Abidjan

AA100 landed, safe and sound. Now in the arrivals lounge and there is breaking news on the tele about heaving snow moving into the midlands, and southwest England.

LAXNYER

link doesn't seem to work any longer

Bonaturtle

according to weather.com it looks like it will be pretty clear for about 4 days....here's hoping they can move as many people as possible in 96 hours. Rain after that, which should be easier, since it rains in England pretty much constantly.

yabadoo

Go to www.americanairlines.co.uk, on the home page they have a scrolling news link to "Latest Weather Update", that will take you to the current page of what they have scheduled.

My BA connection into LHR from BRU tomorrow AM has been cancelled. Tried last night to contact BA in the UK and US but never got through. Anyway, finally managed to get rebooked on another BA flight later tomorrow which should get me in 3-4 hours before AA131 to JFK, if it is not cancelled that is.

A few worries: with all the backlog at LHR, I may make it to JFK but possibly my bag may not given all the luggage they have piled up.
Second, what will be the alternative if AA131 is cancelled, will they automatically re-book me on the next flight out? I'm in J but happy to take any seat at all they give me in that case.

Abscam

Sitting in AC waiting for AA105 to go out. Been here five unscheduled days. Things are remarkably better than they have been. AA is flying about 80% of their flights and the airport in general is much improved. Still a lot of people hanging out but much better. They believe normalcy will return tomorrow.

The snow is in the middlenof the UK not affecting LHR.

yabadoo

Just went through all 15 scheduled flights that AA has out of LHR to US for tomorrow on the Flight Status check on AA.com and all are "On Time", i.e. none are cancelled. Also, of the three early AM US departures to LHR this morning which get in this evening, all are on time from JFK (142), ORD (90) and BOS (156), which means these will turn around to fly out tomorrow back to the US provided weather does not detriorate, that they are not diverted, and normalcy returns.

If this is the case, then AA should be able to fly in all their evening departures today from the US arriving in LHR early morning onwards in which case everything, theoretically, should be able to fly out tomorrow. This is a big IF, all depends of positioning of aircraft, adequate crews and weather holding up. There probably will be delays but as long flights take off thats all that matters.
Situation will be clearer tonight when AA post there schedule for tomorrow and confirm which flights are on/off.

phoenixitc

My wife was in Sweden when the snow hit London. She had flown into LHR from Singapore the day before, then flew to Sweden. She had to stay 2 extra days in Gothenburg. Flights were leaving Gothenburg but not into LHR. She finally got out on Sunday but was delayed 2 hours. This caused her to miss AA47 out of LHR on Monday. AA booked her on a BA flight out at 7pm. As she was clearing LHR customs, I called her and told her the BA flight was cancelled. I again called the Platinum desk for help. An agent said nothing available until Christmas Day. Fortunately, my wife decided to go to an AA agent at LHR. The agent said nothing until Christmas Day but then noticed my wife was a full fare business OTW ticket plus Platinum. She entered the info and a seat was availabe on AA flight 91 that day, actually two hours away. Now, why did the agent on the phone with me find that info and do the same? Lessoned learned... the agent at LHR said never call the Platinum desk for help during such problems as they were having. Ok...lessoned learned. Another lessoned learned... my wife had asked me to call the Plat desk to "protect" her when she thought she would miss flight 47 from LHR. She had an FC seat on that flight. The Plat agent gave her the BA flight at 7pm but gave away her FC seat on 47. No double booking allowed during this problem day. I said I understood but she did not tell me she was giving away her seat. Flight 47 was actually 3 hours delayed and my wife would have made it. I had to deal with a wife who was pissed at me but realized it wasn't my fault. I wish the agent had told me but too late. She had just finished an OTW biz trip and was beat. When I told her she wasn't coming home until 10pm Christmas Day night she ripped me a new one. Being married forever to her, I understood why she was venting. She was luckily able to get on 91 home. I told her she was very fortunate to be coming home. Flying on a full fare biz OTW ticket had its benefits. We really feel for the folks who are have been stranded at the airports in Europe.
I noticed that the Christmas Day flight that the Plat agent had booked for my wife is still in her online record. I had told her to cancel it and she said ok. Nope...still there. Now I'm trying to get it canceled so somebody can get that seat on 12/25. My wife got into ORD late Monday night and stayed at an ORD hotel. She got on a 9am flight home, which was also delayed 3 hours due to a late flight attendant.

