Fresh travel chaos for Heathrow passengers and morning commuters as Storm Herminia sweeps in
Fresh travel chaos for Heathrow passengers and morning commuters as Storm Herminia sweeps in
Share:
Dozens of Heathrow flights cancelled and rail lines blocked due to high winds and flooding. Severe weather continues to make travel in January a lottery. At London Heathrow, 36 arrivals and departures have been cancelled after air-traffic controllers asked for a reduction in the number of flights on Monday. Strong winds are predicted to reduce the “flow rate” of aircraft movements at Europe’s busiest airport.
British Airways has so far cancelled 26 flights to and from London Heathrow, including domestic links to and from Belfast City and Edinburgh. European flights serving Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Zurich are also grounded. British Airways has more than half the slots at Heathrow and is always impacted most heavily by air-traffic control restrictions. But other airlines including Aer Lingus, Iberia, KLM and Lufthansa have cancelled flights to and from their hubs. An estimated 5,000 passengers are affected.
Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible on any airline, and to be provided with meals and hotels until they get there. All the routes are served by multiple daily departures, and the airlines will aim to rebook passengers on adjacent flights.
Rail passengers face another day of disruption. Transport for Wales has issued a “Do Not Travel” warning for the Heart of Wales line between Swansea and Crewe. In England, fallen trees have halted rush-hour trains south of Guildford in Surrey and north of Hastings in East Sussex.
.jpeg?auto=webp&width=800)
