Thousands of passengers have been left stranded this morning as hundreds of British Airways flights travelling both to and from Heathrow have now been cancelled.
The cancellations have occurred as the airline is amidst battles to restore operations at its main base. At the time of writing, it’s understood that an estimated 100,000 people are now stranded.
As of Tuesday morning, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds-Bradford, and Newcastle are currently the UK routes selected for further cancellations. A number of European destinations have also been selected for further flight cancellations, including Dublin, Berlin, and Rome.
Between Sunday and Monday, well over 300 BA departures and arrivals at Heathrow had been grounded.
British Airways posted a statement on their website regarding the cancellations:
”We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused by your delayed or cancelled flight. We understand how stressful this can be and we will always do our best to prevent this. If we have to make any changes, we’ll carefully consider all possible options to minimise the impact to your journey and will only cancel a flight if we absolutely have to.”
Some flights will be disrupted today due to crew and aircraft being out of position following yesterday's weather. Please check your flight status on https://t.co/2Ty8CEO0Dq ahead of travelling to the airport.
— British Airways (@British_Airways) December 11, 2017
If you're due to fly to or from Heathrow on any BA operated flight on 11th or 12th Dec and no longer wish to fly, you're now able to claim a full refund or to re-book on alternative flights up until Monday 18th Dec, free of charge. More details are on https://t.co/2Ty8CEO0Dq
— British Airways (@British_Airways) December 11, 2017
The big freeze that the UK and continental Europe are currently in the thick of is also affecting flights – with many European airports, such as Eindhoven and Luton having to suspend their services for a time.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that customers continue to suffer from the disruption to flights at Heathrow caused by the severe weather conditions that have affected airports across northern Europe.
“Time spent on de-icing aircraft to ensure safe operation plus air traffic control restrictions and the repositioning of aircraft and crews from yesterday have led to further cancellations and delays today.
“We understand how frustrating this experience is for customers and we are offering refunds for those who no longer wish to travel from Heathrow today or tomorrow regardless of whether their flight is cancelled or not.
“We are also offering the opportunity for anyone not wishing to travel today or tomorrow to rebook their flight up until 18 December.”
Staff at BA have since been spending their time allocating alternative routes for passengers with other carriers, as it is obliged to do under EU passengers’ rights rules.
“Our customer service teams are proactively offering flights to customers with dozens of airlines that we have agreements with,” said the airline’s spokesperson. “Naturally it is easiest for us to do that with partner airlines such as Iberia and American but the list goes much further than that.”
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