Heathrow passengers land in Edmonton

Amanda Young, left, hands her daughter to her grandmother, Diane Hill, after arriving in Edmonton from London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday afternoon.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/12/22/edmonton-heathrow-edmonton-flight-lands.html#ixzz18uHB0Vz1

Relieved passengers landed Wednesday afternoon on the first Edmonton-bound Air Canada flight to arrive from London's Heathrow Airport since snow stranded thousands of passengers on the weekend.

"I was stuck at Heathrow Airport from the 20th and then I had to take a four-hour train back to where I was from and then I finally got out today," said Rupaly Toor, who travelled home to Edmonton for her Christmas break from school.

"So yeah, it's horrible there ... it's exactly how it is on TV. There's tents outside and just people camping and it's not good."

Weather delays forced Air Canada to cancel many of its flights to and from London. The airline was able to resume its full schedule Tuesday but officials warned it might take more than a week to lear the passenger backlog.

Two incoming flights, and two outgoing flights from the Edmonton International Airport were cancelled because of the snow in London.

"It took them three days without snow to get a runway cleared. It's just ridiculous," said Howard Singleton, who flew to Edmonton to visit his brother.

Singleton was supposed to fly out of Heathrow on Monday but his flight was cancelled after the plane wasn't allowed to land.

All the worries and delays were forgotten when Diane Hill's daughter and son-in-law walked through the arrivals gate with their new baby girl.

"It feels fabulous. Christmas will be Christmas," Hill said.


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Air Canada resumes full schedule to snowy U.K.

An Air Canada spokesperson said the airline has resumed its full array of flights to London's Heathrow airport Tuesday evening.

This will mean a return to the regular schedule of nine flights going to London and nine returning to Canada on Wednesday, Peter Fitzpatrick told CTV News.

"We think it's good news, but at the same time, there's quite a backlog of passengers," he said. "We're not sure how long it's going to take to move all the people affected by cancelled flights, but it may well take a week or more."

It's difficult to put a number on how many people are affected, he said. Only about one-third of Air Canada's scheduled flights to Heathrow have been able to occur since the airport received about 13 centimetres of snow Saturday.

Holiday-season flights are almost always heavily booked, "but this is certainly going to alleviate the pressure," Fitzpatrick said.

Some British Airways flights also began to get back on track Tuesday, but the company warned it could take until Thursday for planes to begin taking off regularly.

In the meantime, U.K.-bound passengers at Pearson International Airport can only grit their teeth and wait.

Dennis Leslie is one of those feeling the frustration. The father of three from Brandon, Man., is spending his fourth day waiting for a flight to London to join his wife and children.

"You can put your name down on standby but, it's already overbooked," he said Tuesday.

"Every time you don't get your name called, you've got to go stand back in line. You get your name put to the bottom of their priority list, so then you wait again. They only take 10 people … flight get cancelled, back in line, put your name on a list."

Sarah Newberry said she was supposed to be on priority standby "because I'm running out of my medication, and there's no communication between staff, and I'm left again."

One woman said she knows she won't return to Britain in time for Christmas, with her flight booked for Dec. 29.

Another British citizen said if he could just get home for Christmas, all the hassles would be worthwhile.

One flight departed Pearson on Tuesday for Heathrow at 8:30 a.m.

Flights taking off from Pearson Tuesday night:

* AC848
* AC856
* AC868

People should check their flight's status before heading to the airport, Fitzpatrick said. Stranded passengers should either rebook online or through a call centre, but there are long delays through the call centre, he said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron had offered the services of the army to get Heathrow fully operational as soon as possible, but the airport declined.

For much of Tuesday, only one runway was available, with more than half of Heathrow's flights being cancelled. But a second runway has since re-opened. Nine flights are set to land in Canada from Heathrow Wednesday morning.

Europe's top transport official has threatened tougher regulation for airports for not being able to handle the winter weather.

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http://swo.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101221/pearson-air-travel-britain-delays-101221/20101221/?hub=SWOHome

Hundreds of flights grounded by snow

A plane sits at a snow covered Edinburgh airport

Services were halted at Gatwick, Edinburgh, Dundee, Durham Tees Valley and Doncaster (Robin Hood) completely, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

Delays and cancellations were also reported at a number of other airports including London City, Heathrow, Leeds Bradford and Newcastle.

This was the worst disruption to British aviation since the ash crisis in April, which grounded thousands of flights across the whole of Europe.

Already bad weather elsewhere in Europe led to a number of continental airports, including Frankfurt and Geneva also being shut.

This led to thousands more passengers being stranded abroad. They are, however, entitled to claims meals and, if necessary, hotel accommodation from their airline under EU consumer protection laws.

With more bad weather forecast, it is feared that the chaos could continue for several days. Even once the skies clear, further disruption is likely with the snow having left crew and aircraft marooned abroad.

The worst problems were at Gatwick, where around 600 flights were cancelled after the runway was blanketed by snow

"We have had six inches and there is another six on the way," a spokesman said. "We are throwing everything at it, but as fast as the snow clears, more falls behind us.”

Despite deploying 80 people and 50 vehicles, the airport was unable to clear the runway.

A statement on airport’s website said: "Due to the current weather conditions, departing and arriving flights at Gatwick will be severely disrupted.

“The runway is currently closed to allow snow clearance activities to be carried out. Passengers are advised not to set out for the airport and should check directly with their airline or visit our website."

The largest operator out of Gatwick, easyJet, said passengers whose flights were cancelled should rebook either via the website or the airline’s call centre. If no date is suitable, the airline said a full refund would be paid.

However anyone, whose flight was cancelled, turning up at the airport without a confirmed booking for a flight on that day could be turned away

Passengers at the airport voiced their frustration at the grounding of flights. Cliff Booth, who had been due to return home to Aberdeen with his wife Maureen, described a “hellish 24 hours” he had endured.

"Tuesday afternoon's flight from Gatwick was cancelled because it was taking too long to de-ice and we had the same problem in the evening.

"We had to spend the night on a sofa of the Sofitel Hotel. They basically gave us our bags back and said 'good luck'.

"We get into Gatwick today and find the whole airport has been closed. And now we're just hoping to get any flight somewhere over the border from here at Heathrow.”


Read More

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/8174598/Hundreds-of-flights-grounded-by-snow.html