Scores of travellers were left stranded at airports around the country when flights were cancelled or delayed as icy weather and snowfalls compelled airports around the UK and Europe to close.
More than 100 disgruntled passengers at Cape Town International Airport were told twice in two days their flights had been cancelled – after having been told flights were leaving the airport.
Passengers weren’t blaming bad weather conditions, but the airlines that had not explained things to them.
Yesterday the Coetzee family from Bellville were in the British Airways queue waiting for confirmation for their flight, which had been scheduled to leave on Saturday.
Jason Coetzee, 16,
said, “On Saturday we were stuck at the airport for hours. After being checked in we were informed that the flight was cancelled. We then had to wait almost an hour because our bags were on the plane. It was chaotic.
“People were sitting on the ground crying .
“When the initial flight was cancelled we called British Airways to ask whether there would be a flight (on Sunday). All they said was, ‘I think it is cancelled’, which really angered us because we again had to come to the airport and wait in a two-hour line for them to tell us yet again that the flight had been cancelled.”
London businessman Charles Toomy said: “I had to cancel all of my meetings in London today, now I’ve decided to fly to Joburg and hope that I can at least get a flight to Zurich.
“There has been no communication whatsoever - it seems British Airways has not sat down or thought of a back-up plan for this kind of thing.”
Mark Dickinson, 29, from Newcastle in England, said the service was shocking and he was worried that he wouldn’t make it home for Christmas.
At least 17 flights between South Africa and the UK were cancelled as ice froze runways at Heathrow Airport, leaving travellers to South Africa stranded in “the big freeze”.
Other airports around Europe have experienced delays and cancelled flights.
Cape Town International spokeswoman Deidre Hendricks said three inbound flights from Heathrow on British Airways, Virgin and SAA were cancelled yesterday. Three outbound flights on the same airlines, also to Heathrow, were cancelled in the evening.
On Saturday evening, outbound flights were cancelled.
Steven Forbes, a BA spokesman, said the airline had been contacting travellers as best it could, using e-mail, SMSes, travel agents and a call centre.
“The option is to refund or rebook tickets, but the difficulty is we don’t know when the airport authorities will reopen Heathrow. If you are expecting anybody on a flight, or if you want information, don’t go to the airport until you have checked on ba.com.”
- Cape Times