Europe trapped in deep freeze

Christmas canceled for 1M air travelers
LONDON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Christmas was canceled for nearly a million air travelers as London Heathrow Airport said flights would be delayed or canceled through at least this weekend. Hundreds of thousands of people may not find seats until the New Year, Heathrow operator BAA Ltd. acknowledged, as snow, ice and frigid temperatures also turned road and rail travel into chaos. The severe weather grounded flights and disrupted travel throughout Northern Europe, with the French army removing stranded...

More flight delays in Britain, Frankfurt
London — Major delays and cancellations persisted Tuesday at European airports including London’s Heathrow, and on the Eurostar train link, leaving thousands stranded across Europe as Christmas approached. Predicted Snowfall at Heathrow did not materialize overnight, allowing cleanup crews to intensify their work, but more than half the flights at Europe’s busiest international hub were expected to be canceled. Travelers were told not to come to the airport unless they checked...

Heavy snow, cold disrupt travel across north Europe
BERLIN/London (Reuters) – Snow and freezing temperatures grounded flights and disrupted road and rail links across Northern Europe on Monday, stranding travelers and closing schools. Only one of two runways at London Heathrow, the world's busiest International Airport, was operating after a weekend snowstorm, forcing thousands to camp out in terminals. More than 1,000 flights at German airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin were canceled, disrupting business and Christmas holiday p...

Snows Delay European Air, Rail Travel for Fourth Day
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Air Travel disruptions rippled across Europe for a fourth day in the countdown to Christmas as Frankfurt airport was closed this morning after heavy Snowfall. Fraport AG’s Frankfurt airport, Europe’s third busiest, reopened two runways after shutting all three earlier this morning for snow clearance, spokesman Juergen Harrer said in a telephone interview. Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it re-routed Frankfurt-bound long-haul jets to Munich and deployed additional wi...

Christmas chaos as snow snarls European travel
Thousands of angry travellers struggled Monday to get home for Christmas as snow and ice caused fresh chaos at European airports and paralysed roads and railways across the frozen continent. International hubs London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Brussels tried to clear a backlog of passengers forced to sleep on terminal floors for up to three days as they sought to reach their destinations by the end of the week. Authorities in Frankfurt sent in clowns in a bid to cheer up travellers, but fu...

Snow Joke: The High Cost of Europe's Big Freeze
Forget dreams of a White Christmas. On Tuesday, millions of stranded travelers in Europe faced another day of being trapped in a Noël nightmare, as severe weather continued to disrupt air, rail, and road transportation — and threatened to do so through the holiday weekend. The chaos first broke out late last week, when heavy Snowfall brought movement in many European cities to a crawl. By Dec. 21, the Continent was still in slow mode, as early morning flurries forced Frankfurt's air...

Metro Detroit in for an inch of snow
The National Weather Service says to expect about an inch of snow in some parts of metro Detroit today. A storm headed toward Michigan on Friday is expected to mostly miss metro Detroit. In Europe, snowstorms during the last three days have had a ripple effect on air traffic across the world, with a barely functioning London Heathrow Airport at the Epicenter. Delta's Flight 5 from London to Detroit today was called off after several days of cancellatio...

UK snow disruption - live updates
Britain is not new to cold winters. In 1995 Humberside dropped to -21C, As a child 40 years ago, the snow was 2 feet deep everywhere. Fuel froze in the trains in Inverness when it dipped to -34 C.Why are we so surprised when airports close and roads are impassable. It will probably happen next year too. Would heated runways work, but then everyone still has to get to the airport on the snow covered roads. We heat football pictches but still cancel matches. Anyone booking a flight or organizing ...

European weather chaos spawns outrage, questions
LONDON (AP) — The Europe-wide failure to keep flights operating in cold and snowy conditions is unacceptable and could lead to tighter Regulation by the EU, the continent’s top transportation official said Tuesday as exhausted, outraged passengers struggled to get home for the fourth day. Prime Minister David Cameron said he had offered Troops to help clear delays at Britain’s airports, and promised the second runway at London’s Heathrow would reopen within hours. “...

Fliers may be stranded in London past Xmas
American singer Lady GaGa perfoms at O2 Arena in London Dec. 16, 2010. UPI/Rune Hellestad LONDON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- London's Heathrow Airport might remain partially paralyzed past Christmas, stranding tens of thousands of passengers, officials said Monday. The British Aviation Administration said two-thirds of the United Kingdom's largest airport's arrivals and departures would be canceled at least until Wednesday morning, The Guardian of London reported. The airport has the money to keep open on...

Fresh snow forces Frankfurt to suspend flights
Passengers are seen at the Terminal 1 in Heathrow Airport in London, as they wait for their flights, most of which were canceled due to severe weather which hit Britain on last weekend, on Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. More than 48 hours after the last heavy Snowfall, English authorities continued to struggle to get rid of buildups of snow and ice. The European continent's worst bottleneck was London's Heathrow Airport, where thousands of travelers were stranded overnight as Flight Cancellations increa...

Travelling hopefully: Your snow stories
Heavy Snowfall and icy conditions are causing Travel Chaos in parts of Europe. Germany's main air hub, Frankfurt, was forced to cancel almost 300 flights and Heathrow Airport in the UK said it would continue to run only 30% of flights until 0600 GMT on Wednesday. BBC News website readers describe their experiences of the heavy snow and travel disruptions. Snow vehicles clearing snow at Frankfurt airport, where flights were cancelled. Video by Kristian Schuhmacher I've been working j...

Travel freeze: Your stories
Ice, snow and sub-zero temperatures in Northern Europe have disrupted travel, leaving Europe's busiest airport Heathrow, near London, all but closed. Flights were also cancelled on Monday in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Brussels and seven in ten services were running at the two main Paris airports. Here, stranded passengers describe their ordeals. "Me and my friend are stuck in Moscow without a visa. This was supposed to be a two-hour stop over for an Aeroflot flight to Heathrow. We are b...

