on Aer Lingus. That meant moving some stuff into a duffel bag we had brought with us. We went down to the hotel bar to have some food and beer before going back to the room to unwind.

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