Heathrow closed.

[karon steve]

A fire in an electricty sub station near Heathrow has closed the airport for the day with warnings of significant disruptions over the coming days.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5dg4p2l0o

Edited March 21, 2025 by karon steve

[Horizondave]

Begs the question - how can one substation, two miles from the actual airport, cause a total outage at Heathrow. I would have thought Heathrow would have it's own supply station, which could be rerouted via other substations in a situation like this. 

Still it is a major problem. Obviously, even if the whole airport electrical system isn't affected, I suppose if one part is, it has knock on effects.

I feel sorry for any of those who are traveling in/out of Heathrow today.

Also the papers earlier were reporting that all passengers would get compensation, even offering amounts per type of flight i.e., short haul, long haul etc.  Not true, the airlines will cover expenses such as hotel accommodation (if appropriate), and meals, but they will say this is an extraordinary issue that is out of their control and therefore the EU laws, UK rules covering compensation, may not apply.

 

Edited March 21, 2025 by Horizondave

[Krapow]

Yea, would be a nightmare if travelling today.

Though me being a selfish c**t, is thinking well, hopefully that's something that will never happen to me, and some c**t will be sacked, and a more 'robust' contingency plan put in place for shit like this 😂

I was also going to ring up my Travel Insurer and haggle over my Annual Family Policy renewal today, as it's in the last month, and have got an automated renewal quote that is near a 3rd up!

But think i'll leave it a week or so, they'll be busy as f**k, and bargaining from a position of strength stating Heathrow (even if they're not going to pay out anything lol)

[boydeste]

That's an absolute nightmare, because all of those people flying today won't fit on tomorrow's flights as most will probably be quite full anyway. 

I guess it's better happening this time of year instead of summer schools holidays. 

Just shows how easy a terrorist attack could potentially takedown a major airport. 

It was a drone not so long ago!

 

Edited March 21, 2025 by boydeste

[Nightcrawler]

54 minutes ago, boydeste said:

That's an absolute nightmare, because all of those people flying today won't fit on tomorrow's flights as most will probably be quite full anyway. 

I guess it's better happening this time of year instead of summer schools holidays. 

Just shows how easy a terrorist attack could potentially takedown a major airport. 

It was a drone not so long ago!

 

 Not to mention hotels will be full unless passengers find places along the the tube line stops. Not so bad for those who heard the news before leaving home. A few flights will be diverted to Gatwick no doubt, mainly BA. 

I reckon it will take 3 or 4 at least days to normalise flights and get planes back into position.  

If the airport itself is closed then I guess strqnded passengers won't have the choice of sleeping on the floors or chairs? 

[coxyhog]

The knock on affect will be huge.

[fforest]

2 hours ago, Horizondave said:

Begs the question - how can one substation, two miles from the actual airport, cause a total outage at Heathrow. I would have thought Heathrow would have it's own supply station, which could be rerouted via other substations in a situation like this. 

Still it is a major problem. Obviously, even if the whole airport electrical system isn't affected, I suppose if one part is, it has knock on effects.

I feel sorry for any of those who are traveling in/out of Heathrow today.

Also the papers earlier were reporting that all passengers would get compensation, even offering amounts per type of flight i.e., short haul, long haul etc.  Not true, the airlines will cover expenses such as hotel accommodation (if appropriate), and meals, but they will say this is an extraordinary issue that is out of their control and therefore the EU laws, UK rules covering compensation, may not apply.

 

Begs the question - how can one substation, two miles from the actual airport, cause a total outage at Heathrow.

 

I dont believe for one second that one of the biggest airports in the world does not have any back up power source.....Its simply not possible....

Most big events like this are never as they seem to be....

 

 

Edited March 21, 2025 by fforest

[Krapow]

Counter Terrorism Police now leading the investigation into the fire!

[Painter]

6 minutes ago, fforest said:

Begs the question - how can one substation, two miles from the actual airport, cause a total outage at Heathrow.

