"Who wants to sleep in Terminal 5?"

I have often joked that there should be a game called "Who wants to sleep in Terminal 5?" featuring Heathrow Airport, along the lines of The M25 game.

This however is neither a game nor a joke for the unfortunate would-be passengers, some of whom did sleep in Terminal 5 yesterday:


The linked article includes this quote in a sidebar:

"You get two inches of snow? We get two feet" says a man from up state New York, adding that the disruption it causes here makes him "giggle".

There was also this:

But one Australian man on his way to Geneva, who did not want to be identified, saw the lighter side of the chaos.

"We've spoken to more reporters than BA staff," he said. "Does it come as a great surprise that it snows in the northern hemisphere?"

I guess it surprises some British aviation executives.

This is absurd. It is getting to the point where snow shows up each winter, and every time it does Heathrow fails to cope. Heathrow Airport Holdings, Ltd. needs to step up and take this problem seriously. That Wikipedia article on the company includes the section "Snow Crisis":

BAA* has been accused of under-investing in snow and ice-fighting technology at Heathrow, which led to runway closures and severe delays in December 2010.[25] Heathrow plans to spend just £3.5 million on this technology between 2010 and 2014, compared with spending of £8 million during the same period at Gatwick, an airport half its size.

Snow falling on airports is a well-understood problem solved by many busy airports. If they don't feel like they want to learn from Chicago O'Hare, they might ask their nice Commonwealth bretheren who run Toronto Pearson, or their friendly EU partners who operate Copenhagen Kastrup.


More than four hundred flights cancelled after two inches of snow. Ridiculous.

*BAA changed its name to Heathrow Airport Holdings, Ltd. last year.

(no subject)

A couple of nights ago persis observed that when I write about going to places it's not with a feeling of that I've been there, done that, cross that off the list. Instead it's clear in my posts that I have every intention of going back.

I had a conversation with a guy from San Diego at Iguazu Falls during which I mentioned I was checking things out for next time. "You're coming back here?" he asked. He told me he generally didn't go back to places after he'd visited them.

While there are places I find don't like, I do try to give them a chance later. They just drop farther down the priority list. And when I have bad experiences I try not to repeat them. It's true though that the idea of a "once in a lifetime trip" is alien to me. If I like a place, why wouldn't I plan to go back? Travel is easy nowadays, and getting easier every year.

It does depend on what your motivation for going places is.

Meanwhile, speaking of Chicago:

From yesterday's Tribune:

Whether you like it or not, we will officially break another record for no snow today, according to the National Weather Service.

"It's pretty incredible," said NWS meteorologist Gino Izzi. "It's the middle of January and there's no snow on the ground. Dallas, Texas has had more snow than us."

Izzi said the last time we have gone this far into the season without a 1-inch calendar day of snowfall was Jan. 17, 1899. If we get no snow today -- and there is none in the forecast through the weekend -- it's a record.

Additionally, it's been 326 days and counting since we've had a 1-inch snow cover on the ground. That record was officially broken nine days ago, according to Izzi.

"If you think about it, we're just a little over a month away from basically going an entire year without snow in Chicago," Izzi said.

O'Hare could have lent some snowplows to Heathrow!