Well, finally got home yesterday just after midday, having jumped in a taxi to Tenerife South airport at 3:30 the previous afternoon. We were notified that our rearranged flight would depart at 20:20 so arrived at the airport just before 16:00, expecting a lengthy check in procedure, as seats would need to be allocated, and the Boeing 777 that was provided had a capacity of around 380. The destination board indicated we should use check in desks 23-26, however when we got there they were already being used by TUI for a German flight to Stuttgart. A few other Monarch customers were already queuing amongst the Germans, so we joined them.
After a while the German rep told us to get out of the queue or she'd call the police and we'd be arrested. After wishing her "good luck with that", the police did turn up, but just walked around the combined German/Monarch line of people, and left. Shortly afterwards check in desk 23 started to display our flight code and the slow check in began. There was to be no seat allocation, so once on board it would just be a bun fight to get a seat.
The 20:20 departure time got put back to 21:30, but as the departure gate number was only announced at 20:30 we weren't holding our breath. After standing at the gate for 2 hours we finally boarded the plane at about 22:45, only to be told that due to the French air traffic control strike, we wouldn't be allowed to take off even though we wouldn't have been in French airspace until after the 01:00 finish time of the strike. So after a further two and a quarter hours twiddling our thumbs we finally took off at 01:00, landing at Birmingham around 04:40.
More fun and games waiting for our luggage whiled away another 2 hours again standing, as there were no seats. The transfer coach left at 07:00 to take us to Gatwick arriving there three and a half hours later after getting caught up in the severe congestion at the M40/25 junction. Our minicab from Gatwick got us home at 12:30, exactly 21 hours since leaving our hotel in Tenerife.
There seemed to be no advantage in having ATOL insurance, as no one that I spoke to on our flight had it, and to claim for any out of pocket food expense needed receipts which neither Tenerife or Gatwick would supply. I feel I need a holiday after that lot, a few days fishing on the Wye should do it.