Nearly 300,000 passengers will be scrambling to find their way to their destination in the coming days as Heathrow Airport serves as a major hub for travellers on connecting flights
Air travel chaos is set to engulf the UK “for days” after an unprecedented blaze knocked off the power at Heathrow Airport. All flights in and out of Europe’s busiest airport have been cancelled or diverted due to the fire at a nearby electrical station.
The cause of the fire is said to have been a transformer at North Hyde electrical substation in west London sparking into flames. The latest update says no flights will land or take off until at least midnight tonight.
The disruption is expected to last for days as the 291,000 passengers impacted try to get to their destination. Today alone, 1,351 flights were due to take or land at the airport.
The last time chaos of this scale engulfed Heathrow was back in December 2010 when a huge snow closed all runways.
Over five days of heavy snow falls, more than 4,000 flights were cancelled. And just a few months later, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted and sent huge flight ash clouds ash clouds across Europe back in December 2010.
More than 95,000 flights were cancelled during the six-day airspace closure on the continent. Travellers hoping to take to the skies today are now facing upheaval in their travel plans.
Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, assured passengers affected by Heathrow’s temporary closure are entitled to assistance from their airlines. Boland said: “Don’t attempt to travel to the airport, but instead keep in touch with your airline for their advice.
“If your flight is cancelled you won’t be entitled to compensation as these events will be considered an extraordinary circumstance, but you will be entitled to assistance from your airline, including overnight accommodation if needed.
“Passengers will have the choice of being rerouted or accepting a refund, and if you opt for the former your airline is obliged to get you on a new flight as soon as possible, including with rival carriers from alternative airports.”
“If you instead accept a refund, be aware that your airline will have no further duty of care to you and you’ll need to make your own arrangements.”
Boland added passengers should check “the terms of your travel insurance to see if you are able to recoup any other expenses you may have incurred as a result of this incident, such as car hire or airport parking fees.”
Guy Anker, Director at Compare the Market, also urged passengers to “get in contact directly with your airline”.
He added: “If you’ve been impacted by the airport closure, you are entitled to alternative flights. In many cases, you may have the right to be reimbursed on extra costs such as hotels and food, under European air passengers’ rights rules. It is, however, important that you speak with your airline to ascertain what exactly will be reimbursed.
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