Morning:
14°c
Travellers' 60-hour wait at Heathrow
Benedict Moore-Bridger03.02.09
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THOUSANDS of passengers were facing another day of delays at London's airports today.
Scores of travellers were forced to spend the night trying to sleep on terminal floors after heavy snow forced the cancellation of 850 flights at Heathrow yesterday. Gatwick axed 47 flights and Stansted cancelled 170.
Pictures: The big freeze continues
Pictures: Snow covers London
Angry passengers at Heathrow were held in queues for up to six hours as they re-booked flights. Many had to stay at the airport as nearby hotels, charging up to £315 a night, quickly filled up. Some passengers will have been stuck at Heathrow for more than 60 hours by the time they fly out tomorrow.
Nearly all short-haul British Airways flights were cancelled, with BA and BAA staff providing bottles of water and sandwiches for those stuck at the terminals.
BA put up about 2,500 passengers in hotels across London, but some were unable to leave the airport because of visa restrictions.
Some passengers decided to stay in the airport overnight to beat this morning's queues to re-book flights.
Stuart Searle, 24, and his girlfriend Barbara Korell had been stuck at Heathrow's Terminal 5 building since 11pm on Sunday, and were unable to get a flight to Los Angeles until noon tomorrow. The pair were to catch a BA flight to Los Angeles before flying on to their new home in New Zealand.
Mr Searle, 24, a physicist from Weymouth, said they had no choice but to stay put, adding: "We arrived for our flight and were told it had been cancelled and have been waiting ever since. We called the helpline number and were told the first flight we could get is tomorrow lunchtime.
"We decided not to risk going to Barbara's home in Croydon because the public transport is not working and we're worried we won't be able to get back. There are no hotels around here that have room, so we're stuck."
Ms Korell said: "We have our laptops and some crisps, so it looks like we're going to have to stay here for a while. There's nothing else we can do."
Milica Vujadinovic, 16, was travelling back to Serbia after a month-long holiday in Sydney to visit her older sister when she got caught up in delays at Heathrow.
She said: "I have no visa so I can't leave the airport. I've had to sit on the plane for three hours because of the snow, then I spent hours queuing. I'm tired and nervous. I don't know when I'll get home."
Also caught up in the disruption was the Mariinsky Orchestra of St Petersburg which was travelling to Moscow for a performance after a three-night engagement at the Barbican.
Bassoonist Alexander Sharykin said: "There are about 100 of us who are stuck. For us this is perfectly normal weather, we can't understand why there is all this chaos.
"We've been waiting for eight hours. Having played in the Barbican we are now heading to Moscow to play there. I hope we get there in time for our performance later this week."
A spokesman for airport operator BAA said passengers should check with their airline before setting off. He said teams were working throughout the night to clear runways using snow ploughs, snow blowers and other specialist vehicles. The spokesman added: "They're working around the clock to clear snow and ice. We'll be continuing to do that."
BA, which was worst affected by the weather, said it was anticipating more delays today due to the snow and because crews were in the wrong places because of delayed flights. "We expect to have some knock-on disruption but we are doing all we can," said a spokesman. "We are offering refunds, re-booking customers where flights have been cancelled, and put 2,500 people in hotels overnight. Unfortunately there may be some people stuck airside because they do not have the right visa requirements. We have had numerous staff in the terminals to help customers as much as possible."
Reader views (15)
A couple of days once every 19 years so who is going to pay for a huge amount of extra equipment, manpower and training for the other 6900 plus days that we don't get snow like this. Yes it's inconvenient but lets keep things in perspective.
Enjoy the odd day off.
- David, Dereham, UK
My flight was cancelled twice since Sunday. The customers service at T5 is dire. Wish I had flown with another carrier other than BA. Worst airline for customer service.
- S Ali, UK
I find the whole thing entertaining. This country gets pretty much every weather out there.
Snow - check look out the window
Floods - look in the lounge
Hot summers - check the garden
YET when each one comes round pretty much every year. We are unprepared. In a few months there will be floods that we were not ready for. Then it will be too hot and roads will melt and train tracks will buckle. Then were back to the snow again.
