Dream holidays in ruins as thousands of travellers reel from Heathrow chaos
Thousands of passengers around the world faced delays and cancellations after the mysterious blaze
Nicola and Justin Sidwell had spent years saving up for their holiday of a lifetime and were due to jet off from Heathrow to Tokyo on Friday morning.
But the Warwickshire couple, aged 34 and 35, got no further than their London hotel when Europe’s busiest airport was forced to close due to a power cut caused by a “catastrophic” fire ripping through a nearby power station.
“We’re now stuck in limbo,” Mr Sidwell told The Independent from the couple’s hotel room. “We have been sat in our hotel waiting to hear something from British Airways since 5am. It is a nightmare.”
They were among thousands of travellers set to either leave or arrive in London who had their plans thrown into chaos following the overnight blaze at an electricity substation in Hayes, west London.
Up to 300,000 passengers were set to fly through Heathrow on Friday, with around 1,351 flights cancelled or redirected, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Among those affected was 29-year-old Ellen Deasy, who was surprised by her cousin Jenna with a holiday to Venice for her 30th birthday.
With dreams of gelato and gondoliers dashed by the fire, she told The Independent she would have to settle for a day trip to Portsmouth instead.
“We woke up at about 3.30am and first thing we saw were pictures of this fireball and the headlines. We didn’t know whether to believe it or not.”
“I was so excited. It would have been a dream birthday but now my 30s haven’t started in the way I hoped,” she said.
“We were planning on riding the gondoliers, eat some pasta and have some ice cream but now we are going to Portsmouth.”
She said she had now been offered a full refund by British Airways for her cancelled 7am flight to the Italian destination.
Air transport consultant John Strickland said Heathrow’s closure will cost the aviation industry millions of pounds.
“It will run into millions. You can’t quantify it yet. Heathrow has normally about 200,000 passengers a day, so it’s a massive impact in lost revenues and disruption costs,” he said.
Maria La Chica, 47, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, said she could lose nearly £1,500 after her flight to Washington DC, where she was set to watch her favourite ice hockey team play, was cancelled.
“I had really been looking forward to this trip. It was like my treat to myself, having had some personal events, so it’s just very annoying,” she said.
“I’ve had it booked for a little bit. The most important player of the ice hockey team is about to beat a record, so I wanted to see them before this record was done, but it’s not going to happen now.”
Ms La Chica considered booking alternative flights from other airports but her available options were “incredibly expensive” having already spent £600 on her flight, a further £600 on accommodation and around £250 on the ice hockey game tickets.
Passenger Ooso, who was expecting to fly to Miami, Florida, for his son’s first day at university, said instructions on the airport’s website were “confusing”.
The man, who only shared his first name, had gone on foot with his suitcase from the roundabout outside Terminal 5 to the airport, only to be told he could not enter. He said he walked back towards the roundabout.
“The website shows ‘flight on time’,” he said earlier. “They only have a message not to come here, but to check updates.”
A family from Dallas, Texas, faced similar frustration expecting to fly back home to the US from Heathrow but were told on arrival at Heathrow that the airport was closed.
Andrew Sri, his wife and their three young children, aged between one and eight, had travelled to England to visit a relative who lives in Greenwich.
“I just wish they had updated us accordingly,” Mr Sri said as he and his family found themselves at a standstill on the terminal’s roundabout, waiting for updates.
“At the moment, the schedule on our flight says it’s delayed, so that’s why we drove out. So now we’ve got here and they told us, ‘actually the airport’s been shut down’, so it’s a little bit disappointing.”
“Obviously something happened and they’re taking precautions, and we understand that. We just wish we were given a heads-up warning not to come here.”
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage.
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until midnight on 21 March.
“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
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