Heathrow’s chair has ordered an internal investigation into the airport’s crisis management plans and response to the power outage which forced it to close for 15 hours on Friday.
Former transport secretary Ruth Kelly – who is a member of Heathrow’s board – will lead the review after more than 1,300 flights were grounded and up to 300,000 passengers were affected worldwide.
The outage – caused by a fire at a single substation in west London – has been dubbed “a huge embarrassment” by Labour peer Toby Harris, who leads the National Preparedness Commission campaign group, while the boss of supply chain firm PS Forwarding warned the shutdown had left Heathrow a “laughing stock” in the global freight community.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has separately ordered the National Energy System Operator to “urgently investigate” the electrical substation fire, which is expected to report its findings within six weeks.
Despite the airport saying it was “fully operational” once again on Saturday, at least 100 more flights had been cancelled as of 3pm. However, British Airways – whose main hub is Heathrow – said it expected to have a “near-full” schedule on Sunday.
Read More
Key Points
- British Airways ‘expecting near-full’ schedule at Heathrow on Sunday
- Heathrow orders internal probe into crisis management plans
- Heathrow a ‘laughing stock’ after 15-hour outage, warns supply chain boss
- Energy secretary Ed Miliband commissions ‘urgent’ grid operator investigation
- Another 100 Heathrow flights cancelled on Saturday
- ‘No comment’: Heathrow chief executive asked if should lose his job
Cancellations at Heathrow dwindle
08:00
,
Holly Evans
Compared with the 1,300-plus cancellations at London Heathrow on Friday, with a further 100 on Saturday, Sunday is beginning well at the UK’s busiest airport.
British Airways, which has been harder hit than all other airlines combined by the closure on Friday, cancelled eight inbound long-haul arrivals as a result of the widespread diversions. From the US, single flights from Boston, Chicago and New York JFK are grounded.
The Airbus A380 from Dubai and other flights from Riyadh, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Cape Town were also cancelled.Virgin Atlantic has a single inbound cancellation, from Johannesburg.
A full programme of departures is expected to operate, with some delays. The Vietnam Airlines flight to Hanoi is currently over five hours late.
Power play: how the Heathrow shutdown hit passengers at home and away
07:43
,
Holly Evans
Writing in his column The Man Who Pays His Way this morning, travel correspondent Simon Calder warns of the reputational damage to Heathrow airport – and the wider UK – could be long lasting.
Each of the quarter-million passengers whose travel plans were wrecked by the sudden closure of Heathrow airport on Friday simply wanted to reach the destination on their ticket. There was no good way to learn that wasn’t going to happen due to a fire in an electricity substation that had cut power to Europe’s busiest airport.
Beyond the personal stories of upset, the airlines are seething. The collective financial hit from lost revenue, care costs and the expense of retrieving aircraft from the many and various locations where they landed in a hurry on Friday morning is, I estimate conservatively, £100m. More than half of that loss will be sustained by British Airways.
Read the full analysis here from our travel correspondent Simon Calder:
Heathrow to operate full schedule of over 1,300 flights on Sunday
07:24
,
Holly Evans
A Heathrow spokesperson said the airport is expecting to operate a “full schedule of over 1,300 flights” on Sunday, following the power outage that shut the airport on Friday.
A statement said: “Today we will operate another full schedule of over 1,300 flights.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by our decision to close the airport on Friday following a significant fire at an off-site power sub station.
“Yesterday, we served more than 250,000 passengers, with punctual flights and almost all passengers waiting less than five minutes for security.
“We have welcomed the Government’s announcement of an investigation into the cause and response to the off-airport power outage and have launched a review, to be chaired by former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, of Heathrow’s response. While these inquiries are ongoing, our focus remains on serving our passengers.”
What rights do you have to flight compensation?
07:00
,
Andy Gregory
Heathrow Airport on Friday experienced a complete shutdown due to a severe fire, disrupting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Airlines are obligated to provide care for stranded passengers, including meals and accommodations, but are not required to offer compensation as the fire was beyond their control, writes Simon Calder.
What is the economic effect of Heathrow shutdown?
06:01
,
Andy Gregory
Economist Stephen Rooney said: “In terms of what's at stake, at the conservative end, we estimate a potential loss of tourism revenue amounting to £4.8m per day.
“We can estimate this loss based on typical inbound arrivals volumes that come to the UK through Heathrow and the average daily spend of those travelling.”
