Passengers express confusion, annoyance and frustration amid Heathrow closure

More than 1,300 flights to and from Heathrow Airport will be disrupted on Friday due to the closure of the airport following a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation last night (Mathilde Grandjean/PA)

Passengers expecting to fly home or attend important events have been left confused, annoyed and frustrated over the Heathrow Airport closure following a fire.

More than 200,000 air passengers have had their flights to or from Heathrow cancelled after the airport was forced to close on Friday after a blaze broke out at a nearby electrical substation.

Some passengers arrived at Heathrow Airport only to be turned away, prompting many to ask for more clarity surrounding the situation.

One passenger who was expecting to fly to Miami for his son’s first day at university has said instructions on the airport’s website were “confusing”.

The man, who only shared his first name Ooso, 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 told the PA news agency as he walked back towards the roundabout: “The website shows ‘flight on time’.

“They only have a message not to come here, but to check updates.

“Updates are showing ‘flight on time’, but nobody is allowed to go in. So, it’s so confusing.”

Speaking about his son, who he said is to begin a semester at Miami University, Ooso said: “He is to enrol on Monday.”

He added: “We would not have come had the website said, ‘flight cancelled’.”

Meanwhile, a family from Dallas in Texas faced similar frustration after they were expected 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 eight to one year old, had travelled to England to visit Andrew’s sister Andrea, who lives in Greenwich, east London.

“I just wish they had updated us accordingly,” Mr Sri told PA 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.”

Some passengers are stranded overseas amid the cancellations, including Megan Baker, 27, from Liverpool who waited several hours at an airport in Abu Dhabi expecting to fly to Heathrow before catching a flight to Manchester.

“We have now been told our flight has been cancelled, they are going to put us in a hotel for the night,” she told PA.

Ms Baker said she and her family, who were on holiday on Yas Island for five days, feel “very anxious” about the situation.

Other passengers risk losing huge amounts of money with many having to pay for new accommodation or cancel pre-planned activities.

Maria La Chica, 47, from Basingstoke, said she could lose nearly £1,500 after she was expected 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 PA: “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.

Emergency services at the scene on North Hyde Road, west London, near to the North Hyde electrical substation which caught fire last night (Andrew Matthews/PA)

“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.

Meanwhile Louis, who did not wish to share his surname, accused hotels close to Heathrow Airport of increasing their prices amid the closure, which he described as “absolutely absurd”.

The 28-year-old was due to fly home to Dublin with Aer Lingus just before 9am on Friday, but said his flight was cancelled and rescheduled for 8.30am on Saturday.

He stayed the night at a hotel just “500 metres from Terminals 2 and 3”, but was forced to book a new room at a different hotel over fears his rescheduled flight could be cancelled again.

“They’ve actually doubled, if not, in some cases, tripled the prices of the rooms based on what’s going on, which is absolutely absurd,” the video producer told PA.

“They’re profiting off of people’s misfortunes in this. I don’t know how that’s allowed.”

He said his original room cost around £90, but claimed he saw the same room on the hotel comparison site Booking.com for £280.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s just beyond control,” he said.