<p>I’ve changed planes at Heathrow many times. No problems. That includes changing planes with bike boxes, too.</p>
<p>last year D2 made it from Mumbai to Chennai to Dubai –> London- Heathrow then took the train to Leeds by herself.
I asked her if she had any trouble getting through Heathrow and finding the right train- she said it was a piece of cake " the signs were in English!" ;)</p>
<p>I’ve had two flights from philly and two flights back to philly. Never had any lost luggage. Computer systems were down at bag check for the one flight with air tran, and our plane backed into a luggage cart. I flew to and from ABE once and it was so much nicer. I didn’t mind the Philadelphia Airport but ABE is so much smaller and less of a maze and everyone is nice there.</p>
<p>So, about 2 hours ago D called me and said “I just got an email that says all my flights are canceled. The one home on Monday and the ones back to New Haven . All of them.”</p>
<p>Oh, joy. </p>
<p>Babe, it has to be that somehow they think you never left Philadelphia and then because of that, they canceled the rest of your legs. Get a human on the phone. This can be fixed. </p>
<p>I was right. Thank goodness.</p>
<p>Oh Curm… computers… A poster on another thread had an airline change her flight schedule. Her new schedule had her connecting to a flight that departed 10 minutes BEFORE her first leg landed. You’d think a computer would figure that out…</p>
<p>So she is OK? C? or I wuold suggest she take a train somewhere and leave from there…
D was stranded overnight and then 3 standby’s in Chicago when she was 19 flying from VT to OR. Took me hours on the phone but they finally got her out.</p>
<p>OH golly, we’re heading for our airport in 10 minutes. First time in three years without delays and cancellations. I can see them flying through rain and snow but they are going to be home in the wee hours I think on the original ticketed date on the original ticketed planes. Good luck everyone…it’s a trauma this time of year!</p>
<p>Son is currently sitting in O’Hare, first on the stand-by list for the last flight of the evening to our airport. He says if he has to spend the night in O’Hare, he will. He is keeping me posted but he is figuring it out on his own. Cross your fingers he makes it out tonight, we’ll know in about twenty minutes if he makes it tonight or if he is sleeping on the floor.</p>
<p>DH is on his way from Charlotte to here. So far, no travel problems today. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. DS travels on Friday.</p>
<p>Yeah! Son made it on to the plane, so I am heading out to the airport to get him. Only about 15 hours late, but he will be home after a tough, tough semester.</p>
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</p>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, we do have four season in North Texas:</p>
<p>Summer
Summer
Still Summer
Christmas!</p>
<p>Will be biting my nails for the next several days. D1 is finished with London semester and wanted to take a last hurrah weekend in Germany. Gatwick is closed at present due to snow with most flights outright canceled, but her flight shows delayed until 5:50 pm. </p>
<p>She is supposed to head back to London on Monday or Tuesday, and come back into the states on Wednesday. My brain is worrying about her getting to Germany, weather in Germany permitting her to make her flight back into the UK so she doesn’t miss her flight to Texas, and/or weather in London screwing up getting her home from that flight on Wednesday. Oy, I’ve got a headache just thinking about it all.</p>
<p>I feel your pain, Nrdsb4. I have a good friend whose son is supposed to be returning from studying abroad in Wales today. </p>
<p>S was studying in Barcelona last spring - and the volcanic ash cloud was spewing shortly before he was supposed to fly home. He was planning to go to Munich for a few days after he finished his semester, then fly home from there. I found a relatively inexpensive 1-way ticket from Barcelona to home (first leg was Barca to Philly - so this IS relative to this thread ;)), safely out of reach of the ash cloud. He didn’t want it. He insisted on going to Munich - even after he called to tell me he was sick, fever, sore throat, coughing up phlegm - he insisted on going to Munich. What happened in Munich? He went to a beer hall, stood on a bench with his mug to watch the band (“Everyone was doing that, Mom”) got jostled, fell off the bench and sliced his hand open on the shards from the glass beer mug. Got an ambulance ride to the hospital and a few stitches to show off (now a cool scar). Luckily, his flights from Munich to Heathrow to USA went off without a hitch, with him on them.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! My D who lives in London arrived home on Thursday. She had really hoped to travel home with a group of friends today but had an appointment here scheduled for yesterday so had to come early by herself. She’s very happy about that now! She got a text from a couple of those friends and they have no idea when they’re going to get out of Heathrow, and it’s even more of a nightmare there than it usually is.</p>
<p>The whole of northern Europe is really bad. Heathrow and Gatwick are both closed, as is Schiphol. Germany and Italy also have a lot of snow, and even places which are used to lots of snow, like Geneva and Zurich, have had their airports closed temporarily.</p>
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<p>Thanks. I think the weather projections for Germany are also really bad, so I think she just ought to cross this one off her list and hope the weather will hold for her flight back home on Wednesday. But she’s at the airport camping out, hoping that her flight to Germany will happen, and I can’t get in touch with her.</p>
<p>The whole thing has me stressing a bit. Fortunately, my work schedule is really busy next week, so I won’t have a lot of time to obsess about it. Of course, I still have today and tomorrow to worry myself to bits. I tend to do that…wish I wouldn’t.</p>
<p>Just found out where my family are - snow refugees diverted to Dublin. It could be a long wait. Think they are going to try flying to Southampton rather than Heathrow, because it is operating almost normally that far south (always a good tip. Southampton, Bristol and Exeter usually don’t have much snow or ice, if you ever need to get to the UK in winter. However, I think Exeter is closed today).</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 - don’t worry too much. It’s not dangerous to be trapped at Gatwick. Just boring, and potentially expensive as there are lots of shops. Worse case scenario is she is given a refund and sent away. There is a fake “German market” in London’s Hyde Park for Christmas. Would this be a little substitute for a trip to Germany? You could suggest if you can contact your D.</p>
<p>For all you happy fliers out there, an artist’s view of the joys of airplane travel:</p>
<p>[Red</a> Eye - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/red-eye/]Red”>http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/red-eye/)</p>
<p>Thank you, cupcake. I just got an e-mail from D1 saying her flight was officially canceled and she made her way back to her dorm flat. She sounded fine about it, saying she would find plenty of fun things to do in London between now and Wednesday.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone trying to get loved ones home safe and sound.</p>
<p>Not a fan of Philly, but it’s still better than Newark <em>shudder</em> and Houston. I loved Charlotte. I flew through there on my way home from Italy and it was lovely. Philly required a sprint across the airport to make my connecting flight, but not nearly as bad as Houston.</p>
<p>I like LAX. Straight forward, weather delays are very rare and In-n-Out adjacent. My favorite airport though is Long Beach. It’s quaint and there aren’t any lines. I also in general like flying around the West Coast, few delays because of weather and air traffic is less.</p>
<p>"Never change planes at Heathrow. Ever. "</p>
<p>I disagree. I have changed planes there at least 2-5 times per year over the past 10 years with no problems.</p>