2MM_Guy

This was interesting about Helsinki...... we can relate to these folks!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12042213

emma69

The army have already been clearing snow in Scotland - but you have to ask yourself, are x number of squaddies with shovels really the answer (given that it seems to be equipment, not men with spades that are needed).

2MM_Guy

Hard to shovel with golf clubs!

sjefenole

I'm on SK 803 OSL-LHR then AC LHR-YYZ-SEA tomorrow morning (in 7 hours...)
803 was cancelled today along with 2 more SK flights there, not looking very good.
Wonder what they will do for a *G tomorrow? Is it possible they will take me through paris or frankfurt or something?

Tax Dude

Home now. Just good luck - we were booked on one of the only 2 AC Toronto flights to make it out of Heathrow in the past 3 days. Everyone on the plane, crew included, was pretty happy. So many stranded people, it's going to take them ages to sort everyone out - AC's only flying 3 planes _to_ LHR today so that means a max of 3 coming back to Canada tomorrow.

Guy Betsy

I was at OSL yesterday morning for a flight to AMS. When we left the gate, the 737 taxi'ed over to an area to be de-iced. Now I thought that the aircraft would shut engines down and wait for a truck or two to come by and de-ice each wing then each tail wing.

OSL airport had 4 de-icing trucks waiting for each plane pulling up. Each one targetted a wing, or tail wing. The entire de-icing process took less than 3 mins, and the aircraft didn't even have to shut down its engines.

I thought YUL had impressive snow removing, de-icing equipment until I saw the ones in Oslo.

Now one wonders why LHR won't invest in them?

=====
My LH flight from AMS to FRA was cancelled today so I missed my FRA-YVR flight. I am on an award ticket. LH agent at airport simply rebooked me to next available flight direct to Canada as most of the cancellations are with flights within europe. So he booked me on KLM to YYZ and then connecting on AC to YVR. He said LH would generally put people on *A first but this constituted an emergency situation and LH would cover any carrier through any place. It does not have to be on 'award' space either.

Crampedin13A

Plus I'm sure those flights were already full. I just don't know how the airlines are going to get everybody out of LHR before Xmas. I can't believe how lucky I was deciding not to book a trip to the U.K. over the holidays.

global happy traveller

if KLM could operate planes, how come LH couldnt???

well i think its a matter of time the UK govt will need to invest these new snow equiptment.....

similarly i still believe more canadian provinces need to invest in tornado warning equiptment as our summer storms are becoming more violent.

problem is, govt usually evaluate the magnitude vs reoccuring frequency vs the cost involved........

jpwhite

I am just hoping that they resume somewhat normal services at LHR on Wednesday morning, and that whatever plane AC was going to use for 864 tomorrow night is not stranded somewhere.

I am flying to the UK and then on to Barcelona a few days later. I did a whole bunch of dummy bookings from YUL to other places in Europe and it really appears that almost everything is packed. I really don't see how this is going to be resolved before New Years!

<crossing fingers>

tracon

As long as governments continue listening to Mr. Suziki and Mr. Gore, we'll never see money spent on snow equipment.

LH cancelled a AMS-FRA flight. KL operated a AMS-YYZ flight. That's comparing apples to oranges.
Lots of short haul flights were cancelled. Lots of long haul flights operated. Same thing happens in Canada.

Tax Dude

AC was booking folks who missed their flights on Saturday onto flights as far out as the 29th. And that was before all the cancelled flights Sunday and today.

RockoHorse

I have to say that up until now I was reasonably impressed with heathrow.
Not anymore, first we show up to drop mum off and the ac people tell us to co
e back in 30mins to drop her bag. Then we drop her bag, wait outside security for 2 hours (the steel doors were closed) and hear heAthrow airport is closed. This was Saturday. Sunday we get to the airport at 5:20, there is no air Canada desk. Yeah sure it's early but considering there are thousands of people around you would think they would atleast gave one desk, but there are no Ac signs anywhere- just "heathrow airport". So off to terminal 4 for our flight(aeroplan ticket on continental) , get there at 6am and announcement - heathrow is closed, no flouts from terminal 4 today- go home
we mill around for a bit looking for the continental desk - which is Also no where to be found-and then the same announcment
mill around a bit more and all these airline staff come out with these pieces of paper that say - go to our website or call this number, go home, we can't help you and we are not offering you any amenities

my husband spend 8 hours in the phone to continental and aeroplan
how the heck do they expect people stranded in the airport to do that???


then we tried to get back to the hotel and no buses were running, we heard the trains were stopped, honestly if we hadn't grabbed an illegal can we probably would have walked the mile or two

heck on Saturday it took 1 hour to go the last 5 stops on the picadilly line

oh and the snow? Sure it's not melting, but come on!
Heck get everyone who had to sleep in the terminal to grab a spoon and the runways would be clear

it honestly must take a lot of effort to be this incompetent

</rant>

RockoHorse

On sat mum could get ac dec 23rd
on sun we could get co Biz class on dec 26th - but a few more hours on hold got us dec 24th
on sun an unaccompanied minor in our hotel (17 so not super young but still...) was booked on the 26th and was planning to spend every day until the 26th waiting standby at the airport

on sun we were told the earliest date was the 26th for any flights

global happy traveller

standing by every day until the 26th? tell that kid to stay in the hotel and surf web, watch TV or hit the gyms instead!

according to mr. gore and mr. suzuki we should be bringing golf clubs and t shirts to LHR not jackets and shovels

my only humanitarian aid to my family and friends living in the EU are Tim Hortons coffee, salt and shovels.... Thinking about that, add a bow tie and there is my Christmas present shopping done at Canadian Tire..... Oh wait, Home Hardware offers Aeroplan miles

Sopwith

You're right...I forgot about the snow in Nov. I was in Mexico at the time.