He said his estimates did not include the potential loss of earnings of airport and airline staff, lost income for airport retail and ancillary services such as airport taxis.
Insurance payouts, lost money for affected passengers and other costs to airlines involved would further inflate the damage.
Watch: How fire near Heathrow sparked a day of global travel chaos
05:00
,
Andy Gregory
Bride-to-be describes 'insane' disruption to wedding after two years of planning
04:00
,
Andy Gregory
"It has been absolutely insane", Amber Roden, a US citizen getting married in three days' time told Reuters, after a number of her relatives had their flights cancelled.
Two relatives who were halfway to London from Atlanta had to turn around and go back, she told the news agency, while two others will not make it to the UK until the day of the wedding, which she has been planning for two years.
Neso will ‘not hesitate to take action’ if breaches found
03:30
,
Namita Singh
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) is expected to report to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem with initial findings of the investigation into power outage at the Heathrow airport within six weeks.
Akshay Kaul, director general for infrastructure at Ofgem, said it would "not hesitate to take action" if the review found any breaches of standards or licence obligations”.
Households and businesses should be able to have confidence in the resilience of critical national infrastructure, and Ofgem will work with the government and others to ensure Neso's review goes as far as possible to ensuring steps are put in place to avoid any repeat of an incident of this scale in the future," he added.
Passengers remain nervous after outage
03:00
,
Andy Gregory
Several passengers travelling to Heathrow from London's Paddington Station were still nervous, the Reuters news agency reports.
“I'm just hoping that when I get there, I can actually go,” said university professor Melissa Graboyes, who said she was repeatedly checking the status of her flight to Toronto.
Heathrow airport returning to normal as investigations ordered into power outage
02:58
,
Namita Singh
An investigation into the power outage caused by a substation fire that shut Heathrow has been ordered after about 200,000 passengers were affected by the airport's closure.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has ordered the National Energy System Operator to "urgently investigate" the power outage caused by a substation fire, and is working with Ofgem and using powers under the Energy Act to formally launch the grid operator's investigation.
Meanwhile, an internal review of the airport's crisis management plans and its response to Friday's power outage will be undertaken by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is an independent member of Heathrow's board, Heathrow chairman Lord Paul Deighton said.
As he ordered the investigation on Saturday, Mr Miliband said: "We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned.
"That is why, working with Ofgem, I have today commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an investigation into this specific incident and to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future."
The government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow."
Full report: Urgent probe ordered into power outage branded ‘national embarrassment’
02:02
,
Andy Gregory
Ministers have ordered an urgent probe into the substation fire which forced Heathrow airport to close for 15 hours on Friday – as experts warned the remarkable meltdown had “embarrassed” Britain on the global stage.
The travel plans of up to 300,000 passengers were cast into disarray on Friday after the blaze at a single west London substation grounded more than 1,300 flights between Europe’s busiest airport and locations across the globe.
While the airport declared itself “fully operational” once again on Saturday - with hundreds of extra airport staff rallied to facilitate an additional 10,000 passengers travelling through Heathrow - more than 100 flights were cancelled, including those travelling to New York and arriving from Dubai. Heathrow would typically expect to facilitate 600 flights on Saturday.
Read our full report on Saturday’s developments here:
Watch: Passengers stranded at Heathrow Airport after substation fire describe chaotic scenes
01:05
,
Andy Gregory
Travellers to be late to friend's wedding in Cambodia after Heathrow outage
00:16
,
PA
Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, to another friend’s wedding in Cambodia on Sunday.
The mass cancellation of flights means they will now miss part of the ceremony.
They found an alternative flight from Gatwick airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia for Sunday afternoon.
Ms Rafeeq, who works in climate project management, told the PA news agency from Gatwick on Saturday: “The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends' wedding and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.
“We had to pay double the amount, between £600 and £700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to South-east Asia after the wedding.”
Heathrow chief says airport forced to rely upon two remaining substations after outage
Saturday 22 March 2025 23:29
,
Andy Gregory
Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said a back-up transformer failed during the power outage on Friday, meaning systems had to be closed in accordance with safety procedures so that power supplies could be restructured from two remaining substations to restore enough electricity to power what is described as a “mid-sized city”.
He apologised to stranded passengers and defended the airport's response to the situation, saying the incident is as “as big as it gets for our airport” and that “we cannot guard ourselves 100 per cent”.
