Thousands of passengers were stranded at Heathrow Airport today with little communication from their airlines.
One of the thousands of passengers stranded at Heathrow airport today told Newsweek there’s been «a lot of confusion, not many answers.»
Newsweek spoke with several passengers stuck at nearby hotels after their flights to the United States were canceled.
A father is worried he will miss spring break with his children, a scientist is moving his presentation at a chemistry conference, a musician is missing out on his songwriting trip to Nashville, and a family is hoping to still make it to their Caribbean cruise after being up-charged hundreds of pounds for their extra night in an airport hotel.
Over 1,300 flights were canceled at the airport today after the nearby North Hyde electrical station caught fire. The fire knocked out power at the airport, which hosts over 200,000 passengers daily.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating the fire.
Chemist Aaron spoke with Newsweek in the cafe of the Heathrow Premier Inn about his situation after his trip to a chemistry conference in San Diego, California, was canceled.
He said he «woke up to a message from my friend actually that said ‘Oh my God, have you seen the news?’ Of which I thought, ‘Who’s died? Has the war kicked off? You know, what’s happening?'»
«Looked at my phone, and I was like, ‘Oh, Heathrow is canceled, and I’m currently at Heathrow airport'», he said.
Aaron added that there has been «a lot of confusion, not many answers, but it’s a big thing, you know, so would we expect that many answers at the time? I’m not too sure.»
Aaron said he’d received a message from British Airways stating that his flight had been canceled, but he has not heard anything else from the airline regarding his next steps.
However, he was able to contact the third-party company through which he booked his travel, and they said they could get him a flight for Tuesday. He will miss his presentation on Sunday.
«Thankfully, it’s quite a long conference, so I’ll make it there for a good chunk of it, and I’ll be able to present», Aaron said.