Now we are dealing with a missing suitcase. It did not arrive in ORD with her. It's likely at LHR waiting for 12/25's flight. All of my wife's gift from her travels to Shaghai, Hong Kong, Taipai, Singapore, Penang, and Gothenburg are missing. We hope to get the bag. Good luck to everybody still trying to get home. Merry Christmas!

LAXNYER

here is a good list of all airlines:

http://www.heathrowairport.com/asset...le_22Dec10.pdf

JDiver

BBC article today says, in part:

Heathrow airport in London and Frankfurt airport both said on Wednesday morning that they were working to return operations to normal.

Heathrow's operator BAA said that both runways were now open.

It said it planned to run two-thirds of scheduled flights but warned: "Airlines are currently operating a significantly reduced schedule while they move diverted aircraft and crew back into position."

British Airways said that in line with a directive from BAA, it would operate only a third of its normal flight schedule at Heathrow until 0600 GMT on Thursday, Reuters reports.

and

"Officials at Frankfurt airport said early Wednesday that 70 flights were cancelled out of a planned daily total of about 1,300, compared with 500 cancellations on Tuesday.

Airport spokesman Thomas Uber said there was a backlog of about 3,500 passengers, including about 600 who spent the night on emergency cots."

and

"Eurostar said nine of its 52 trains would be cancelled on Wednesday, but the affected passengers would be reallocated seats on "one of the next available trains".

On Tuesday, thousands of people were queuing in freezing temperatures at London St Pancras station, waiting to be checked-in for a restricted service.

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said it would change its timetable from Wednesday to 31 December and add extra trains to cope with a surge of demand due to air and road travel disruptions."


Ferrovial should change its name to "Perro"vial now...

beerup

Full service from LHR announced for 12/23: http://www.americanairlines.co.uk/i1...er_update1.jsp

It doesn't mention to LHR, but probably because it's the co.uk website. Hopefully, not too many additional cancellations because of repositioning.

dmsdfw

I'm happy. After four days and three rebookings I finally returned to the right side of the Atlantic on AA109 LHR->BOS with an op-up at the gate.

yabadoo

Thats great news! Let's hope the situation remains like that and weather does not start going downhill again.

atrainexp22

AA 54 (55 AM) due to REV/CARGO demand



also if AA has an extra 777 in LHR AA 98 that diverted (AA 9230 today) what 777 flight has been cancelled or downgraded to account for that 777 being out of service. Also all those 777 stuck in London. Last I checked AA has no extra 777 available..

Bonaturtle

had you put in for an upgrade prior? I am on waitlist right now for 2 biz seats, hoping they bump me up to open some coach seats for people stuck. I'm on AA87 LHR-ORD first thing tomorrow.

And when they op-up at the gate for international flights, do they let you know prior, or tell you as you are boarding?

yabadoo

When they op-up, or "cabin roll" as they AA's LHR staff call it, it's done at the gate. Usually, the system will automatically bump up ExecPlats, Plats etc., however, supervising gate agent has ability to override the system and allocate upgrades for example where a husband with wife and kids are travelling in Y and husband gets bumped up to J but wife and kids don't and the family do not want to be separated, then gate agent will manually select another passenger for upgrade after all other status holders have already been taken care of.
Nevertheless, ask what the situation is on teh flight when you check-in and if they will be looking to upgrade passengers given the current situation of trying to clear backlog. Rarely, when they know for sure they have to upgrade as most people have already been issued boarding passes, they will op-up you at check in. Nevertheless, you should also check when you get to the gate. They may already have your new printed BP waiting for you or if you can get into AC then check at the desk there.
I think you have good chance of getting bumped up.
There was a thread somewhere which explained the priority list of how op-up's happen at the gate, there is a system and method to it.

Keep us posted on how you fare.
I