Airline passenger news and views

Yesterday was the airlines' busiest day of the festive getaway, and it turned out to be one of the most disastrous in terms of our deteriorating weather situation across the county. Gatwick put out a press release to say that they were attempting to do everything they could to get passengers on their way and aircraft in the air.  However, passengers were advised to check with their airline before setting out for the airport to reduce congestion and avoid disappointment.  They also advised that passengers check with transport operators before planning their journey to the airport

Today was no better, in fact it just got worse. The Heathrow chief today gave a grovelling apology for ruining the Christmas plans of thousands of Britons, but the airport remains crippled as it battles to deal with the Big Freeze.

It is open but only around half of its plane stands are operational and there are just a 'handful' of departures scheduled for this morning.

Runways are clear but airport bosses say staff are still struggling to clear the plane docking stations of snow and ice, despite it not snowing in London since Saturday.

More snow is forecast for today and heavy falls are expected again on Thursday, meaning the backlog is unlikely to be cleared before Christmas.

BAA, which runs the airport, expects there to be more flights leaving than yesterday - when just 16 departed - but could not give any figures and advised passengers to contact airlines.

As well as the battle to de-ice the stands, there are problems with repositioning aircraft so that they are in the right place for the rewritten schedule.

When questioned, a BAA spokesman was unable to say when the airport would be back to normal but warned it would be a 'number of days'.

Quizzed whether this would be before or after Christmas, the spokesman refused to comment further but insisted staff were working flat out.

British Airways has cancelled 70 BA departures and 89 arrivals - around half of its schedule - today as the problems continue.

All in all there seems very little Christmas cheer to be had!