Cold weather snarls European travel
Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters · Monday, Dec. 20, 2010 Berlin, Dec 20 — Heavy snow and frigid temperatures caused further disruption across Northern Europe on Monday — stranding travellers, snarling traffic and shutting schools. More than 1,000 flights at Germany’s main airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin were cancelled and many more delayed after up to 40 centimetres of fresh snow blanketed the country. Some 500 stranded passengers slept on cots at Frankfurt airport. Airli...

Winter Freeze Continues Across Europe
(NewsCore) - Thousands of travelers were forced to sleep in airports and queue at train stations across Europe as fresh snowfalls paralyzed transport networks days before Christmas. Heathrow Airport in London, Europe's busiest airport, was operating only a third of its normal schedule Tuesday, and Frankfurt airport halted all flights. More than 1,000 travelers spent the night at Frankfurt airport on Monday, with people sleeping on camp beds, AFP reported. Meanwhile, French authorities allowed Pa...

Eurostar passengers queue for seven hours in -3C conditions as trains are cancelled
Thousands of Eurostar passengers joined giant queues and were forced to wait for up to seven hours today as the Channel Tunnel rail link was thrown into disarray. Police were forced to turn away some passengers after the freezing weather conditions ruined journeys at London’s St Pancras station as speed restrictions and cancellations affected the service. About 6,000 travellers endured freezing temperatures as queues snaked through the main terminal and out into the street stretching to an...

Winter disruptions turn travel bitter and chaotic...
LONDON – The Christmas travel season turned angry and chaotic Monday as British officials struggled to clear snow and ice that paralyzed rail and air links and spawned cancellations and delays stranding thousands around the world. More than 48 hours after Britain's last Snowfall, some furious passengers with boarding passes for Monday flights were not even allowed into London's Heathrow Airport. Inside, piles of garbage grew and some people slept on terminal floors. Other travelers waited ...

Snow Thwarts Christmas Plans for Thousands
A passenger sits on a makeshift bed after waiting overnight for a flight from Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport, Dec. 20, 2010, in London, England. (Getty Images) Learn about the people, economy and history. (CBS/AP) The Christmas travel season has turned angry and chaotic as British officials struggled to clear snow and ice that paralyzed rail and air links and spawned cancellations and delays stranding thousands around the world. More than 48 hours after Britain's last Snowfall, some furious pa...

Snow, ice put travel at near standstill
American singer Lady GaGa perfoms at O2 Arena in London Dec. 16, 2010. UPI/Rune Hellestad LONDON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Workers at Europe's major airports cleared snow and ice Monday while travelers scrambled to try to reach their destinations for Christmas. Airports in London, Paris and Germany reported canceling dozens of flights as Europe remained in winter's icy and snowy grip, CNN reported. U.S. singer Lady GaGa postponed a Sunday concert in Paris because her trucks couldn't get through. "Today'...

EU: weather chaos could lead to more regulation
LONDON — The Europe-wide failure to keep flights operating in cold and snowy conditions is unacceptable and could lead to tighter Regulation by the EU, the continent’s top transportation official said Tuesday as exhausted, outraged passengers struggled to get home for the fourth day. Major delays and cancellations disrupted European airports including London’s Heathrow, and the Eurostar train link, leaving thousands stranded across Europe as Christmas approached. Some 72 hours ...

Snow hits flights, leaves hundreds stranded
Heavy snow disrupted European Air Travel Saturday and stranded hundreds of drivers in their cars as far south as Italy as a White Christmas appeared increasingly likely for many places. In hard-hit Britain, London Heathrow closed both runways until at least 1600 GMT to clear the snow, while London Gatwick reopened after a 140-strong team removed 10 centimetres (four inches) of snow off the tarmac. National carrier British Airways cancelled all short-haul departures from both airports, with all l...

Christmas getaway misery as snow stymies Europe
Heavy snow disrupted the Christmas holiday getaway in Europe, forcing the continent's biggest airports to close and thousands of stranded passengers to spend the night on terminal floors. In London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Brussels, flights were cancelled and airports warned of backlogs spilling well into this week, with snow and ice frustrating travel plans across Europe on the last weekend before December 25. Hundreds of passengers had to sleep in terminals after becoming trapped in no...

Christmas getaway misery as snow stymies Europe
Heavy snow disrupted the Christmas holiday getaway in Europe, forcing the continent's biggest airports to close and thousands of stranded passengers to spend the night on terminal floors. In London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Brussels, flights were cancelled and airports warned of backlogs spilling well into this week, with snow and ice frustrating travel plans across Europe on the last weekend before December 25. Hundreds of passengers had to sleep in terminals after becoming trapped in no...

England set for coldest-ever night as big freeze destroys travel plans for millions
With England in the icy grip of the Coldest December for a century, the temperature is set to drop to a record low, with more snow forecast in the coming days. Last night, the temperature in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, fell to -19.6C, and experts believe a combination of snow-covered ground, clear skies and the shortest day of the year could produce a sub -26C thermometer reading tomorrow. The previous record low of -26.1C, set in Shropshire in January 1982, could be eclipsed at an inland area tha...

Weather chaos continues to hit U.K. airports
LONDON - Snow and freezing temperatures continued to ground flights to and from Britain on Tuesday, with travellers hoping to get away for Christmas likely to suffer delays and cancellations for several more days. British Airways said it expected to make a “significant number of cancellations””to its shorthaul services from London’s Heathrow Airport, which will again operate with just one of its two runways on Tuesday. “Severe weather continues to cause signif...