 

I dont believe for one second that one of the biggest airports in the world does not have any back up power source.....Its simply not possible....

Most big events like this are never as they seem to be....

 

 

I think it was an article on the BBC.... they have backup supplies,  but (a) insufficient for the entire airport (think lights in toilets, escalators,  burger king), but sufficient for emergency stuff, and (b) that supply takes time to kick in, systems need to be rebooted and checked for stability and that takes time. But they should have more, yes. 

[fforest]

1 hour ago, Krapow said:

Yea, would be a nightmare if travelling today.

Though me being a selfish c**t, is thinking well, hopefully that's something that will never happen to me, and some c**t will be sacked, and a more 'robust' contingency plan put in place for shit like this 😂

I was also going to ring up my Travel Insurer and haggle over my Annual Family Policy renewal today, as it's in the last month, and have got an automated renewal quote that is near a 3rd up!

But think i'll leave it a week or so, they'll be busy as f**k, and bargaining from a position of strength stating Heathrow (even if they're not going to pay out anything lol)

Well this is good....You will have some free time to get this years Covid Vax......lol

[Painter]

From a personal perspective,  I fly a week today.... hoping it'll all be sorted by then .... or am I?!!

The other thing in my favour for next weekend instead of this, J10 on the m25 is closed this weekend, and that's the one I need to take....

[Glasseye]

3 hours ago, Horizondave said:

Begs the question - how can one substation, two miles from the actual airport, cause a total outage at Heathrow. I would have thought Heathrow would have it's own supply station, which could be rerouted via other substations in a situation like this. 

Still it is a major problem. Obviously, even if the whole airport electrical system isn't affected, I suppose if one part is, it has knock on effects.

I feel sorry for any of those who are traveling in/out of Heathrow today.

Also the papers earlier were reporting that all passengers would get compensation, even offering amounts per type of flight i.e., short haul, long haul etc.  Not true, the airlines will cover expenses such as hotel accommodation (if appropriate), and meals, but they will say this is an extraordinary issue that is out of their control and therefore the EU laws, UK rules covering compensation, may not apply.

 

 

Probably because they had to release something to the public, but did not want to divulge the real cause.....

[Horizondave]

24 minutes ago, fforest said:

Begs the question - how can one substation, two miles from the actual airport, cause a total outage at Heathrow.

 

I dont believe for one second that one of the biggest airports in the world does not have any back up power source.....Its simply not possible....

Most big events like this are never as they seem to be....

 

 

It was reported that it affects Terminal 2 and 4 but not 3 or 5. Impossible to coordinate that so closed the whole airport down. 

Director of Heathrow is being taken to task by many furious businesses wondering how this could happen. There should be contingency plans, redundancy systems in place.

Somebody is going to get their arse kicked.

[Horizondave]

12 minutes ago, Glasseye said:

 

Probably because they had to release something to the public, but did not want to divulge the real cause.....

Heathrow director coming under scrutiny for the lack of contingency plans.

It is an unprecedented event though at Heathrow.

 

[Glasseye]

10 minutes ago, Horizondave said:

Heathrow director coming under scrutiny for the lack of contingency plans.

It is an unprecedented event though at Heathrow.

 

 

I don't know squat about any of it.....   But, I would reckon there is a lot going on that we ain't hearing about.

[thunder367]

just heard a group of school kids was due to fly back from dubai on emirates this morning at 10 am.nice but back in my day u was lucky to do a school trip abroad only ones i did was north east cumbria and pendle hill near blackburn.

    but end of day u think heathrow would have it own eletric supply from the main grid not connected to a sub station that also powers the general public.maybe now they will look into putting it on its own power connection with its own substation as they want a 3rd runway there.just shows how far uk is behind the rest bet most others have their own supplies from others or even hasve back up power to keep the airport going in case of this sort of thing

[galenkia]

1 hour ago, thunder367 said:

just heard a group of school kids was due to fly back from dubai on emirates this morning at 10 am.

