A large number of passengers were eager to enter London’s Heathrow Airport, the second day after the power outage shut down the airport and forced thousands to postpone their trip.
With the flashing life of the Information Commission, an extra army of airport staff in purple takes action to help people as they pass through the terminal.
Ganesh Suresh, a 25-year-old student who is trying to return to Bangalore, India, is one of those who get coveted seats on Saturday’s flight. After Air India flights were cancelled, his parents booked new tickets at Virgin Atlantic, while he stayed in a friend in Birmingham, England for the whole night.
“I’d love to come back,” Mr. Suresh said, “At the height of the rush of the closure chaos, he admitted to yelling at his parents. “I might apologize to them when I come back.”
Travelers are transferred or rebooked, arrive early, and trains and other transport routes have reopened. A day ago, the airport road was empty except for police cars.
A representative for Heathrow Airport said on Saturday that the airport was “open and fully operated”, adding that the additional flights on the schedule for the day could accommodate 10,000 additional passengers. At the airport, the Information Commission shows that most flights leave on time, but stitches on ticket counters indicate more frustrating delays for many travelers coming in.
It is estimated that more than a thousand flights were damaged by more than a quarter of the travel plans of a million people on Friday.
Some travelers choose not to wait for flights to Heathrow Airport. Denyse Kumbuka wandered in the dim Terminal 2 as long as possible on Friday, spending hours trying to find her home in Dallas.
Her husband then found a seat for her on a flight through Austria. She sailed the London Underground Rail System to St. Pancras International Railway Station and took the train to Paris. After spending a whole night on another bench at Charles de Gaulle Airport, she took an early flight to Vienna and then made contact with Dallas on Saturday morning.
“I feel like a ‘alone’ mom,'” she said in a text message.
A representative at Heathrow Airport said major delays are expected in the coming days as airlines try to return the plane to its usual schedule.
Mars Gonzalez, 32, and Olivia Hawthorne, 24, are trapped in lingering consequences. They are only planning a trip from Barcelona to Dallas on Saturday, another stop at New York’s Kennedy Airport. Instead, they found themselves wandering through the arrival door of Terminal 5 and spending unplanned accommodation in London.
Ms Gonzalez said she called American Airlines when news of the fire broke out, and American Airlines assured her that flights operated by British Airways would take off as planned on Saturday. But when they arrived at Heathrow, the delays ranged from a few hours to a few days, the next available flight.
“We like six different people, they just redirect us to others,” Ms Hawthorne said.
For Stephen DeLong, 74, and Lesley Scott, 73, the long line at the ticket office was the smoothest part of their redirected trip.
“You have to come here; you have to talk to someone.” “Online services don’t work.”
The couple just learned that instead of the initial direct flight from London to Halifax, Air Canada will rerout them through Toronto, thanks to their travel time of more than 15 hours. They will have to spend the night in London as the flights on Saturday were booked. The closure has made them missed their grandson’s eighth birthday on Friday.
“You won’t be angry,” Mr. Delon said. “If someone blows up the generator, it’s different.”
Police are still investigating the cause of the fire in the western substation in London to cut the power of Heathrow Airport.
John Yuan Contribution report.
