<p>Congrats to all of you have gotten your kids back, and best wishes for the rest of you.</p>
<p>My D never made it to London for her connecting flight which is just as well since that flight was canceled as well. It was a hard decision whether to press on to London, where her co-travelers are, or to find another route. I think its for the best that she decided to bag the London connection and has a seat on Thursday on a plane going from France to Frankfurt and then straight home! Her friends in London can’t make it home until after xmas. Only downside is that she’s pretty much on her own, while her friends are having a vacation in London, but she thinks it way worth to get home a few days earlier. Just hoping these flights make it. Frankfurt has been pretty dicey as well this week, but I think its better run from what I’ve been hearing.</p>
<p>DS is flying back from his study abroad. He tends to be a last minute guy, and I emphasized strongly to him that if he misses his flights he will be up a creek. I have confirmed on the airline website that his first flight (Rome to Munich) has taken off. I just hope he is on it as scheduled!</p>
<p>Happy for you both that your kids are on their way! My D has a two day journey. Hopefully it started an hour ago. Today she should now be on a train from Amiens, France to Paris. Then a taxi to a different train station with all her luggage and a train to Geneva. Spending the night in Annemasse, France. Tomorrow is the flying leg. I’m not too worried, but considering all the problems others are having in Europe, one can’t be too sure.</p>
<p>D is again re booked on a flight tomorrow 23rd. So she hopefully may be here for Christmas after all.
However she’s booked through Calgary with only a 3 hour interval before her connection to LAX…the last one of the night. I’m now hoping that she will not have to overnight, and if so, that there will be a seat on the next morning’s flight.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4…thanks for that info about your D’s flight leaving on time…am hoping that it will be the case with my D’s flight.</p>
<p>Does anyone have info from their kid on the length of time it took by cab from central London (in D’s case, Bloomsbury) to Heathrow? I had heard earlier it took close to 3 hours from Picadilly. D cannot take the tube/train because of her luggage. D tends to be too optimistic lol. Gotta convince her to be safe.</p>
<p>Very happy to hear many of the kids are on their way today!</p>
<p>Great news about the 23rd! Even if she has to overnight in Calgary, she will at least be on this side of the ocean, with so many options for making it home (planes, busses, trains… ). She’ll be on her way soon!!!</p>
<p>I am so glad you all seem to be getting good news. I thought of this thread late last night when I checked the BBC site for their weather forecast and the “detailed” forecast for the London area was :
Wednesday - Grey cloud
Thursday - Grey cloud
Friday - White Cloud</p>
<p>Looked like they just gave up trying :rolleyes:!</p>
<p>Sequoia…
Your D may want to check with cab company. On Monday, my D was dealing with ice/snow and the backup just trying to get into the airport—at 5 a.m. D’s BF left at 3:45 in the a.m. yesterday and it only took him 35 minutes.</p>
<p>Progress is being made–approx. 60 of D’s classmates still need to get out (from 130)…</p>
<p>Thanks gosmom. D has a flight at 1:30. I told her to order a taxi for 6am. I guess that’s plenty of time. I don’t care if she gets there early…I hope so in fact. I’m expecting long security lines and all that too.
Also, I told her, if she’s early and if she can, to see if there’s a no show seat on another AC route, where the connection time might be safer. There are a couple of flights to Toronto and Montreal.
Noticing today on the Heathrow site, that a lot of flights appear to be leaving around 1 1/2 to 2 hours after scheduled time. Such a delay would be awfully tight for her…plus there’s always head winds.
Hoping for the best.</p>
<p>Early is definitely good at Heathrow. I had an early flight this summer and was there almost 3 hours before my flight. I always have a big English breakfast at the airport as my last thing between annual visits. Security was soooo slow and by the time I got through security I had to go straight to my boarding gate, so no breakfast. I’m still pouting about it.</p>
<p>They do have the self check in kiosks so you might mention that to her. I used those, but then there was a big line to turn luggage in. But it was probably not quite as long and slow as the regular lines.</p>
<p>D1 got in about 2:45 pm CST. She ordered a taxi for 5 am in order to be at the airport at 6am (for her 1000) flight. It took 40-45 minutes this morning. She was already through security and eating breakfast at 7:20 this am when I called her (1:20 am my time-yes, obsessing again). We had used miles to upgrade her to business class, so I think she got expedited a bit in security with the shorter line.</p>
<p>I notice that there have been some suggestions for travel insurance. However, at least some of the policies I’ve seen in the US don’t cover weather unless the entire airport is closed for a certain duration, and then only for the flights cancelled during that specific closure period. If the airline(s) operate a much reduced schedule for the next X days, some of the insurance companies won’t pay for canceled flights on those dates because the airport as a whole wasn’t closed.</p>
<p>The other side of all this are the people sleeping at JFK trying to get to London, including British students who have been studying in the US. My colleague’s husband is British and she was supposed to join him and his family for the holidays this year. Her 8 AM Virgin flight for tomorrow was canceled and she was trying to explore her options with them but it wasn’t looking too hopeful.</p>
<p>Update on my kid. Day one of travel was yesterday all day…by train. Went well. Day two (today)…so far so good. Called from the boarding gate in Geneva and plane is on time to Zurich. Should be taking off any moment. Next leg is Zurich to Boston. We will make a seven hour round trip car ride to Boston to get her tonight. Fingers crossed but she has not had significant problems. We have not seen her in a long time and can’t wait. I’m hoping everyone who has run into travel snags will be on their way soon and that it works out.</p>
<p>Susan, sending good thoughts for M. Have a safe drive to Boston tonight - how’s the weather in your neck of the woods? Enjoy having her home, I know how excited you must be. :)</p>
<p>Good thoughts for all of the kids still travelling and for all the moms still worrying.</p>
<p>The weather here is OK for this trip we’ll be making and should be OK where she is in Europe too. We have some snow, but it is not snowing now. We have not seen this daughter in 6 1/2 months which is the longest we have ever gone not seeing one of our kids. Originally, this was to have been a break/visit and she was going to be in Europe until May. That got changed a while back and she is now coming home to the US and staying, but will be with us just ten days (that part is the same). But for the next few months anyway, her job is on the East Coast and so I’m not complaining! Other D is due to fly home from NYC tomorrow and we haven’t had both here at the same time since last December and so we are looking forward to that. They saw one another in Europe in July as D2 was performing very close to where D1 was working this summer over there.</p>
<p>Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family.</p>
<p>^^^^Good luck to you and everyone else still waiting. D said that one of her friends finally got home last night after SIX prior cancellations. He was mentally and physically exhausted. Her suitemate finally got to LA after 3 or 4 attempts (one of which drove her into sobs of misery). She said she felt very lucky and a little guilty to have basically walked into Heathrow yesterday with a confirmed seat, smooth check in, etc. She was sipping on her Mimosa on the plane before take off thinking how blessed she was while so many were sleeping on make shift beds in the airport, not knowing if they would be home in time for Christmas, or having their long awaited holidays bashed to pieces. </p>