Remember my sister Jan telling me about her school trip to Belgium, and the art teacher ended up being sacked after trying it on with one of the boys on the trip.😂

[Horizondave]

Funny seeing Sky describing the plane (below on Flight Radar) as possibly BA and wondering where all the passengers have arrived from.

Guy needs to download FlightRadar24. Positioning flight from Gatwick.

[Freee!!]

10 hours ago, Horizondave said:

[...]

Also the papers earlier were reporting that all passengers would get compensation, even offering amounts per type of flight i.e., short haul, long haul etc.  Not true, the airlines will cover expenses such as hotel accommodation (if appropriate), and meals, but they will say this is an extraordinary issue that is out of their control and therefore the EU laws, UK rules covering compensation, may not apply.

This is an extreme case of force majeur for which the airlines can't be blamed in any way, not even with the worst intentions of the world, so there will be no compensations, completely in accordance with EU and UK regulations.

[Horizondave]

22 minutes ago, Freee!! said:

This is an extreme case of force majeur for which the airlines can't be blamed in any way, not even with the worst intentions of the world, so there will be no compensations, completely in accordance with EU and UK regulations.

The head of IAG (owners of BA) has said that, in extreme events like this, where the airlines are not at fault, the paying of out of pocket costs such as hotels, meals etc., should be covered by more than just the airlines.

This will cost airlines $millions including hits to their share prices, the need to cover those costs should be shared.

Like ATC delays and weather, thankfully the airlines will not be paying compensation, they just have a duty of care to cover incidentals.

[Freee!!]

3 minutes ago, Horizondave said:

The head of IAG (owners of BA) has said that, in extreme events like this, where the airlines are not at fault, the paying of out of pocket costs such as hotels, meals etc., should be covered by more than just the airlines.

This will cost airlines $millions including hits to their share prices, the need to cover those costs should be shared.

Insurance? Things like this are rare and unpredictable enough that insurance should be an affordable option.

4 minutes ago, Horizondave said:

Like ATC delays and weather, thankfully the airlines will not be paying compensation, they just have a duty of care to cover incidentals.

On this we are in agreement.

[Horizondave]

4 hours ago, Freee!! said:

Insurance? Things like this are rare and unpredictable enough that insurance should be an affordable option.

On this we are in agreement.

Everybody should have insurance, that is the go to next step for things that airlines won't cover etc.

When I worked at Customer Relations for BA, many times our letter back was advising the passenger to contact their insurance for things that were not covered by the airline.

The thing is, the 'duty of care' is agreed that the airline will try to offer new flights, give hotel accommodations, meals and other out of pocket expenses.

The point some have mentioned is, why should the cost be borne by the airline when they are not at fault.

The thought is that Heathrow Airport should be reimbursing the airlines for those 'duty of care' costs, but I don't expect that to happen. Not sure if the airlines have some insurance of their own for an event such as this or just have to 'suck it up'.

[Glasseye]

11 hours ago, Horizondave said:

Everybody should have insurance, that is the go to next step for things that airlines won't cover etc.

When I worked at Customer Relations for BA, many times our letter back was advising the passenger to contact their insurance for things that were not covered by the airline.

The thing is, the 'duty of care' is agreed that the airline will try to offer new flights, give hotel accommodations, meals and other out of pocket expenses.

The point some have mentioned is, why should the cost be borne by the airline when they are not at fault.

The thought is that Heathrow Airport should be reimbursing the airlines for those 'duty of care' costs, but I don't expect that to happen. Not sure if the airlines have some insurance of their own for an event such as this or just have to 'suck it up'.

 

 

I had a couple of good friends who worked in "risk management" (which is basically reviewing risk, liabilities and insurance coverage).

They were saying how there are many types of huge coverage policies where the insurance companies have no intention of actually paying out.... and - if they were pressed would just fold and go bankrupt.

 

[Glasseye]

Yep....

 

This was my thinking the second I first heard this news..... here on 247.

 

 

[Painter]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjy4m0n1exo