The severe winter weather gripping Britain and parts of Europe continues to delay air travel, frustrating would-be trans-Atlantic travellers on this side of "the pond."
Three flights bound for London's Heathrow Airport have been cancelled as of Monday afternoon. A fourth is listed as delayed.
That brought the total number of Air Canada flights to Heathrow cancelled this weekend to more than 20. And, it's just one of 69 flights that won't be leaving Toronto's Pearson International Airport today, not to mention the scores of flights to and from Europe that are still delayed.
Marianne Tauc hoped that Monday would be the day she flies back for London. But if it isn't, she's preparing a Plan B.
"I've made a decision that tomorrow, I'm going to sightsee. I'm going to go to the CN Tower. I'm going to go to Niagara Falls -- and while I'm here, make the most of it," she said.
Another man said if he didn't leave Monday, the next window is Dec. 29.
For travellers, the frustration is mounting after a weekend of air traffic disruption as the U.K. suffers under its heaviest December snowfall in nearly three decades. Many other countries across northwestern Europe are coping with their own deep freeze.
Heathrow airport -- which is Europe's busiest airport and Air Canada's top foreign destination -- was completely shut down on Saturday, as crews struggled to clear the runways of snow. It was reopened later in the day, but only a trickle of flights have come and gone since.
The airport continues to operate at limited capacity on Monday.
It was a similar story at London's other major international hub Gatwick, as well as at airports in France, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.
While Heathrow has cancelled all of its arrivals amid calls for even more snow in the London-area, a number of flights are scheduled to leave the airport including several for destinations in Canada.
Air Canada says that limited take-off and landing slots at Heathrow mean it is able to operate just one-third of its normal schedule on Monday. As a result, two flights will leave the London-area airport for Toronto and one each to Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver.
"We recognize the inconvience this situation is causing passengers anxious to travel and we are taking all measures to ensure customers travel safely to their destinations as soon as possible. However our ability to increase capacity is very limited due to slot constraints at Heathrow and the fact our flights are already fully booked for the holiday season," Air Canada said in a statement.
All airlines are advising European-bound travellers to call ahead for updates before heading to the airport, as a backlog of delays is expected to cause cancellations and delays into the week.
Air Canada says it has revised its ticketing policy -- waiving change and cancellation fees for routes affected by the weather -- in order to make it easier to postpone non-essential travel.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Michelle Dube
