Heathrow Airport's fortnight of chaos drags on with four-hour queues and flight delays

Travellers criticise airport staff for failing to offer assistance

Passengers queue to check in at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 on Friday morning. Photo: Twitter

Latest: UK airports hit by Easter cancellations, queues and chaos

Travellers at Heathrow Airport faced “unbelievable queues” on Friday morning as the West London airport continued to grapple with logistical challenges.

The UK’s busiest airport has for weeks been racked by chaos at check-in and arrival areas. Some passengers claimed their wait at check-in was four hours.

The issues for passengers flying from and arriving at the airport continued on Friday morning. It coincides with the Easter holidays for the majority of British schools and the first big getaway of the year.

Martin Duggan was among the frustrated passengers who on Twitter posted photos of lengthy lines of people.

Passengers queue at passport control desks after arriving at Heathrow on Friday morning. Photo: Martin Duggan / Twitter

“Another set of unbelievable queues,” he wrote. “This time Terminal 2. Seriously this needs real action. This is at least an hour long to use the unmanned terminals.”

His pictures showed long queues snaking along corridors leading to Border Control desks, with further queues hidden from sight. Mr Duggan said he and his fellow passengers were forced to stand in line for “one hour in total” without water or adequate assistance from staff.

“No concerns for old people and just terrible. Same at T3 a few weeks ago.”

Jonathan Betts said he had waited for four hours to check in for his flight from Heathrow on Friday and had to run to catch his plane. He claimed that the captain had “closed the doors 30 minutes late due to the incompetence of Heathrow management”.

“Bet you will have some nice fines landing your way from airlines you serve,” he told Heathrow.

Prof Steve Field, a GP and chairman of Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, also took to Twitter to raise the plight of travellers caught up in delays at Heathrow. He posted a photo showing queues at passport control and hit out at the “chaos”.

“Not the fault of the airlines, just poor organisation,” he said.

The Airport Operators Association (AOA) warned of further queues at Heathrow and other UK airports over the busy Easter season due to staff shortages.

The group said its members had been trying to recruit new workers following a spate of job losses during the pandemic and staff leaving to work in other industries.

But the AOA, which represents most UK airports ranging from Heathrow to Edinburgh, said there had been problems with trying to hire enough staff.

Karen Dee, chief executive of the AOA, said at peak time passengers “may not have the experience they are used to” over Easter.

Environmental activists targeted an oil depot close to Heathrow in the early hours of Friday as part of a string of protests across England.

Members of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil set themselves up at the entrance to the Esso West London Terminal to prevent fuel tankers from leaving to make deliveries.

A spokeswoman for Heathrow told The National the protests had not caused disruption to travel to and from the airport.

IT glitches in British Airways’ system this week left passengers stranded at Heathrow for days.

Travellers were forced to queue for an hour to have their passports checked upon arrival at Heathrow on Friday. Photo: Martin Duggan / Twitter

The vast majority of flights on the airline’s live tracker were shown as departing late or cancelled between 2pm and 9.30pm on Wednesday.

The glitch was resolved on Wednesday afternoon, according to the airline, but the knock-on effect led to further cancellations on Thursday.

A British Airways spokesman on Thursday said the airline was “very sorry to say that as a result of the technical issue” and “predicted weather disruption” the flight schedule at Heathrow had to be scaled back.

“We’re taking steps to ensure as many customers as possible are able to travel as planned today.

“We’ve apologised to our customers and are offering to refund or rebook them on to alternative flights, providing refreshment vouchers and hotel accommodation where needed.”

On Thursday evening passengers claimed they were forced to sit on planes for up to two hours post-landing before they were allowed to disembark.

Heathrow Airport through the years

Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

The arrivals and departures board in 1960

A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022