Outage believed to be Heathrow's worst disruption since 2010
Saturday 22 March 2025 22:41
,
PA
Heathrow is Europe’s largest airport, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024, and around 200,000 passengers have been affected by Friday’s closure.
This is believed to be the worst disruption at Heathrow since December 2010, when thousands of Christmas getaway passengers camped in the terminals because of widespread cancellations caused by snow.
In April of that year, air travel was grounded across Europe because of an ash cloud caused by an Icelandic volcanic eruption.
Disruption expected over coming days, says UK transport secretary
Saturday 22 March 2025 21:52
,
Andy Gregory
The UK’s transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “This incident caused significant disruption but Heathrow, National Grid, and our emergency services have worked swiftly to get people travelling again.
“Heathrow is a massive airport that uses the energy of a small city, so it's imperative we identify how this power failure happened and learn from this to ensure a vital piece of national infrastructure remains strong.
“Whilst Heathrow is back to business, some disruption is expected over coming days as things get back to normal so I encourage anyone travelling to check with their airlines and plan their journeys.”
British Airways expects 'near-full' schedule on Sunday
Saturday 22 March 2025 21:48
,
Andy Gregory
British Airways – whose main hub is Heathrow – said it expected to have a “near-full” schedule on Sunday.
The flagship carrier said it had operated around 90 per cent of its schedule at Heathrow on Saturday, after chief executive Sean Doyle on Friday warned the “huge impact” of Friday’s outage would last for days.
As of 3pm on Saturday, Heathrow’s live arrivals and departures boards showed that more than 100 flights had been cancelled since Saturday morning.
What caused the fire at Healthrow Airport?
Saturday 22 March 2025 21:08
,
Andy Gregory
A transformer at the substation caught fire at Heathrow Airport shutting airport for a day on Friday. However, it is not yet known what caused it.
One nearby resident described their room shaking and hearing a loud bang as the substation caught fire.
London Fire Brigade deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith said: “The fire involved a transformer comprising 25,000 litres of its cooling oil fully alight.
“This created a major hazard owing to the still live high-voltage equipment and the nature of an oil-fuelled fire.”
Stranded passengers find innovative ways to workaround Heathrow shutdown
Saturday 22 March 2025 20:24
,
Andy Gregory
Phillip Kizun had to devise a new route on Friday after his flight from London to Dublin was cancelled due to the outage at Heathrow.
Mr Kizun, 58, took a train to Wales and boarded a ferry from Holyhead to reach the Irish capital, meeting several European and American travellers making similar last-minute changes.
“It was an absolute real ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’” he told The New York Times, referencing the 1987 Steve Martin-John Candy comedy, shortly after arriving in Dublin for work.
The outage, caused by a fire at an energy substation near Heathrow, forced the airport to shut down for much of the day, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Heathrow ‘regrets’ disruption caused by outage, chair says
Saturday 22 March 2025 19:48
,
Andy Gregory
Announcing the internal probe into Heathrow’s crisis management plans, the airport’s chair Lord Paul Deighton said: “Closing the airport yesterday had significant impacts for our passengers, our customers, our colleagues and the country.
“Heathrow regrets the disruption this caused. We hope that all those affected understand that the decision was made in order to prioritise the safety of our passengers and colleagues.
“We are committed to finding any potential learnings from this unprecedented incident.
“To fully understand what happened, I have asked Ruth Kelly, former secretary of state for transport and an independent member of Heathrow’s Board, to undertake a review.
“The Kelly Review will analyse all of the relevant material concerning the robustness and execution of Heathrow’s crisis management plans, the airport’s response during the incident and how the airport recovered the operation with the objective of identifying any improvements that could be made to our future resilience.”
Breaking: Heathrow orders internal probe into crisis management plans
Saturday 22 March 2025 19:21
,
Andy Gregory
Former transport secretary Ruth Kelly – who is a member of Heathrow’s board – will undertake a review of the airport’s crisis management plans and its response to Friday’s outage, the airport’s chair Lord Paul Deighton has announced.
Passenger praises ‘fantastic’ response to Heathrow crisis
Saturday 22 March 2025 19:15
,
Andy Gregory
An American tourist praised his airline’s and Heathrow’s “fantastic” response to the disruption.
Speaking at the airport, holidaymaker Tim Kolb, who travelled from Dallas, Texas, told the PA news agency: “I was just getting ready to board the plane on Thursday night, and the news actually started coming across on our phones quicker than on the desk.
