As the nasty storm of 2013 begins to close in on the United Kingdom, here is a quick update of how its affecting travel. For those who don’t want to read the full article:
- Check before you travel if your flight or train service is operating
- Allow extra time for your journey
The National Air Traffic Services have stated at http://www.nats.co.uk/news/severe-weather-forecast/:
The Met Office is currently forecasting heavy rain and high winds for much of England and Wales during the morning of 28 October. The severe weather is likely to result in disruption to flights, including delays and some cancellations.
The safety of the travelling public is always our top priority and NATS, together with our airline and airport customers, is continuously monitoring the situation.
Any passengers due to fly on Monday should contact their airline for the latest information before travelling to the airport.
Airports in the South East of England
Heathrow Airport
Severe weather is forecast for Heathrow, southern England and northern Europe on Sunday night and Monday. These weather conditions are likely to cause disruption to flights including cancellations. Please check the status of your flight with your airline before travelling to the airport. Road and rail networks are also expected to be disrupted, so please allow extra time for your journey.
Gatwick Airport
With a Met Office weather warning in place for the next 24 hours, passengers due to travel on Monday are advised to check their flight status with their airline and allow plenty of time for their journey to the airport. Please note there will be no train services to or from Gatwick early Monday morning.
Stansted Airport
Weather warnings have been issued for the majority of the UK and some parts of Europe. If you are travelling today or over the next couple of days, please check your flight’s status with your airline before setting out. Please also allow extra time for your journey to the airport as the road and rail networks may be affected.
Airlines:
British Airways have announced the following at http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_gb?p_faqid=4657&source=hp_disruption_banner
British Airways has complied with a request from Heathrow Airport to reduce its flying schedule on Monday 28 October as a result of the severe forecast storms.
The airport has instructed all airlines using Heathrow to reduce their schedules in the following manner on Monday:
Between 0600 and 1100 a 20 per cent reduction in the schedule has been applied
Between 1100 and 1600 a 10 per cent reduction in the schedule has been applied
Between 1600 and 2230 a 5 per cent reduction in the schedule has been applied
All of the agreed cancellations for British Airways are from the European and domestic networks. Other flights, still shown as operating, may suffer from delays.
All British Airways long-haul flights into and out of London Heathrow are currently planned to operate as normal, albeit there may be some delays due to the poor weather.We apologise in advance for the inconvenience caused by the poor weather but the safety of our customers is our top priority.
Virgin Atlantic state a full flying programme is expected at http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/customer-service/latest-news.html
There are reports of strong winds and heavy rain across parts of Wales and Southern England on Monday 28 October, there is no certainty about the timing, path, or extent of the storm at this stage. We are monitoring the weather forecast however at this time we are planning to operate our full flying programme.
Please check Flight Status for the latest information on all our flight schedules before you travel to the airport. In addition UK mobile phone users can update your mobile phone details in My Booking in order for us to send text messages in the event of any significant disruption.
We advise all passengers to plan their journey to and from London Heathrow and Gatwick in advance, leave plenty of time and take extra care on the roads.
EasyJet state http://support.easyjet.com/faq/en/request.do?view%28%29=c[case-3970]:
The UK Met Office are forecasting potential strong winds for the South of England from Sunday evening into Monday mid-morning. We are taking proactive measures to minimise disruption, however would like to warn passengers in advance that there could be disruption as a result of these forecasted weather conditions. We strongly advise that customers allow extra time for their journeys to the airport as road and rail conditions could be affected. We would encourage you to check status of your flight before leaving and monitor local weather forecasts.
Aer Lingus has already pulled flights http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/knowbeforeyoufly/flightdisruptioninformation/:
Due to the severe weather forecast for London Heathrow on Monday 28th October, all airlines have been advised to reduce their schedules.
As a result the following flights have been cancelled:
EI152 Dublin to London Heathrow
EI153 London Heathrow to Dublin
EI154 Dublin to London Heathrow
EI155 London Heathrow to Dublin
EI710 Cork to London Heathrow
EI711 London Heathrow to Cork
EI030 Belfast City to London Heathrow
EI031 London Heathrow to Belfast CityAll other flights are planned to operate as normal.
Customers who are affected by these cancellations will be accommodated on the next available flights and may change their bookings free of charge online.
Alternatively, customers who choose not to travel will receive a full refund. See options below.
Aer Lingus apologises sincerely for the inconvenience this schedule disruption causes to our customers, which is due to factors beyond our control.
UK Railways
- c2c are expected to run an amended timetable on Monday 28 October, with no trains expected to run until at least 09:00.
- East Coast will be working to an amended timetable on Monday 28 October.
- East Midlands Trains will not run any trains in or out of London St Pancras International until approximately 10:00 with trains starting / terminating at Bedford. Trains will also not run between Nottingham and Norwich until approximately 10:00.
- First Great Western may run an amended timetable.
- No Greater Anglia or Stansted Express services will operate until after 09:00 on Monday morning. After 09:00 there will be a reduced service on all lines with significant disruption expected on all lines.London Overground will be running no service until after 09:00 on Monday 28 October. After this, it is expected that a normal service will resume on all routes.
- Southeastern will run an amended timetable on Monday 28 October, with the possibility of services not starting until 09:00 or 10:00 on Monday morning
- Southern and Gatwick Express will not run any trains before 09:00 on Monday 28 October with an amended timetable expected after that
- South West Trains are running an amended service on Monday 28 October, with no service expected to run before 08:00.
- Virgin Trains will be running a modified timetable until 09:00
There is no way to put this nicely, but expect disruption tomorrow as the storm makes its way across the south of the United Kingdom. Allow extra time for your journeys, and please be safe if you have to travel tomorrow.
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