We know it happens, lets get ready and lets deal with it
Right Im off to behave like a child and play in the snow 
- Steven, clevedon, uk
I disagree with you all. I live in a country that regularly experiences extream weather. for the last 4 months we have experienced consistant minus temperatures, intermittant snow and constant ice. Yet my train runs every morning (overground and under ground), the roads a gritted every night, and the pavements are constantly cleared. Tomorrow I will fly to Helsinki, which has pretty much if not worse weather condition than Stockholm at the moment. After that I will fly to Switzerland which on previous visits I note spends much of the year under snow and ice. I do not expect to be delayed, I do not expect my flights to be cancelled and I expect to get to all my meetings on time.
No excuse
- Englishman In Sweden, Stockholm Sweden
Listen folks, Britain's inability to deal with a couple snow flakes is legendary. If you can't cope with the consequences either don't (i) live in the UK or (ii) travel via London. [nb: only Brits are allowed to laugh at the system ....]
- Marianne, SW France
It's a bit unfair to slate the airports: they cannot lay grit on the runways, and a typical runway would be much too big for underneath heating. The snow fell too thick and fast for ploughs to cope with, so people will just have to put off their trips for a couple of days. Safety comes before expediency.
- Neil, london uk,
i'm so confused about my flight to Lagos Nigeria tomorrow. I have a lot of important issues to deal with in Nigeria and i don't have the slightest idea as to whether my flight for tomorrow has been cancelled or not .
- Adeyemi Babatunde, Brighton, Brighton, UK
Well Melvyn it would be doing better than you think. The sea being warmer (relatively) than the land it's conceivable that the airport would be less frosty than Heath-dump or Gat-slum. Only problem would be sea mist or fog but there's this new fangled thing called Radar that gets round that. Secondly the scraped up snow could easily be deposited into the sea.
As a Canvey resident you'll already have been aware that you coastal types fared better yesterday than further inland.
Anyway Melvyn I guess you'll be wanting to pop back to feed your horse and polish your sabot's. Toodle pip!
- Ethan, UK
Why don't these people just shut up. Would they rather pilots take risks not only with their own lives that those of others. Yes we knew what was coming so why go to the airport in the first place. Obvious to me but not to others perhaps
- Anon, UK
I have worked within the airline industry in America, in a cold weather airport. Let me assure you when you get over four inches of snow it causes problems and delays.The current midset seems to be to cancel vast amounts of flights prior to the snow storm, thus ensuring airplanes are in the correct position for minimal delays post storm.
It annoys me no end when people say that here or there everything runs smoothly, because it doesnt.
- Currency Dealer, London
Yeah where has London's 'Blitz' courage gone? Six inches of snow and one of the world's great cities grinds to a halt? Pathetic! Any excuse to skive off work and go down the boozer...
- Scott, Christcnurch, New Zealand
Wonder how well an airport in the sea would have coped today?
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
On small bit of snow (for which adequate warning was given by the Met Office) and everything grinds to a halt. In other countries there is a 'can do' attitude. I have taken off in a severe blizzard after waiting on the aircraft for an hour while it was de-iced. The place, New York, the airline United. It seems to me that in every aspect of life in UK nothing works. Is it 'Elf and Safety!?
- Ian, Cranbrook, Kent
I sat on the tarmac waiting for a flight to Dubai from 8.15pm until 3.45am. information was virtually non existent and when we did get information it was .. the hotels are booked , the train and tube is shut and the roads are clogged plus all the buses have been grounded. thanks BA you were a great help!!! NOT!
I cant believe we have problems like this when Scandinavian countries not so far away cope with far more snow. Someone made a huge mistake
- Mike, London, UK
BAA say they had problems finding space for all the cleared snow from the runways. They should dump it on the M4 bus lane and do something useful with it for a change as its always empty. Meanwhile they want to use the hard shoulder for cars. The funny farm beckons.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, England
