At 0600 hrs on Saturday 8 June 2013, our party of 6 were due to fly out from Birmingham Airport to Amsterdam, this being the first leg of our holiday on board the Vision Of The Seas cruise ship bound for the Arctic Circle. The second leg of the journey was to transfer to another plane at Amsterdam that would then take us to Copenhagen, Denmark where we would board the ship.
Just as the second plane began to reverse from the docking bay, Pete suffered a suspected heart attack, went unconscious and appeared to stop breathing. Fortunately in the seat immediately in front of Pete there was a Doctor who managed to revive him whilst an ambulance was called to attend and then conveyed Pete to a local hospital. Pete had already missed out on our Cruise to Alaska in August 2011 due to having an heart operation.
I think the reason for Pete's sudden illness was the result of a number of contributory factors starting the day before our departure. Firstly a fault with the KLM airlines website prevented Pete from being able to check in online. I also had the same issue and eventually contacted KLM via Facebook to rectify my issue. Pete did not have the benefit of a Facebook account and so decided to do the book in on arrival at the airport. Secondly our departure was set for 6am and you are required to arrive at the airport 3 hours before that time. This meant no sleep that night.
Thirdly on arrival at the airport the booking in machines also did not work. Pete had to wait about a hour before KLM managed to sort out the booking in problem. Fourthly our take off was delayed by 45 minutes, this had the knock on effect of less time at Amsterdam airport for the transfer to the second flight. Time was very tight - (fifthly) the signposting at the airport leaves a lot to be desired and it was not easy to locate the departure lounge of the second flight. We made it with just a few minutes to spare before the scheduled departure time. All of these factors put together would appear to be the catalyst that led to the heart attack.