Fingers Crossed

[Labarum]

Fingers Crossed. My son is on his way to London Heathrow Airport hoping to be on a plane for Hanover in a few hours.

But look

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6198917.stm

England is fogbound and air travel is in chaos.

He should have come home a few days ago with his sister, but he was called for an interview with Exxon Mobil - a summer job, which he has got. He hopes to impress them so they offer him a job when he graduates the following summer as a chemical engineer.

So that's the good news and the bad news. As I was typing he rang from Heathrow saying "It hasn't been cancelled yet!"

Fingers double crossed.

[13_jane]

Re: Fingers Crossed

hi

On the news it was mainly internal flights that were getting cancelled!!

I'm up north, and its clear here!!!

I hope he gets home for Christmas!!

jane xxx

[dreamof145]

Re: Fingers Crossed

Brian....I'm sending good thoughts your way that your son can make it for Christmas.

[Coop2004]

Re: Fingers Crossed

Prayers that your son will be able to make it for Christmas.

I heard about the terrible conditions over in England.

I live on the East coast, but in Denver, Colorado, which is in the western part of the U.S., they got at least 30 inches of snow. Although, they're quite used to alot of snow there, the Airport has been shut down, schools have been closed and even the mail didn't get out!! It's hampered the plans of MANY people wanting to go to (or leave) Denver.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061222/...s/snowstorm_54

Colorado blizzard strands thousands
By KIM NGUYEN, Associated Press Writer 37 minutes ago

Thousands of travelers who got stranded at Denver's airport trying to beat the Christmas rush experienced a second frustrating day Thursday, forging through a snowbound city to hotels or opting to bed down again in the terminal.

The nation's fifth-busiest airport, which shut to all flights Wednesday, wasn't expected to reopen until noon Friday, creating a ripple effect that disrupted air travel around the country just as the holiday travel crush began to build.

"We can't go home; the highway's closed. We can't get to the car; it's 10 miles away. And the hotels are not cheap," said Jodie Hartfield of Colorado Springs, who spent a sleepless night squeezed between a signboard and a phone booth with her husband and three young children.

The closure of Denver International — once touted as an "all-weather airport" — prompted cancellation of than 2,000 flights through Friday, according to airline officials.

Nearly 5,000 travelers had been stranded at the airport by the storm, which dropped as much as 25 inches of snow in the Denver area and up to 3 feet in the mountains. But by Thursday afternoon, buses and shuttles were making regular pickups, and a steady flow of people headed toward the parking lots. By nightfall, about 1,500 remained, spokesman Steve Snyder said.

On Wednesday night, airport authorities provided a few hundred cots for the estimated 4,700 stranded travelers and doled out scratchy Red Cross blankets, along with diapers and baby formula. But there wasn't nearly enough bedding to go around.

Hundreds of travelers slept in lines at ticket counters. Others huddled on bench seats, or sought shelter against walls and counters, covering themselves with clothing, luggage and newspapers. The baggage pick-up area proved a popular spot — it was dark enough to sleep.

Plows managed to clear one runway, but de-icing areas, plane "push-back" areas and other stretches of tarmac were still buried, Snyder said. Additionally, ticket crews, Transportation Security Agency workers and other logistics were needed before the airport could open.

Denver International was touted during construction in the early 1990s as an "all-weather airport" because of runway spacing and alignment, and electronic gear that could guide planes in for a landing using only instruments.

The claim was challenged at the time. On Thursday, Snyder called it "a wonderful phrase we wish had never been invented."

All day Thursday, airport managers persuaded travelers to leave. Public-address announcements stressed there would be no flights for another day, and plows cleared parking lots and worked the 10-mile access road to Interstate 70.

A convoy of 10 buses, led by a snowplow, took about 800 travelers to hotels 25 miles away in downtown Denver. Shortly afterward, buses and shuttles were able to resume service.

One angry passenger, pharmacist Robert Helmer, waited for the first convoy of the day with bags under his eyes.

Helmer managed to get on a United Airlines flight to St. Louis on Wednesday morning, sat for an hour waiting for a late-arriving flight attendant, then three more hours on the tarmac before the flight was finally canceled. He spent the night on the airport floor, covered by what he could find in his carry-on bag.

"There's a lot of very bitter people here, and I'm one of them," Helmer said. "This was major mismanagement."

It was the biggest snowstorm to hit Colorado since a March blizzard in 2003 that shut down the region and killed six.

The storm brought life to a standstill for 3.8 million people along the Front Range — a 170-mile urban corridor along the eastern edge of the Rockies that includes Denver. Police and National Guardsmen rescued hundreds of people stuck in cars.



Despite the slick roads and deep drifts, there were no immediate reports of any deaths or serious injuries in Colorado.

In Wyoming, a woman died while walking for help after her car became stuck in the snow, officials said. In Kansas, a woman was hit by a tractor-trailer on an icy road.

Denver's normally bustling downtown was all but empty Thursday, with a few people trudging down the middle of unplowed streets. Other people got around by snowmobile. Mail delivery across the region was suspended, and many malls were closed on what should have been one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The storm — which lingered through midday Thursday — also shut down I-70 and I-25, major routes through the West. It moved eastward Thursday afternoon, snarling air and road travel in Nebraska and Kansas.

At the Denver airport, Hartfield's family, desperate to get to Seattle, managed to rebook a flight for Christmas Eve, but held out hope of getting onto an earlier standby flight.

Hartfield and her husband, Andy, used luggage, Red Cross blankets, a cot and a flattened cardboard box scrounged from another family to wall off a spot for the night. While the parents tended 5-month-old Michael, their other children, Drew, 5, and Alexis, 3, made an adventure of the mess. "The kids had a blast. It was like a camping trip for them," Hartfield said. "But we were tossing and turning the whole night."

[Labarum]

Re: Fingers Crossed

Thank you all for your good wishes. My son's journey was reasonably routine - only 30 minutes late. Just as well, I had an awful journey to Hanover Airport - traffic on Autobahn 2 was moving very slowly in the Minden - Hameln (Hamlin) area. I only just got there in time to meet him.

But the chaos continues in UK airports

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6202349.stm

[13_jane]

Re: Fingers Crossed

I'm glad he got to you for Christmas!

jane x

[sallyseachange]

Re: Fingers Crossed

My fingers are crossed Brian...and my toes too!

[HeidiE]

Re: Fingers Crossed

awesome news he made it Merry Christmas!