“But American Airlines did a fabulous job – we didn't have to wait in the line or anything. They got us our accommodation reservation.”
Mr Kolb, 55, added: “I thought I was going to be there delayed two days, but I went over yesterday. It was organised well, in fact, they had several planes leaving within an hour of each other to Heathrow.”
UK's key infrastructure vulnerable, says expert
Saturday 22 March 2025 18:01
,
Jane Dalton
A former intelligence officer in the British military said Heathrow's inability to keep operating after the power cut exposed vulnerability in Britain's critical national infrastructure.
"It is a wake-up call," said Philip Ingram. "There is no way that Heathrow should be taken out completely because of a failure in one power substation."
Willie Walsh, the head of the global airlines body IATA and a former head of British Airways, said Heathrow had let passengers down.
Heathrow said it had diesel generators and uninterruptible power supplies in place to land aircraft and evacuate passengers safely.
Those systems all operated as expected. But with the airport consuming as much energy as a small city, it said it could not run all its operations safely on back-up systems.
In pictures: Smouldering scenes as LFB take over Hayes substation investigation
Saturday 22 March 2025 17:29
,
Barney Davis
London Fire Brigade take over investigation from Met Police
Saturday 22 March 2025 17:01
,
Barney Davis
After the Metropolitan Police confirmed the fire is believed to be “non-suspicious”, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) announced it is now leading the investigation which will now focus on the electrical distribution equipment in Hayes.
The LFB said the investigation to establish the exact cause could take weeks.
Commenting on the incident, London Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith said: “London Fire Brigade received 212 calls to a fire in a high voltage substation near Heathrow Airport.
"The fire involved a transformer comprising 25,000 litres of its cooling oil fully alight. This created a major hazard owing to the still live high voltage equipment and the nature of an oil fuelled fire.
"Ten fire engines, two Bulk Foam Units and one High Volume Pump were on scene at the peak of the incident – this equates to approximately 70 London Fire Brigade personnel.
"Our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging and hazardous conditions overnight to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible.
"Firefighters safely evacuated 29 people from neighbouring properties, and as a precaution, a 200-metre cordon was established. Working with the Met police, around 150 people were evacuated to a rest centre. The majority of those people have been able to return to their homes.”
LFB will maintain a small presence on scene for the coming days to ensure any remaining hot-spots within the electrical equipment are fully extinguished.
Heathrow boss says airport will ‘support every effort’ to investigate cause of shutdown
Saturday 22 March 2025 16:45
,
Andy Gregory
Heathrow’s chief executive has welcomed the announcement of an independent investigation into the electrical substation fire that forced the airport’s closure on Friday.
In a statement, Thomas Woldbye, said: “We welcome the National Energy System Operator’s investigation into yesterday's National Grid electrical substation fire and on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure more broadly.
“We will support every effort to understand the causes and impacts of yesterday's off-airport incident and we are committed to working closely with all stakeholders to ensure a thorough investigation to help strengthen the airport's future resilience.”
Heathrow Express will be closed Sunday morning
Saturday 22 March 2025 16:01
,
Barney Davis
In a double blow for travellers, the Heathrow Express has announced it will also be out of action tomorrow morning for upgrade work.
A Heathrow Express spokesperson said: “A gentle reminder: Due to planned railway upgrade work, Heathrow Express will be running a reduced service on Sunday, 23 March, with no service before 9.12am.”
'No repeats of Heathrow fire' Ed Miliband determined to learn lesson
Saturday 22 March 2025 15:21
,
Barney Davis
Working with Ofgem, Ed Miliband is using Energy Act powers to formally launch the investigation. This follows the action taken yesterday to restore power to all affected customers.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “The loss of power to the Heathrow area has caused major disruption to thousands of people and many businesses. We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned.
“That is why working with Ofgem, I have today commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an investigation into this specific incident and to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future.
“The government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow. This review will be an important step in helping us to do so, as we deliver our Plan for Change.”
Energy Secretary commissions NESO investigation into power loss impacting Heathrow
Saturday 22 March 2025 15:17
,
Kate Devlin
The Energy Secretary has today commissioned the independent National Energy System Operator to urgently investigate the power outage incident that impacted Heathrow Airport and the surrounding area.
Working with Ofgem, Ed Miliband is using Energy Act powers to formally launch the investigation. This follows the action taken yesterday to restore power to all affected customers.
