Airlines are enraged by capacity restrictions at London Heathrow. They are forced to reschedule – sometimes with unpleasant consequences for travelers.
Heathrow is one of the airports hardest hit by the summer flight chaos. One measure to reduce waiting times and delays as well as cancellations is the Reduction of admitted passengers. Last week, London Airport informed the airlines that they had to limit their ticket sales.
That was already causing some stress. Emirates did not hold back and described the situation at Heathrow as catastrophic. The airport “decided not to act, not to plan and not to invest. Now that they are facing an Airmageddon due to their incompetence and inaction, they are shifting the entire burden – the cost and scrambling to clean up the mess – onto the airlines and travelers.”
Qantas moved departures forward
After the airline initially refused to cap sales, has now been agreed. However, Emirates boss Tim Clark remains angry. “We’re still fighting some of the draconian measures they’re insisting on and I don’t want it to get any uglier than it already is,” Clark said at an event at the Farnborough Airshow.
Things got ugly for Qantas travelers, too. The airline complied with London Heathrow’s demands. The airline decided to reschedule two flights from the UK airport this week. Flight QF2 on the London-Singapore-Sydney route departed nine hours earlier than usual at 12 noon on Tuesday (19 July). He also used Terminal 4 instead of the usual Terminal 3. This was to avoid the rush at peak times.
Eleven hours in Singapore
For passengers on board the Airbus A380, however, this meant an eleven-hour stay in Singapore – and additional costs for the airline. Because Qantas provided the passengers with accommodation. An earlier onward flight from the city-state was not an option.
“Like all airlines, we are disappointed by Heathrow Airport’s decision to suddenly reduce passenger capacity and we are doing everything in our power to minimize the impact on our customers,” said a Qantas spokesman to the Executive Traveler portal.
Flight to Perth departed later
“We managed to negotiate a solution that, while not perfect, will get our customers where they want to go. We continue to work with Heathrow to improve this situation.” The departure of Sunday flight QF10 from London to Perth took off three hours later due to the airport’s instruction.
Another airline made the best of the awkward situation at London Heathrow. Delta Air Lines last week sent a plane that could not take passengers due to limited capacity to the United States with only bags on board. The luggage had previously been left behind at Heathrow because there were no employees in the area.