It’s been a week which has seen Britain brought to its knees. With the coldest December since 1910 and heavy snowfall around the country, chaos has ensued. Thousands were left stranded on motorways as roads closed and accidents inevitably occurred. Motorists nationwide faced queues of up to 8 hours and scores simply abandoned their cars. Trains were also affected with speed restrictions and a severely limited timetable throughout the network.
But perhaps the worst afflicted were Britain’s airports. Only around half of the flights out of Gatwick left over the weekend as it was forced to close for part of Saturday. Yet it was at Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport, that the worst disarray was seen. Over 350,000 passengers were left stranded, myself included, as less than 20 out of 1,300 flights left the airport on Sunday (19th December).
It was a flight that would have seen me delivered to Madison, Wisconsin, to spend Christmas with my boyfriend. I woke early anticipating delays after the snow on Saturday and called my airline, American Airlines, who confirmed my flight would be leaving. Nervously, I set off catching the Heathrow Express from Paddington and arrived to the terminal 3 to find myself in a scene of absolute pandemonium. Loaded with a suitcase and bags I set about the task of finding the check in desk and very quickly realised this would be impossible. The terminal hall was packed wall to wall with forlorn looking travellers, the air reverberating with frustrated and miserable voices.
Trying to reach my check desk, I passed another, (Cathay Pacific), and heard an angry cry from one of the passengers, “I’ve been here for 2 days, what are you going to do for me?”, and he was not alone. Everywhere were small islands of people surrounded by their luggage and huddled under silver blankets, exhausted, sleep deprived and hungry. With very few restaurants, save a few coffee shops slowly emptying of sandwiches and a bar (which was full at 7 am) food was hard to come by, and expensive at that.
As I eventually neared the American Airlines check in desk, I could see hundreds of people queuing for stations, all of which were empty. A ray of hope shone down when I received a text from the Heathrow Flying Messenger service informing me that my flight would indeed be leaving on time at 10.15 am, this was at 7.30am. I searched frantically for a member of staff and found none. With no way to reach the check in desk past the hordes of people and no staff to ask for help, panic took hold. After a painstaking 3 hours of waiting, I saw a stream of airport staff, (some of the first I had seen in the hall), leaving. When I asked one of them what was going on, they said simply, “We’re going home. There’s nothing flying”. Soon after came an announcement stating all American Airlines flights were cancelled for the day and passengers should leave the terminal. This was closely followed by announcements from numerous airlines, filling the hall with disappointment and anguish.
Distraught, I was comforted by a woman from a group which had travelled from Staffordshire and had no choice but to wait at the airport. When I asked her where she was supposed to be flying she tearfully replied, “We were flying to New York to board the Queen Mary cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime; we’ve been saving for years”. It was at this time that I caught my first glimpse of an AA representative who was handing out flyers with little else but an 0845 number to call, which can cost as much as 40p from a mobile, surely the only option for most passengers at the airport.
I chose to travel home before rebooking my flight but found the Heathrow Express had been closed, leaving a further flux of passengers frustrated as all were forced to pack into the Underground. Finally I arrived home and had a pleasant 2 and a half hour hold time to talk to someone to change my flight, which has now been moved to the 24th December, a full 5 days after the original flight.
It is clear that stern questions will be asked of the British Airport Authorities. With only 5 inches of snow falling on Saturday, and none since, it seems inexplicable that the airport has taken so long to reopen. The lack of organisation and information for passengers will surely also come under fire, with much conflicting advice and great difficulty in contacting staff, both at and away from the airport. Heathrow have issued a statement on their website saying, “We are sorry for the disruption caused and will reflect carefully on the lessons we can learn and the steps we need to take to better prepare for these periods of poor weather”. Well lessons hard learned for their passengers this weekend. It is with a sense of slight deja vu I read this statement, as it seems to mirror closures at this time last year, when flights were also ground to a halt over a meager amount of snow. With airports around the world coping with these conditions day in day out, it is clear that BAA will need to take a long, hard look at their strategies, and a long hard look at those passengers let down by them this Christmas.