NESO’s investigation will support efforts to build a clear picture of the circumstances surrounding this incident and the UK’s energy resilience more broadly so that it’s prevented from ever happening again.
The government’s Plan for Change is rebuilding Britain’s resilience, including boosting the country’s energy security with homegrown power. Separately, the resilience review led by the Cabinet Office is ongoing and is due to conclude in the Spring.
More than 30 flights cancelled despite claims Heathrow 'fully operational'
Saturday 22 March 2025 15:10
,
Barney Davis
Although Heathrow Airport is now "fully operational" dozens of arriving flights have still been cancelled, according to Heathrow's live departure board.
It showed 34 flights that were due to leave the airport today have been cancelled including domestic destinations and international flights to New York and Paris.
And according to Heathrow's live arrivals board, 71 flights expected to arrive on Saturday have been cancelled including flights from Dubai and Doha.
'It was certainly secure' National Grid chief
Saturday 22 March 2025 14:53
,
Barney Davis
Firefighters and workers were still at the burned out electricity substation on Saturday morning.
Alice Delahunty, president of National Grid Electricity Transmission, told The Times: “We don’t actually know anything at this stage about what’s caused it. Clearly the investigation that will follow will need to look at resilience.”
Asked about security at the site, which is surrounded by low metal fences, she said: “We have a number of very strict protocols — remote monitoring; security is something we take very seriously. The site is certainly secured.”
The Hayes substation is the only source that can power full operations at Heathrow.
‘Full investigation as soon as possible’ says top hotelier
Saturday 22 March 2025 14:26
,
Simon Calder
The leading hotelier in the Heathrow area, Surinder Arora, has described the airport’s shutdown as “an embarrassment for the whole nation”.
The founder and chairman of the Arora Group said: “This matter has been an embarrassment for the whole nation and we welcome the Chair of the Transport Select Committee [Ruth Cadbury MP] suggesting this will be a matter for her committee to launch an inquiry into.
“Given the number of serious questions that need to be answered, a full investigation must be held at the earliest opportunity and at the heart of that must be how Heathrow can be so reliant on any single site or source for power.
“The Arora Group has questioned the capabilities of Heathrow’s management for many years and this is the latest exposure of showing how charging airlines and passengers the highest airport fees in the world does not tally with the best airport operations in the world.”
The sentiment was echoed by Lord Toby Harris, who heads the National Preparedness Commission. He told Channel 4: “It’s a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect.”
Jason Bona, owner of supply chain company PS Forwarding, told the Today programme the incident made Heathrow a "laughing stock" in the global freight community.
'Stress' as school trip affected by cancellations
Saturday 22 March 2025 14:22
,
Barney Davis
A woman accompanying a school trip from the US said flight cancellations at Heathrow on Saturday had resulted in a “stressful” end to the journey.
Speaking at the airport, Christine Eckles, 50, said: “It was a delay at first, a three-hour delay, and then we found out our flight to Chicago was cancelled.
“We’re having to work on how to get a new flight out with British Airways.”
Ms Eckles, who is accompanying students from Iowa, added: “It’s been stressful.
“We’re at the end of our trip and we have had a wonderful time in London and Paris, and everybody’s ready to go home and back to their spring break.”
'Planes, trains and automobiles' Travellers improvise routes to avoid Heathrow chaos
Saturday 22 March 2025 14:00
,
Barney Davis
Phillip Kizun found himself having to freestyle as he tried to urgently get from London to Dublin for a work trip during the Heathrow fire.
After finding out that his flight was cancelled, Mr Kizun, 58, took a train to Wales and then a ferry from the coastal town of Holyhead to the Irish capital.
Along the way he told The New York Times he met several tourists undertaking the same gruelling journey.
“It was an absolute real ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’” Mr Kizun said referring to the 1987 Steve Martin-John Candy comedy.
Moment electrical substation catches fire plunging homes, hospitals and airpots into darkness
Saturday 22 March 2025 13:30
,
Barney Davis
BA and Virgin battle to bring planes back after diversions
Saturday 22 March 2025 13:15
,
Barney Davis
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are still in the middle of repatriating long-haul aircraft from various European airports. The planes had been flying to London Heathrow in the early hours of Friday morning, UK time, when their pilots were told the airport was closed.
While some early diversions were allowed to land at UK airports, later in the morning captains were landing wherever space and facilities were available.
