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Flying to N. America? Travel advice
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Air passengers across the world were caught in chaos after the massive power cut in the northeast U.S. and parts of Canada. On Friday passengers were being advised to ring the airlines to check the details of their flights, or to log on to the airlines' Web sites. Some flights resumed and have taken off for New York's JFK airport in the hope that it will be open by the time they reach New York. If not, they will be diverted to nearby Newark airport in New Jersey. A spokesperson for London's Heathrow Airport told CNN that approximately 38 flights were cancelled Friday -- mostly to and from JFK, but also to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The airlines involved are British Airways, United, American, Virgin and Air Canada. A BA spokesman told CNN that the airline had cancelled five flights from Heathrow to the U.S. Friday. They comprised two flights to New York's JFK airport (BA115, BA175) and others to Montreal (BA095), Toronto (BA099) and Philadelphia (BA067). BA said that passengers were being offered refunds or rebooking on later flights. Stranded passengers already checked in were being given hotel accommodation. Virgin and United Airlines each canceled only one flight. United said its service was back to normal. Air Canada canceled 6 flights. A spokesman for London's Gatwick airport said that there had been four delays on Friday -- two outbound and two inbound -- an Air Transat flight to and from Toronto and a USAir flight to and from Philadelphia. Northwest flights from Gatwick were unaffected. A spokeswoman for Air France told CNN Friday morning: "Most flights from London and Paris to JFK have been cancelled. We are waiting on confirmation from JFK airport, who say they should solve the problems within a few hours. We are in the process of considering sending a flight to New York soon after that." Japan Airlines had at least one plane stranded at New York's JFK airport because it was unable to register passengers or conduct security checks, public relations official Tatsuo Yoshimura told The Associated Press. But halfway around the world in Tokyo, the airline said its Friday schedule for east coast departures was unchanged. U.S.-based United Airlines told AP there were no flight disruptions from Japan to the East Coast by late Friday morning. Up to 1,700 British Airways passengers were stranded at JFK Thursday night after the airline canceled five of its flights returning to Britain. US Airways Group Incorporation has canceled 39 flights Friday, mostly out of Detroit and New York's LaGuardia airports, a spokesman told Reuters. The airline, which normally operates about 3,300 flights per day, canceled 33 flights on Thursday due to the outage but was able to move some planes into positions at hubs to avoid wider cuts in service, he said. Flights from Toronto to Europe were also canceled and a Virgin Atlantic airliner bound for New York had to return to London's Heathrow Airport nearly three hours into the flight. British passenger Arthur D'Arcy, 45, who lives in New Jersey, told the UK Press Association: "The pilot came on the tannoy and said, 'I'm sure you are wondering why we are taking a left turn in the middle of the Atlantic.' "He then told us it was a power failure in the U.S. and because we were before the halfway point of the flight we would have to go back. "Everyone is obviously very tired but there isn't really much you can do about it." The passengers were taken to a hotel for the night. Virgin was hoping to fly them to New York Friday afternoon.
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