Anger rises over European travel chaos

Passengers wait for their flights, which were disrupted by snow and freezing temperatures, inside Terminal 4 at London's Heathrow Airport, Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/PA, Steve Parsons)

LONDON--Frustrated travelers in Europe expressed fury Monday at transportation officials' inability to clear snow and ice from planes, runways and high-speed train tracks, failings that have caused holiday travel chaos and fears that many will not get home in time for Christmas.

The continent's worst bottleneck was London's Heathrow Airport, where thousands of travelers were stranded overnight as flight cancellations increased even as other major European airports resumed normal operations after several days of four weather delays.

London Mayor Boris Johnson summed up the exasperation as Britain suffered another day of travel setbacks.

"It can't be beyond the wit of man surely to find the shovels, the diggers, the snow-ploughs or whatever it takes to clear the snow out from under the planes, to get the planes moving and to have more than one runway going," he said as British Airways canceled its Monday short-haul schedule from Heathrow.

Air traffic control agency Eurocontrol said Monday on its website that the situation at Heathrow had become "chaotic."

Embarrassed British officials promised an inquiry into the poor performance of the transport network, with Transport Secretary Philip Hammond planning to address Parliament about the failures, which included massive delays on the Eurostar rail service linking England to France and Belgium.

At Heathrow's sprawling Terminal 5, tired and disgruntled passengers faced lengthy waits without much information.

American Suzie Devoe, 20, was one of many who had spent two nights sleeping on the airport floor in a bid to get home for the holidays. She was desperately trying to rearrange a flight so she could get back to Washington to spend Christmas with her family. "The whole situation has been a complete nightmare," said the Bristol University student. "I just want to get home, I want to be with my family. But I'm being held in a horrible limbo."

Hundreds of passengers camped overnight in Heathrow terminal buildings after services were canceled or delayed.

British Airways said all short-haul flights from Heathrow would be canceled Monday.

Eurostar reported that its trains linking England to France and Belgium were also severely delayed or canceled and urged travelers to cancel or postpone their trips if possible. Lines of delayed passengers snaked outside the St. Pancras rail station in central London.

The Eurostar website advised passengers holding reservations for later trains on Monday that the rail service would not be able to accommodate them because of the backlog.

Criticism of the situation at London's Heathrow and other airports prompted British officials to promise an investigation.

The strain was also felt at Brussels Airport, which is facing a shortage of deicing liquid and can't guarantee departures for planes that need deicing until at least midnight Tuesday, the airport said Monday in its Twitter feed.

The airport said that the shortage is due to transportation problems in France, adding that "the weather forecast is not so positive."

In Germany flight operations were slowed even though Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest, was clear of snow and ice. Officials canceled about 300 flights there Monday, out of a planned total of 1,340, because of problems elsewhere in Europe, airport operator Fraport said.

French civil aviation authorities, meanwhile, asked airlines to reduce their flights at the two main Paris airports by 30 percent.

Tempers were on the rise at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.

Donna Gordon, a stranded Irish traveler, took her complaint directly to Transport Minister Thierry Mariani who made a trip to the airport to check on passengers.

"We've been here since Saturday at 6 a.m. and our flight keeps saying on time, on time, on time ....," she complained. "I'm standing in the same clothes I've been wearing for three days."

More snow is forecast in some areas of Britain for Monday afternoon, adding to the problems, with British Airways warning of more flight cancellations, particularly in the greater London area, where all airports have been affected.

Winter storms forced British government ministers and bank executives to postpone their meeting Monday on the politically touchy issue of bank bonuses. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills did not announce a new date but said it hoped the meeting could be rescheduled later this week.

Forecasters have said Britain is experiencing some of the most severe winter weather in a century, with continued freezing temperatures and snowfall accumulations expected Monday afternoon and evening.

Airports and British travel industry group ABTA have warned it is almost inevitable that some cancellations and delays will continue through this week and likely snarl those attempting to head away for the holiday season.

British Airways warned passengers not to travel to London's Heathrow airport unless they have a confirmed seat on a flight known to be operating despite the weather problems and the backlog of delays. It urged travelers to consider canceling their flight if possible.

Icy conditions were also hampering travel across Europe, with flights canceled and delayed in multiple countries at the weekend.

"We are awaiting further updates," before publishing the schedule for the remainder of the day, British Airways said in a statement. "Customers should continue to check their flight status as more snow is forecast this afternoon, which could cause further disruption to airport operations."

In Britain criticism of the breakdown in the air and road system mounted, prompting Transport Secretary Philip Hammond to promise an inquiry into the way passengers were treated after their flights were canceled. He was expected to address Parliament about the crisis Monday afternoon.

Travelers described scenes of chaos for those arriving at the Heathrow airport, with officials offering contradictory messages about the status of flights.

