Talk about bad timing. If you’ve taken advantage of those cheap transatlantic flights we’ve told you about of late to the United Kingdom and booked a seat, know that your arrival this Wednesday, November 30 could be consummately chaotic.
The UK Border Agency, those folks who stamp your passport and let you into the country, seem set to strike on the 30th, gumming up the works for thousands of passengers. How bad could it be? “We’re expecting significant disruption and delays to arriving passengers,” said Heathrow Airport COO Normand Boivin in a letter to airlines using the airport. Those delays could stretch out to 12 hours or more and “be so long that passengers could not be safely accommodated within the terminals and would need to be held in arriving aircraft”.
To avoid tarmac tumult Heathrow is “requesting all carriers to reduce load factors on each international flight arriving into Heathrow on November 30 to 50 percent of normal levels,” said Boivin.
Don’t try to do an end-run on Heathrow and fly into London Gatwick, Manchester, or Birmingham. They’re going to be in the same pickle if the strike comes off as planned.
Virtually across the board airlines are letting their travelers change plans without penalty. In a prepared statement, American Airlines says it and partners British Airways and Iberia will permit fliers scheduled to fly into the UK November 29 through November 30 change their plans and travel as late as December 7. United/Continental are doing the same.
For your carrier’s specific policy, go to their Web site.
Aside from changing departure dates, what options have you got to get through this mess? Noted travel writer Joe Brancatelli suggests flying into Brussels or Paris and then transferring to Eurostar for a trip under the English Channel to London. Eurostar contends its high-speed trains won’t be affected by the Border Control strike.
Do you plan to be in the UK at the end of November or beginning of December? If so, how will the planned strike affect your plans?
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: magnusbrath)
