London Heathrow, known by its acronym LHR, is one of the world's busiest airports. It operates at or near capacity. 2010 has not been a good year for Heathrow.
First there was the painfully protracted "industrial action" by the unions against British Airways, then who can forget the volcanic disruptions that seemed to zero in on Heathrow and all of England. The final straw is the latest snow storm of the past weekend, resulting in tens of thousands of travelers sleeping on the floors of all terminals as hundreds of flights were cancelled.
When an airport like Heathrow is operating at over 90% capacity, the smallest weather event can wreak major havoc and can disrupt travel all over Western Europe and beyond.
Owned and operated by the British Airport Authority (BAA), a privately held Spanish company that went into major debt to acquire Heathrow and other British Airports, facilities to accommodate arriving and departing aircraft and passengers are insufficient by western standards. Aircraft that seemingly should arrive on time are asked to loop around for half an hour or more over London, spewing unnecessary pollution because there are not enough gates, or due to congestion of arriving aircraft. De-icing equipment and other logistical vehicles that can clear snow are also in short supply.
The focus of BAA has been to expand the "Duty Free" shops and other for profit items. Ironically, this is good strategy for making profit as the captive audience of stranded and delayed passengers have to eat, drink and shop to kill time. May be the next thing should be cot rentals so that passengers who miss their flights can nap a little more comfortably...
Avoiding Heathrow for connecting flights might be the wisest choice.
www.premieretravel.com
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