Angry fingerpointing in EU’s travel nightmare
LONDON — The world’s busiest international airport told infuriated passengers not to expect full service until Thursday, five days after a five-inch snowstorm turned hundreds of thousands of holiday plans into a nightmare of canceled flights and painful nights on terminal floors.
Travelers’ anger boiled over into politics as Britain’s prime minister offered to put troops on snow-clearing duty. Europe’s top transport official threatened tougher regulation of airports unable to cope with unusually wintry weather.
Prime Minister David Cameron said his government had “offered military assistance” to the company that operates Europe’s busiest airport and others in Britain.
But British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told Sky News that Heathrow operator BAA, owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, had turned down the help in clearing snow from runways.