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Tens of thousands of airline passengers wake up Sunday morning where they didn’t intend to be.
Storm Darragh traumatized the British aviation industry. One dispatcher at London Stansted told me: “This is the worst day I’ve had in two years.
“We had a couple of three-hour delays because there was too much wind. Air traffic control wouldn’t let them take off. And diversions from Manchester and Belfast. It was s***.”
Passengers who found themselves diverted from Manchester and Belfast may not thank me for saying so, but at least they ended up in the right country.
On Saturday 7th December, I watched in awe as an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester circled over North West England for an hour before diverting to… Frankfurt. In a few hours, Air Canada from Calgary, American Airlines from Dallas and Delta Air Lines from Atlanta all chose to land in Brussels rather than continue trying to land at London Heathrow. I love the Belgian capital, but I like to make my own decision to visit.
Then wholesale cancellations began, s British Airways only landing more than 100 domestic and European departures to and from their hub. Most were destinations such as Amsterdam and Milan with multiple frequencies to pick up those stranded. But the grounding of holiday flights to Malaga, Athens and Larnaca shows what a day BA has had.
In past years, early December was extremely low season, and finding empty seats on later flights was not a problem; but for as many as 17 days from Christmas 2025, planes are flying unexpectedly full (and, for the airlines, profitably).
It was the same on the last two canceled flights I had. One was on November 11, from Kathmandu to Doha. About six weeks in advance, the airport in the capital of Nepal announced this Qatar Airways and other airlines from Kathmandu to close at 10 o’clock every night for the next few months. Considering that dozens of flights were affected, they were additionally ordered to reduce some departures.
The notification that my flight from Kathmandu to Doha had been grounded was sent while I was hiking in the Himalayas without mobile phones. By the time I received the message, less than 24 hours before the now canceled flight, all other upcoming departures were booked.
With pressing commitments in the UK within two days of my original return, the only solution was to buy the one available seat on the plane from Kathmandu, regardless of where it was going. It turned out to be Bangkok, diametrically opposed to the obvious route to the UK. It also cost almost $1,000 (£780). And he arrived at the old airport of the Thai capital about two hours late.
British Airways was asking a reasonable £525 for a flight from Bangkok’s new airport to Gatwick. Refunds for unused legs on Qatar Airways arrived quickly. But I was out of pocket by around £500 when the world’s greatest taxi driver was handsomely rewarded for driving the distance between two Bangkok airports in 40 minutes. (She deserved every baht.)
My travel insurance is not interested in paying that sum, but offers £25 for every eight hours the return is delayed. I was 11 hours late. Fifty pounds is better than nothing.
Last Wednesday was more frustrating but cheaper. Delta Flight 36 diverted about 90 minutes into its flight from Atlanta to Heathrow and returned to its origin due to problems with anti-icing equipment. There are good and bad times to arrive at your destination (even if that was your starting point), and 2am is definitely a bad time.
While Delta excelled with some travelers, providing hotel, transfer and meal vouchers in a single email, I was not one of the lucky winners. It wasn’t, I understand, because I was a “Basic Economy” passenger; maybe it was due to booking through a travel agency.
Whatever the cause, I had to make my way (via a completely unofficial taxi) from the airport to the city and ended up with $300 out of pocket.
Since the reason for the turnaround was Delta’s responsibility, I hope to get my money back; when the cause is bad weather, airlines do not take responsibility. I might even be able to claim £50 for a delay of not quite 24 hours.
Next time I’ll stick to UK or EU airlines for intercontinental flights outside of Europe; under air passenger rights rules, they must provide care regardless of the cause. You might want to do the same.
Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Own Way, has written about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores the key issue of travel – and what it means for you.