LHR shutdown due to substation fire Friday 21 March

[Melburnian1]

Easy. Bus departs Heathrow at the scheduled flight time. Flight departs Paris when the bus gets there and pax are processed. It will be a delayed return but better than a canceled one.

Maybe not as "easy" as you claim!

Heathrow tunnel, M4 spur and A312 Hayes bypass closed.

The Elizabeth line (used by many to get to/from LHR) does not have any trains running between Hayes & Harlington and the airport due to the substation fire.

Heathrow Express has cancelled all trains.

While the Piccadilly London Underground line is unaffected, it's slower, and a grind to use at peak times such as 1600 to 1900 hours.

Sure, rideshares and taxis will be available, but would they be stuck in traffic? They are also far more expensive than the EL or the Tube.

There are heaps of ferry departures that take freight vehicles including buses, but at a guess, it'd take say two hours to reach say Dover by road, 90 minutes on the ferry plus inevitable waiting time at Dover then maybe four hours to reach CDG by road, so probably all up at least an eight hour trip.

The crew might already be tired before they even step aboard the aircraft - even if they were conveyed in their own full sized road coach or minibus. And as mentioned above, crew hours would be problematic.

It'll be interesting if crew and pax are put into a CDG airport hotel to rest prior to the rescheduled QF2.

 

[glasszon]

Easy. Bus departs Heathrow at the scheduled flight time. Flight departs Paris when the bus gets there and pax are processed. It will be a delayed return but better than a canceled one.

How would that work for passengers that need a Schengen visa to enter France/EU?

 

[SYD]

How would that work for passengers that need a Schengen visa to enter France/EU?

That would be a small minority that couldn’t enter without a “VISA”. There could be some pushing their 90 out 180 days. They’d probably have to stay put in the UK.

 

[justinbrett]

but what about cabin crew and pilot duty hours?

I don’t think they’ll be driving the bus

 

[I love to travel]

No small fire

Heathrow Airport closes all day over power outage

It comes in response to a "significant" outage linked to a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

www.bbc.com

 

[Melburnian1]

I don’t think they’ll be driving the bus

But they'll presumably be travelling overnight on a road coach and ferry (assuming they can't get a flight from another London airport to CDG or other Parisian airport.)

Fatigue would set in.

 

[AIRwin]

QANTAS has the QF1 leaving CDG at 13:30 local.. yeah sure…

Rescheduled to 8:30

 

[ABC1]

Maybe not as "easy" as you claim!

Heathrow tunnel, M4 spur and A312 Hayes bypass closed.

The Elizabeth line (used by many to get to/from LHR) does not have any trains running between Hayes & Harlington and the airport due to the substation fire.

Heathrow Express has cancelled all trains.

While the Piccadilly London Underground line is unaffected, it's slower, and a grind to use at peak times such as 1600 to 1900 hours.

Sure, rideshares and taxis will be available, but would they be stuck in traffic? They are also far more expensive than the EL or the Tube.

There are heaps of ferry departures that take freight vehicles including buses, but at a guess, it'd take say two hours to reach say Dover by road, 90 minutes on the ferry plus inevitable waiting time at Dover then maybe four hours to reach CDG by road, so probably all up at least an eight hour trip.

The crew might already be tired before they even step aboard the aircraft - even if they were conveyed in their own full sized road coach or minibus. And as mentioned above, crew hours would be problematic.

It'll be interesting if crew and pax are put into a CDG airport hotel to rest prior to the rescheduled QF2.

Saw a pax on CH9 say they’ve been told they’ll be put on busses to get to London today.

 

[clifford]

Maybe not as "easy" as you claim!

Heathrow tunnel, M4 spur and A312 Hayes bypass closed.

The Elizabeth line (used by many to get to/from LHR) does not have any trains running between Hayes & Harlington and the airport due to the substation fire.

Heathrow Express has cancelled all trains.

While the Piccadilly London Underground line is unaffected, it's slower, and a grind to use at peak times such as 1600 to 1900 hours.

Isn’t this all rather academic? If, as you say, the tunnel to Heathrow Central is closed (as I imagine it would be), then members of the public wouldn’t be able to get to or from T2/3.

 

[Jubas]

Stuck in Lisbon for a night with this mornings ba flight canceled. Booked for tomorrow afternoon instead and then due to board ba15 later that evening.

Bugger all communication from BA and useless at the airport - "book a hotel and apply for a refund". Luckily it's a work trip and they'll pick up the tab!

Not really fancying my chances of getting back to Sydney by Monday morning as originally planned

 

[Melburnian1]

Qantas is parotting other sources:

Customers (sic) are advised not to travel to the airport.

------------------

So if there's buses organised to take passengers to Paris CDG, they won't be departing from outside LHR.

 

[AIRwin]

Stuck in Lisbon for a night with this mornings ba flight canceled. Booked for tomorrow afternoon instead and then due to board ba15 later that evening.

Bugger all communication from BA and useless at the airport - "book a hotel and apply for a refund". Luckily it's a work trip and they'll pick up the tab!

Not really fancying my chances of getting back to Sydney by Monday morning as originally planned

Rebook on QR/EK/EY from LIS?

 

[torks]

Stuck in Lisbon for a night with this mornings ba flight canceled. Booked for tomorrow afternoon instead and then due to board ba15 later that evening.

Bugger all communication from BA and useless at the airport - "book a hotel and apply for a refund". Luckily it's a work trip and they'll pick up the tab!

Not really fancying my chances of getting back to Sydney by Monday morning as originally planned

I've previously had an unplanned overnight courtesy of BA and got the same advice re the hotel.

No issue with claiming a refund later and they also picked up the tab for a decent restaurant as well no questions asked.

 

[Jubas]

Rebook on QR/EK/EY from LIS?

Missed the qr option this AM but trying to source alternatives

Pretty horrific pricing on one way J tickets and BA yet to 'cancel' so some sort of issue with our fare conditions / rebooking agreement.

 

[AIRwin]

Rescheduled to 8:30

Delayed to 10:30

 

[dajop]

Some of the diversions

BA212, UA146, BA92, VS104 SNN
SQ322, AI161, EY61 FRA
CX255, DL16, DL58 AMS
BA106 MUC
VS4, BA184, VS118 GLA
JL41 HEL
QR107 BRU
BA294 YUL
AA50 YYR
UA901 IAD

AC854, UA918, AA100, UA14, AA730 returned to departure point

Looks like passengers on BA12 from SIN and BA16 from SYD/SIN hit the jackpot - diverting to LGW.

 

[Himeno]

Looks like passengers on BA12 from SIN and BA16 from SYD/SIN hit the jackpot - diverting to LGW.

Poor people on AA50. Leaving DFW in the afternoon, then landing at Goose Bay in the middle of the night.
Looks like they are planning to bring them to JFK, then wait out the problem at LHR.

 

[anat0l]

I guess the biggest carrier who is laughing all the way will be Ryanair. No LHR operations and STN completely unaffected, so everything is business as usual.

Cue O'Leary saying "sucked in, losers" to BA and VS.

 

[justinbrett]

But they'll presumably be travelling overnight on a road coach and ferry (assuming they can't get a flight from another London airport to CDG or other Parisian airport.)

Fatigue would set in.

They don’t need to wait until the departure time to move to Paris. They can move now and then have a rest period.

Plenty of ways to get to Paris rather than road/ferry.

I’m not sure what your problem is, as I said any delay is going to be better than a cancellation.

 

[henrus]

I've got to say I'm rather impressed by QF, diverted both flights to CDG and busses to meet so everyone arrives in London same day.

One has to wonder if their services at CDG helped given agreements with the airport and ground staff in place.