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Elizabeth Hurley, 57, Slams British Airways After She Was Left Stranded With ‘No Food Or Water’ For 20 Hours
Severe knock-on effects are still expected, with further flights potentially canceled.
Flight passengers hurrying to get home for Christmas, including Elizabeth Hurley, recently experienced a stranded situation after several planes across the United States, bound for London Heathrow, the Caribbean, and Gatwick were grounded for hours before take-off.
The 57-year-old tweeted updates about her flight, revealing she waited 20 hours and had been left without food, water, or a hotel.
The Herefordshire-based woman added that she resulted to taking a taxi to escape the airport while warning others to avoid flying. So far, there have been reports of long waits for luggage at Heathrow. Also, a man was said to have gotten stuck in Boston after his flight got canceled and was unable to arrange an alternative as BA’s telephone lines were full.
Almost all overnight, flights to Heathrow and Gatwick as of Monday, were disrupted by a glitch, with severe knock-on effects expected today and further flights canceled.
As per the DailyMail, some passengers reported being held on the tarmac for hours while cabin crew and pilots were left waiting on flight plans to get them to their destinations, with photos showing people sleeping in the aisle of some planes. The technical issue caused massive delays to flights from the UK’s flagship airline, and passengers booked for Heathrow also had their flights canceled.
Departures to Washington, DC, Nashville, Chicago, Toronto, Tokyo, Boston, Denver, and three to New York JFK were also canceled. The flights were reportedly set to carry at least 5,000 people, all of whom now face having to find alternative ways of getting to the UK just days before Christmas. Many other flights suffered long delays, including one from the US city of Philadelphia, which is expected to land more than five-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
British Airways has, however, apologized after axing 15 flights out of Heathrow and leaving families inside airports and on the tarmac across Europe, the US, and Asia.
They wrote in a statement: “Our flights due to depart the USA tonight are currently delayed due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier, which we are urgently investigating. “We’re sorry for any disruption this will cause to our customers; plans, our aim is for these flights to depart as quickly as possible.”
BA insisted that the situation wasn’t a safety issue and that they are keeping customers up to date, providing them with refreshments. [Photos show people sleeping in the aisle].
In another statement, the airline continued: “Our teams have now resolved a temporary issue that affected some of our long-haul flight planning systems overnight, which resulted in delays to our schedule.” We are sorry for the disruption caused to our customers’ travel plans. It’s understood that all airline operators at Heathrow were urged to limit the number of new tickets being sold, but BA said people had already booked during strike days.
A BA spokesperson said the carrier was working with the government and airport to ensure they played their part in ensuring that customers could travel as planned at this important time of the year.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson also said the company was working closely with the government to minimize the impact of Border Force strikes on customers’ journeys. Nonetheless, this comes days before potentially more Christmas chaos, as Border Force Staff plans to go on a walkout for eight days between December 23rd and New Year’s Eve in a dispute over pay.
