Excitement of holiday travel quickly turned to frustration for thousands of Calgarians over the weekend, as a European snowstorm caused major delays at some of the continent’s busiest travel hubs.
In London, a heavy blanket of snow forced Heathrow Airport to halt all arriving flights for several hours yesterday and left passengers at Calgary International Airport with more questions than answers.
Jeremy Reay had planned to connect through London en route to Spain for a Christmas trip with friends. He arrived at the airport to find his British Airways flight had been disrupted indefinitely.
“I have to get there right away,” he said. “This totally screws up my plans.”
Other airlines weren’t faring much better, as Air Canada CEO Duncan Dee said in a statement yesterday morning that it could take 48 hours for regular service to London to resume.
Some travellers at the airport were already preparing for the worst. Fred Prodaniuk said that his and his wife Maggie’s spirits remained high, but added that if they were unable to find a flight out of Calgary by tomorrow they would likely cancel their trip to England altogether.
“We’re seasoned travellers, we’re used to this,” he said.
Airport officials are reminding travellers to check the status of their flights online before heading to the airport.
