jiggy_fly

3 hours 7 minutes and still haven't got through to an agent. This is getting absolutely ridiculous.

reflexdb

Well Jiggy, I was right there with you. 2 hours and 40 minutes waiting, then my phone dropped the call. AWESOME.

Deletedice

Im currently at 2 hrs 30...

umaa83

The wife and I are in FCO. We were supposed to fly FCO-LHR-DFW-DTW tomorrow. We are now flying FCO-MAD tomorrow, spending the night at an airport hotel and then flying MAD-ORD-DTW on Tuesday with IB. Never flown IB before so kinda looking forward to it.

I was told nothing out of LHR until after X-mas which isn't surprising given all the cancellations. I'm hoping there aren't any weather issues in MAD the next few days as we have a family vacation to KOA flying out on 12/26. I also need those flights to re-qualify me for PLT for 2011.

bdemaria

Are you in Y or J on IB? If J, it is quite nice. If you are in Y, well it's better than being stranded at LHR . . .

Schnorbitz

My sisters flight from LHR to ORD (AA87) got canceled at 7:45 (scheduled dep was ~10:00). AA have offered her two choices - 12/23; LHR-JFK then LGA-ORD or her original LHR-ORD itinerary on 12/24. I'm hoping she'll call them back to see if they'll get her into DTW or, even better, GRR to save me driving to ORD. All in all it sucks. She said that it was near riot conditions this morning at LHR.

umaa83

Well our original flights we upgraded but since the change we are now firmily planted in Y 12H&J. Oh well, like you said it's better than the alternative. Our flights to Hawaii next weekend with the family are in F so that will make up for it. Just happy to be hopefully getting home."

umaa83

I didn't get to this point with the AA agent last night because the Madrid option worked for us, but you could see if they would put your sister on a BA flight into Toronto or Montreal or any other destination they fly to in the US or Europe for that matter connecting on an AA flight to Chicago. Expert flyer is showing all BA flights into most cities being zeored out in Y for the rest of the week but they could just being holding back those seats for the stranded passengers. If she's flying J, there's plent of availability.

If she hasn't tried it yet, it might be worth a shot to call and ask, the only thing they could tell her is no. I had to point out the Madrid flights to the agent I spoke with last night because she was intent on having me fly though LHR.

lightbulb

Good luck to everyone affected. I finally got through to an agent; she was very helpful. It was the longest I have ever been on hold in my life. I'm completely thankful I wasn't stuck in an airport though.

:-: Hope all your travel plans work out! :-:

Jacobin777

My wife was supposed to fly AA91 LHR-ORD yesterday. It took her about 5 hours to get to the airport. There were no agents there when she got to the check-in desk. A little while afterward, my wife was trying to console a stranded Russian girl who was flying DME-LHR-BOS. They made the LHR-BOS pax sit on the plane for a while (IIRC a few hours) and then took them off. Again, when they (LHR-BOS) got back to the terminal and check-in desk, there was no one there.

When I figured out that the flight was going to be canceled and LHR going to turn into a mess for a day or so, I called AA right away and rescheduled my wife for her flight during the week.

Fortunately my wife's family lives in London so its not too bad but I feel terrible for all the other pax who made it to the airport or connecting flights only to be screwed over.

Its going to be a mess @ LHR for the next couple of days IMHO....

edit: The hold for the regular line (not Platinum desk) was only about 23-24 minutes. Again, I called early.

I called AA a few times, checked the AA.com, Heathrow Airport website and all were stating the flight is still departing "as scheduled" so it was prudent for my wife to go. It wasn't until about the last 60 minutes where Heathrow Airport's twitter mentioned "not to come to the airport". By then it was a bit too late.

I think the fiasco this weekend has more to do with the incapability of LHR operator BAA more then anything else. London is a "global city", one of only two "Alpha++" cities (according to Wikipedia) and is one of the most cosmopolitan/metropolitan cities in the world.

The fact LHR couldn't handle this weather/snow is shameful. The loss just this weekend alone probably would have paid for years of snow service/equipment.

Even if snow service is needed once/year, the costs/expenses/loss of revenues could justify it. This isn't the first time Heathrow is shut down due to snow, and it probably won't be the last time either.

ty97

I'm a bit baffled why LHR is still so messed up on Sunday, they've got to be able to deal with weather better than than this.

umaa83

That's my thoughts exactly. For one of the world's busiest airport to be completely shut down for over 5 inches of snow is ridiculous. I'm watching the BBC in my hotel room and it's showing roads that are clear with slush on the side of the roads. Same for the airport runways. I understand that they aren't used to getting that much snow, but the UK is subject to snow storms every now and then. To be this unprepared is uncalled for.

Schnorbitz

You've hit the nail on the head. Some of the chaos has been self-imposed by not canceling flights earlier thus overloading the airport with more people than is necessary.

skye1

If this helps ease the Heathrow headaches for some...


For those trying to deal w/ getting to/from Heathrow, caught this great groupon offer in FT's UK forum. It doesn't get cheaper than this BUT, you've only got about 6 more hours to act. (need to purchase by midnight GMT tonight, and activate the voucher you'll receive in tomrrow's e-mail by midnight GMT tomorrow.

http://www.groupon.co.uk/

seaninsweden

Agreed!!! In Stockholm we have over 2 feet of snow and got a foot new today... Flights are a bit of delayed for snow removal ops... seeing it was snowing at around 2 to 3 inches an hour, makes that totally understandable But Arlanda is still open. BAA closes airports way too easy!