An Airbus A350 belonging to Virgin Atlantic was flying from Atlanta to Heathrow when it diverted to Shannon in the west of Ireland – where it spent over 30 hours on the ground before flying on to London.
British Airways has brought back a Boeing 777 from Frankfurt, where the flight from Doha was diverted. One BA Airbus A350 from Mumbai has returned from Zurich, where it landed after Heathrow closed.
The subsequent BA flights to Nassau and Philadelphia respectively are several hours late as a result of the diversions.
Later on Saturday, a British Airways 787 will fly the 87 miles to London Heathrow from Birmingham, where the Hong Kong flight landed on Friday morning.
Two airlines have flown from Paris CDG to London Heathrow after Friday’s diversions: a China Eastern Boeing 777 from Shanghai and a Rwandair Airbus A330 from Kigali.
ICYMI: Chief executive of Heathrow announces pride over airport handling of fire
Saturday 22 March 2025 13:01
,
Barney Davis
Heathrow chief Thomas Woldbye was grilled over claims that Europe's biggest airport had become a “laughing stock” after shutting down from just one fire.
But he told BBC Radio 4: “I am proud of the entire ecosystem and that's not just Heathrow, that's our handlers, our airlines, our engineers, the fire station.
“I am proud of what the people did to get us out of the situation. Don't forget the situation was not created at Heathrow Airport. It was created outside the airport and we had to deal with the consequences.”
Mr Woldbye said he would only be able to establish who was to blame for the disaster when investigators “have all the facts”.
Asked if he should lose his job, Mr Woldbye said: “No comments. I will let others judge if they think there is an issue.”
Heathrow closure to cost UK economy up to £4.8m in lost tourism
Saturday 22 March 2025 12:45
,
Barney Davis
“In terms of what's at stake, at the conservative end, we estimate a potential loss of tourism revenue amounting to £4.8 million per day,” economist Stephen Rooney said.
“We can estimate this loss based on typical inbound arrivals volumes that come to the UK through Heathrow and the average daily spend of those travelling.”
My colleague Karl Matchett reports:
'It was like a disaster movie'
Saturday 22 March 2025 12:02
,
Barney Davis
Monel Bailey was forced to walk along a traffic-jammed dual-carriageway dragging his luggage with dozens of other hopeful passengers only to be told he would not be flying to a dream shopping trip to New York.
He told The Independent: “It looked like a disaster movie at the airport today with all the people walking in the road and I was one of them.
“It was chaos. People were showing up to the airport and being sent away
“There was traffic at the end of the dual-carriageway so I had to get out of the Uber and walk up.”
He was forced to cut short his dream holiday and return on the tube to Croydon.
He later told his followers that he hadn’t been refunded for the cancelled flight, adding: “This experience has just been so exhausting and infuriating dealing with both British Airways and Heathrow airport.”
@monelbailey When you are ready for your weekend getaway to New York but the power outage fire at Heathrow Airport ruins your holiday #fyp #heathrowairport #britishairways #london #monelbailey
♬ Anxiety - Doechii
'It's been nightmarish' Londoner dashing to Cambodia to avoid missing wedding
Saturday 22 March 2025 11:35
,
Barney Davis
A London woman has said she is frustrated to miss part of her close friend’s wedding after the fire which closed Heathrow airport’s transport hub on Friday.
Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, who is pregnant, to another friend’s wedding in Cambodia on Sunday.
The mass cancellation of flights means they will now miss part of the ceremony,
They have found an alternative flight from Gatwick Airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia for Sunday afternoon.
Ms Rafeeq, who works in climate project management, said: “The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends’ wedding and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.
“We had to pay double the amount, between £600 and £700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to South-east Asia after the wedding.
“We are missing the morning ceremony but at least we can make it for the reception.”
Secretary of State for Transport's relief as Heathrow Airport return to full operations
Saturday 22 March 2025 11:30
,
Barney Davis
Passengers urge others to book flights in one transaction to avoid delays
Saturday 22 March 2025 11:20
,
Barney Davis
A passenger at Heathrow airport said purchasing their flights in one booking had helped them avoid the worst of the disruption when a nearby fire closed the airport on Friday.
Rob Walford, 74, said: “We were in Nice with friends and we were due to fly into Heathrow yesterday.
“We were going to stay the night and then catch our flight to San Diego, so obviously, we didn’t do that.
“The wisest thing we did, though, while in Nice was take the tram to the airport and then rebook us first
