Comments

1. Send all your claims to the Kremlin…

2. How can a modern airport like LHR have no back up? And how much are we paying APD again??

3. @GuyB It sounds like this affected the ability of the backup generators as well.

4. Surprised that LHR does not have its own substation for security issues alone, rather than relying on a public utility. The cost of an outage is staggering compared to a residence.

5. That’s why I will never fly into nor transit Heathrow!

6. Get ready for all the stories of being stuck there now or those who have experienced travel disruptions at LHR in the last 25 years.

7. Hope everyone is ok and that they fix this as soon as possible.

   @Journeying John — Waiting for a full investigation, but subconsciously whenever something like this happens I, too, suspect sabotage, and recognize that we’ve been in a hybrid war against Putin and his enablers for decades now. Whether it’s pipelines, rail infrastructure, electric, or this, it all can be connected, and plausible deniability is another tactic as well. Now, where are the Putin apologists, like Mike P, who had ‘no opinion’ about the Russians after that Azerbaijani airplane was ‘shot’ at earlier this year. Hmm. The thing is, we can have different opinions on domestic politics, but we used to all stay loyal to our own side—not anymore, in the USA, a third of our country now sides with Putin, and the official stance of our leaders seem to have betrayed our once friends and allies instead. It’s so messed up.

8. Likewise, it doesn’t have to be foreign sabotage. Let’s say, again, speculating, because why not, it’s VFTW, not the AP, it could have been… ‘Just Stop Oil’ (they are UK based), or ‘Green Peace’ (or any activists) trying to halt what they consider the ‘climate crime’ of flying aircraft. Ok, I understand their concern, but that’s not ‘cool’ or ‘legal,’ either. If so, prosecute, and remind folks to use other means to peacefully protest for whatever causes they support.

   And before anyone dares to call me a ‘humorless scold,’ I crack plenty of jokes on here, and absolutely enjoy cultural references and banter, so feel free to engage on any of that any time with me at least.

   Realistically, I would not be surprised if this turned out to simply be a maintenance failure–and if so, they should try to learn from this, get folks to do their jobs even better, don’t let it happen again, c’mon.

9. an investigation should be done but basic equipment failure can happen…. it just happens to have enormous consequences in this case.

   the cost to UK heavy airlines will be heavy.

10. @Tim Dunn, that includes Delta, which owns 49% of VS, the UK’s second biggest long haul airline.

11. Everybody wants to have backup systems that come on line when something like this happens so everything can continue without major disruption but nobody wants to pay for them. Of course it is not just the initial capital layout for equipment but also installation, maintenance and scheduled replacement of old systems. Again, nobody wants to pay for the backup systems so some businesses go light on backup systems. More or less whistling past the graveyard. Some manufacturing businesses have very solid backup systems because the cost is justified by the losses incurred by a major outage, which could reach existential levels. I doubt that this situation is an existential threat to LHR. It will be messy, though.

12. of course, Lady.
    BA and VS both were able to divert a couple of flights to the UK – England or Scotland – so some people could be closer to home than those whose flights returned to the US or Canada or were diverted to continental Europe.

    It will take days for the backlog to clear out. People that were simply connecting through LHR will undoubtedly be moved to other airlines which could be a benefit for DL and UA and their partners.

13. Wow, what chaos – glad at least everyone is physically okay from what I’ve heard. Not looking forward to hearing the financial reprecussions from this, Heathrow of all places – yikes.

    Also glad your plans worked out the way they did, Gary — safe travels back!

14. BA is over half the flights at LHR, (SkyNews and Google.) VS is the second biggest user of LHR. I’ve used either airline, with mixed experience, even before OW and SkyTeam loyalty adventures. Last year I started using BA A380 and First Wing with OW Emerald status, and that was alright, and have bookings to do so, again, later this 2025. I’ve yet to do VS through LHR with my SkyTeam Elite Plus status, either Delta Medallion Gold or ITA Executive Club Black, or maybe Virgin Airways Gold, should I decide to get serious about Virgin AIrways and its sweet status match with Virgin Voyages.

    Anyway, I really would rather fly by way of CDG, AMS, FRA, or even ZRH, or just avoid Uk & Europe altogether and fly an ME3, given my options as a leisure traveler. Travel concepts used to dictate, “Air France, take a chance,” but, now I feel that way about BA, and I do enjoy AF as a top five airline. I’ll see how 2025 LHR handles this shutdown, before deciding if I want to avoid LHR for my 2026 bookings.

15. @L737 — You reminded me!

    Since it is the UK, many of these passengers might be able to claim under UK261 (similar to EU261) for compensation, meals, lodging, etc., but I’d have to imagine that the airlines will all cite ‘extraordinary circumstances’ as a defense to such claims, since arguably the airport’s electrical power is outside of their control in a situation like this.

    That’s where this becomes a real shame for the passengers, who are likely ‘on their own,’ and many credit card and/or consumer travel insurance policies have absurd restrictions, such as that a ‘covered’ delay must affect 50% of their trip or over 72 hours, depending on the fine print.

    That’s why we need to remain skeptical of such policies as a ‘panacea,’ and also to push for better passenger protections by legislation, and urge our governments and companies to have backup plans in place, so that this doesn’t happen again, and if it does, that there will be a quicker recovery and remedy.

16. Something like this happened in Atlanta back in 2017 or so.