What is Going on With London Air Travel

Blank happens.

What don't you understand? One of the busiest airports in the world had an ATC servicing glitch . Any glitch like this, even if remedied within hours, will have a cascade effect and require days before full, normal schedules are back. Similar glitches have happened in the US and elsewhere, due either to computer system malfunction, or severe storm. What affects one airport will affect other airports in a ripple effect.

I guess I was taken by surprise. I watch and listen and read a lot of news.

I would have expected this story to be reported on broadcast news or the web. I think this is a really big story possibly affecting thousands of travelers.

Until I went to the BBC News site, I had not heard anything about what I see as a huge problem.

This is really big news and it was not on the news, at least not on the U. S. news..

And yes, CJean, I am aware that we experience similar problems in the United States but it is reported on the news. Since many Americans are possibly affected by the problems in London, I would have expected some coverage in the USA..

They had a ”fault” (e.g., software or hardware failure) in the air traffic control system. Planes couldn’t take off or land during the failure because it would have been unsafe. Some planes were diverted. They have fixed the technical problem, but now planes and crews are out of position and it will take some time to catch up.

Thank You Laura

I now understand what happened.

But I was also wondering if any members of this Forum have been affected. Are some stuck in the airport?

Are some persons trying to fly to London? Have flights been cancelled, postponed, etc? Have flights from London been cancelled, postponed?

I do not need to tell you that we have a very big holiday weekend coming up. And along with that, we have a hurricane coming in which might affect air travel

It was on news feeds here and yes, flights were cx

Yes flights have been delayed and canceled.

I’ve been caught up in major system issues twice. Once in 2004 when the UK air traffic system was down for several hours, I was waiting at London City Airport to fly to Dublin. Fortunately, my flight was only delayed a few hours and I got out that day. Another time in 2017, BA had a system wide failure and BA flights were a mess for days. I was supposed to fly from Bilbao to London, but after spending 8 hours in the Bilbao airport, my flight was canceled. I rebooked myself on Vueling for a flight that evening rather than spending the night and waiting for the next BA flight.

I also flew to London a few days after the airspace reopened following the Icelandic volcano in 2010. The plane was packed with people who had been stuck for days in the U.S. The guy sitting next to me had been stuck in Las Vegas for 9 extra days.

Unfortunately, these things happen.

This is one of the reasons why people are always advised to build in buffer time to their schedules, especially cruise passengers.

Even on this forum the number of people who insist on arriving in to Europe on the same day as their cruise leaves is unreal- I know you have buffer time built in.

And many people still travel without insurance as well.

But even on land tours too many itineraries insist on arriving, leaving London straight away and having no slack time in the itinerary. Yes flights to Europe could equally be affected by weather events in the US or volcanoes anywhere in the world- including US domestic volcanoes like in the Cascades.

It is big news in the UK, with the usual people clueless how to get themselves home overland from near Europe. A BBC journalist included, apparently neither she or the BBC has no idea how to get home from Luxembourg to London overland. But of course it is drama on the news for her to be "stuck" for 4 days.

“A BBC journalist included, apparently neither she or the BBC has no idea how to get home from Luxembourg to London overland. But of course it is drama on the news for her to be "stuck" for 4 days”

Stuart, that made me laugh!! Yes, it can be BIG news and drama when it happens to a reporter or “influencer”. Even most travelers on this forum could get overland from Luxembourg to London!

I posted about this yesterday.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/uk-air-traffic-delays

Big news in the UK. Not big news in the US. Most flights from the US to UK were hardly affected. Short haul flights are cancelled before long haul flights.

And it was not just London. It was the entire UK.

Getting from Luxembourg to the UK overland is so simple it makes me wonder about the intelligence of the people working for the BBC.

The problem was this. All flights have a flight plan submitted to air traffic control. It includes, routes, times, altitudes, etc. This is done by computer. Yesterdays glitch wouldn't allow the flight plans to be automatically entered into the ATC computers. They had to be entered by hand. This is a slow process and that caused the delays.

Hi Frank II

I did not notice your post yesterday. I know you are good at keeping people updated about travel issues.

There was some news about the problem in London on "Way Too Early" between 4:30 am and 5:00 am during the business segment with a British stockbroker.

We have a big holiday weekend coming up along with a hurricane coming in so we might have some airport and travel news soon.

Technology like automobiles are wonderful until they do not work and then they are not so wonderful.

Good Morning isn31c

I always allow for buffer time, in fact a lot of buffer time. Some persons might think too much.

I go to the airport the night before I fly out no matter what time my flight. .

I hate seeing someone running for the plane while the doors are closing and they miss the plane. It really bothers me to see it. I do not want to be that person.

I am spending 6 nights in London before overnighting at an Ibis in Southampton. I have chosen to do this so that I can have a relaxing night before sailing, eat breakfast in the morning and easily walk to my cruise ship with time to spare.

I want to spend time in my port city pre cruise and post cruise. I am on vacation. I want to enjoy myself not wear myself out. I hate rushing and stressing although I do end up stressing. And I do end up wearing myself out.

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing and fun. That is among the reasons that we go on vacation.

But we should always have a Plan B.

And we should always have insurance and give ourselves enough time before flying or cruising. . I always buy flight insurance and cruise insurance . I hope that I never have to use it but just in case .....

I read these stories differently after our experience in May when we got caught in the British Airways IT meltdown and a subsequent issue with the LHR e-gates. These issues are more problematic when they fall over a bank holiday, which I believe was the case Monday, Aug 28th.and schools starting back up soon. As travel is more crowded, there are far fewer options when you are competing with masses of people in the same situation.

It’s good to have these posts to remind people to have a plan B.

Having a Plan B is a must for a savvy traveler. Eases angst and frustration. So does having patience.

Eurostar is running extra trains between London & Paris.

LNER are accepting people in standard class for people with boarding cards for equivalent air routes.

BA is filling it's normally empty middle seats in business class and consequently expanding economy space.

I can not keep up with all the things that go wrong in all the airports around the world.

And it does seem that a lot goes wrong around holidays and holiday weekends.

This coming weekend is Labor Day weekend. Along with a holiday weekend, we have a possible hurricane coming in.

Might be interesting ....

Traveling teaches patience and acceptance. At least it does for some people. Other people not so much. I feel for the hard working airline personnel.

I flew back to the US from London Heathrow "on time" yesterday (Aug. 29), one day after the glitch.

My FlightAware app showed that my same flight (Delta from Heathrow to Atlanta) had been two hours late leaving on Aug. 28 (day of the glitch).

From looking at the Heathrow arrivals/departures board and watching the TV news, it appeared that most flight cancellations had been short haul flights (Heathrow to European cities). Disruptions continued for short haul flights because aircraft and crews were mispositioned.

However, I was surprised to see on the departures board that Delta had cancelled a flight from Heathrow to JFK on Aug. 29.