London Heathrow airport closed stay: At least 1,350 flights affected after substation hearth causes huge energy outage | EUROtoday

A spokesperson for easyJet mentioned the airline is placing bigger plane on key routes at this time and over the weekend to offer extra seats to assist prospects affected by the Heathrow closure journey at this time.

“A number of routes between the UK and Milan, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Paris, Munich and Madrid will have 186-seat A320 aircraft operating instead of the smaller 156-seat A319 aircraft. easyJet does not operate to or from Heathrow and so our flights are all operating as normal.

Ryanair has laid on extra flights from Dublin to London Stansted “to rescue passengers affected by today’s Heathrow closure”.

The airline said: “Ryanair will operate four extra flights between Dublin and Stansted on Friday afternoon as well as four extra flights on Saturday morning.”

A British Airways (BA) customer has said she risks losing nearly £1,500 thanks to a fire closing Europe’s largest airport

Maria La Chica, 47, from Basingstoke, was due to fly from Heathrow to Washington DC at midday on Friday and was excited about watching her favourite ice hockey team, the Washington Capitals.

The project manager told the PA news agency she felt “quite annoyed” as her flight with BA is currently delayed, and she is unsure if the airline will cancel her flight.

“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 this (trip) 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.

“My thinking is that (BA) are probably waiting until the very last minute to tell people that their flights are cancelled, but that is very frustrating… because they’re not actually cancelling my flight, it’s still saying delayed so I do not know if it’s going today or not.”

Ten fire engines rushed to Nestles Avenue, Hayes, a suburban street around five miles north of the airport, where 70 firefighters tackled the inferno throughout the night from 12am, London Fire Brigade said.

Alexander Butler reports:

If a passenger’s flight has been cancelled and they’re departing from the UK or travelling to the UK with a UK airline, then their airline must offer them the choice of a replacement flight at the earliest opportunity or a refund, according to ABTA, the trade association for tour operators and travel agents in the United Kingdom.

If they are flying to the UK with a non-UK airline, the passenger should check the terms and conditions of your booking to see what you’re entitled to.

Passengers are entitled to care and assistance while you wait, which usually means refreshments, access to communications e.g. phone calls, plus accommodation and the necessary transfers if the flight is delayed until the next day or later.

If the airline advises passengers to make alternative travel arrangements and claim back the cost later, ABTA advises them to incur reasonable costs and keep all receipts.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, told PA she heard a “massive explosion” just before midnight.

All the power went off, she said, adding that she could see a “massive fire” through a front window.

“It just smelled like burning,” she said, adding that it was difficult to work out where exactly the fire was.