In France, Jean Louis Balam, a Dutch passenger who spent the night at Charles de Gaulle airport trying for a second day to get from Paris to Amsterdam said passengers had to improvise overnight at the airport.

"We went to the airport yesterday evening and we wanted to go to Amsterdam and we waited here about five hours," he told Associated Press Television News. "We had to sleep at the airport because ... hotels were full. "

Blandine Sabadie also found herself sleeping at the airport. She said passengers were escorted to an "improvised" area with portable beds, blankets and warm drinks.

French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said on France-Info radio that it is "unacceptable" that some 3,000 people were blocked at Charles de Gaulle airport over the weekend and called a meeting this week of airlines to find ways to improve communication with passengers.

The minister, explaining multiple delays around Europe, said that when a runway is closed for an hour the lost time cannot be reclaimed. "For each hour lost, it is some 70 to 80 flights that you can't recover during the day," he said.

Authorities in parts of western Germany banned trucks weighing more than 7.5 tons from highways as a safety measure.

In the Czech Republic eight regional railways were shut because of the weather but the international airport at Prague remained open. Schipol Airport in Amsterdam was also fully operational Monday after several days of delays.

--The Associated Press

An EgyptAir airplane lands as snowplows clear runways during snowfall at Frankfurt's airport December 20, 2010. (REUTERS/Alex Domanski)

Comments

[R.L.Smith]

If you are not used to having heavy snow fall, you can't be faulted for not having equipment just sitting around waiting for the fall the century! They would then be accused of wasting money on unnecessary equipment! Can't win!

[PR]

The problem is, they simply aren't used to large amounts of snow in the UK and parts of Europe.

In Canada, we're used to lots of snow, but even here, drivers are always caught by surprise by the first big snowfall of the season. And by the annual snowfall that suddenly hits us in April.

At least we have the necessary snow-removal equipment, because we require it every year. In the UK, 3 inches of snow is a big deal, because it happens so rarely that it doesn't make sense to have the sort of snow-removal equipment that we do. And these huge snowfalls, until the past couple of years, were extremely rare.

I remember being in Liverpool one February, and, when two inches of snow fell, all of the rail lines in that area were shut down (due to frozen rails and equipment), and the buses had trouble getting up & down the hills.

I have a friend in Edinburgh, who reports similar trouble with lack of trains & buses right now. A couple of days ago, he had to trudge two miles in the deep snow, to find a mailbox that wasn't buried in snow or stuffed so full of mail that he couldn't mail his last few Christmas cards.

[Mark Twain]

Time to fly in some Canadian snow removal know how. Oh you can't runways are covered in snow.

[Ronald Grant]

It would seem that people just can't cope with ANY 'hardship' these days. We don't have any controol over the weather, and the people that run the airlines are trying to
make sure nobody crashes, yet many are annoyed with that stance. They'd rather take the disk of dying, than be late a couple days. What the HELL is wrong with people?

[S. E.]

Check whether your flight is leaving before you go to the airport.
Anyone who would wait around in an airport for 3 days is crazy - go back home and wait for your airline to call you.
Go with the flow, if you happen to miss one Christmas with your family it's not the end of the world.
Then either ask for a refund from your travel agent or airline or get a credit for a future flight to spend with your family.

[Jon Drake]

The science of global warming is already accepted as fact. There is no need to believe colder temperatures, even if they were to last for a period of some years, would upset the truth that first world countries are responsible for the mess we're in and owe everyone else money in order to correct it.

[Dennis Galley]

London folk are upset now....imagine how upset they will be when the new taxes come rolling in for snow plows and other snow removal equipment. It takes a good chunk of our Canadian taxes for this equipment, and we pay dearly for it. I think they will be re-thinking how upset they are over a couple of days of delayed flights....

[F.H.]

Maybe they should have had the Climate Change Conference in London instead of Cancun.

[CanuckinUK]

Please don't call it "extreme" weather and "heavy snowfall". At worst, London received less than 10 inches. Parts of London received much less...maybe 10 cm on FRIDAY. They've had four days to clear 10 cm and they can't handle it. The story isn't the weather, which isn't that bad at all, it's the complete inability to process very small amounts of snow.

[jspeak]

Every year you hear the same thing from Europeans and those on these sites ... they are not used to this in Europe ..Bla bla.
This snow thing has happend every year in the past five at least. Time to stop complaining and saying that things like this just don't happen over here, when quite obviously they happen quite frequently. Buy a plow, a couple of sanders and go. We here just had over a meter and a half .. no army, no complaining. Whimps!

[zebra zebra]

.....ho ho ho...

[melissa]

I also do not understand. Germany sees this type of weather every year. They should by now have a clear plan of what to do in such cases. One would also think that a major airport such as Heathrow should be prepared for such things.