Thousands of Brits are stranded abroad or had their holidays of a lifetime ruined as the closure of Heathrow Airport continues to send travel plans into meltdown.
Tartan Army fans who travelled to Athens for a Scotland match last night are currently stuck in Greece, while others are stranded as far away as Thailand and China.
A group of four friends told MailOnline their Caribbean cruise dream had been blighted after the major travel hub closed due to a huge blaze at an electrical substation last night.
Chloe, Ashley, Monisola, and their friend, who didn’t wish to be named, had been planning their trip, which begins in Miami, since January.
They paid £1,600 for the cruise, but the cost has since doubled after they rushed to book flights from Gatwick at 7.20am this morning to ensure they could still travel.
Monisola said: ‘We need to be at Miami by tomorrow afternoon otherwise we are going to miss our cruise.
‘The cruise lines are really strict – if you don’t get there, they will leave you behind, so we need to land in the next 24 hours.
‘So we have been checking flights, checking flights, and also we didn’t get notified by the airline until this morning. I found out from the Uber driver and our flight is at 9.40am.’
From left to right: Chloe, Ashley, Monisola and friend – a group of four pals who had their Caribbean cruise dream blighted after Heathrow was closed due to a blaze last night
Sharon Towers and her husband (pictured) said they are stranded in the airport as strict immigration policy means they can’t check into a hotel
Dramatic images show flames tearing through the structure as smoke billows into the night sky
Tracey Jones (pictured) is stuck in Bangkok, Thailand after her flight was cancelled
Meanwhile in Greece, Scottish fans didn’t leave the football ground in Athens until 12.30am last night following the first leg of their Nations League A play-off.
Many were up again at 5.30am only to be told their flight back to the UK had been cancelled once they had already passed through passport control.
One BBC reporter who was stuck at the airport said: ‘Inconvenient for sure but you know it can’t be helped at the minute.
‘The Greek authorities have been really helpful. Fortunately we have been able to book on another flight that has come at a bit of an expense – around 500 euros.
‘And in the time we were filling out our form the price had already gone up. ‘
A British couple stuck in China also told MailOnline they have ‘no idea’ how they will get home after their flight was cancelled.
Sharon Towers and her husband said they are stranded in the airport as strict immigration policy means they can’t check into a hotel.
She said: ‘My husband and I are stuck in China!
‘We should have taken off at 1pm local time here! Instead we are stuck at the airport with no idea how/when we will get home!
‘We can’t check in to a hotel because of the strict immigration visa policy, to enter back in to the airport, we need a boarding pass so customs can confirm when we are leaving the country!
Helen and Martin Slocombe, from Bristol, had been travelling to see their son in Tokyo
Ruben Cortez, 44 from Portland, who has been caught up in the travel chaos
Cara O’Connor, 31 and from County Kerry, said she’s been left ‘devastated’ by the travel chaos at Heathrow as it means her mother in law, sister in law, and two of her best friends may not be able to attend her hen party in England this weekend
Dr Don Cardy, 65, and his wife Sue, 60, who have had to pay £400 for an Uber to Manchester, after their connecting flight in Heathrow was cancelled
A very upset German couple at Heathrow T5 this morning following the fire
‘We don’t know that, so we cant get a boarding pass to enter back in to the airport!’
Another Brit, Tracey Jones is also stuck in Bangkok, Thailand, after her flight was cancelled.
She said she was due to fly back to London Heathrow at 1.20pm Thai time but has now been moved to a hotel for an overnight stay.
Tracey told MailOnline: ‘We are waiting confirmation of when we might be able to get a flight tomorrow.
‘Fair play to Thai Airways, they didn’t mess around and everything has been organised quickly.
‘Let’s hope we are OK to get back tomorrow.’
Helen and Martin Slocombe, from Bristol, had been travelling to see their son in Tokyo but are now heading back home until a new flight becomes available.
Helen told MailOnline: ‘We were meant to be heading to Tokyo to see our son and then do a tour of Japan.
‘Then we woke up at four to get our flight and discovered on the news that the airport was closed so we are in limbo now.
‘We will probably go back home and then wait to rebook the flight at some point hopefully in the next couple of days.
‘We had a text at 6am from the airline but that’s the only communication we’ve had. The tour organisers don’t know anything.
‘We are disappointed because we were only going to have a few days with our son prior to the rest of the tour so that will be cut short now.
‘It is sad but it is what it is.’
Manuel, 35, from Italy, is pictured with his luggage as he is stuck at the airport
Picture taken by Emily Gough whose flight to Heathrow from Orlando was diverted to Shannon, Ireland this morning. They have been waiting on the runway for more than five hours
Eric Egert, 65, from Philadelphia who was diverted to Manchester airport after Heathrow Airport closed
Furthermore, Miranda, 28, who was at Edinburgh Airport this morning for a flight to Heathrow then Texas for her first trip abroad with younger sister Malarie, 22, was also informed her flight had been cancelled at the last minute.
She said: ‘We got to the airport around 3:30 this morning, and about 40 minutes before our flight, we saw on the board that our flight to Heathrow was cancelled.
‘Immediately, we started kind of freaking out, and then we got the notification that our flight from Heathrow to Dallas-Fort Worth was delayed and that raised alarm bells for us.
‘We started checking the news and realised pretty quickly that there were some problems at Heathrow.
‘We were informed by British Airways that we needed to go and get our bags that we had checked.
‘We got our bags, and then they handed us a piece of paper that said we’d need to call British Airways. We sat on the phone for probably 45 minutes and we were luckily able to get another flight.
‘We’re now flying to Dublin, but we aren’t able to get on that flight until noon. We were supposed to be back in Texas around 2:45 this afternoon, and now we’re going to be back around midnight tonight.
‘We’re having to go from Edinburgh to Dublin, then from Dublin to Chicago and Chicago to Dallas.
‘It was stressful in the moment for sure. This is actually our first time travelling abroad, so to then have your flights cancelled and to get very little information other than ‘here’s their line, good luck,’ was kind of frustrating.
Smoke billows from the electrical substation that exploded last night, forcing the complete closure of Heathrow airport in a crisis being compared to 9/11 in terms of flights grounded
The shocking scenes at Heathrow’s main substation in Hayes, which exploded and set alight last night shutting down Britain’s busiest airport for all of Friday grounding 1,357 flights and more than 200,000 people
Travellers are facing travel chaos has Heathrow airport is shut down due to a fire. Pictured: Traffic near the airport early on Friday morning
‘But we were able to get a flight, and we’re just happy to be able to go home today. Initially, they were saying it could be Friday, Saturday or even Sunday before we could get home.’
Ceri-Jayne and Peter Kace are amongst those passengers stranded in Heathrow after spending a year planning their ‘bucket list trip to Japan’.
The couple from Cardiff, who are meant to be setting off on a cruise from Tokyo in four days, told MailOnline: ‘We organised the trip a year ago and were meant to be flying out at 11 o’clock this morning.
‘We had just put the TV on, we had organised the taxi to take us to the airport last night but we just couldn’t believe what we were hearing.
‘The most frustrating thing is that you don’t hear anything from the travel agents. The airline have just said the flights cancelled and they are trying their best to rebook us – but we are supposed to be getting on a cruise ship the other side.
‘If we don’t get to the cruise ship, well it’s not going to wait for us.
‘We have four days so hopefully it is sorted in time but we are still miss out on the first part of the trip in Tokyo.
‘It is sad. There’s lots of people in more dire situations than us. It would be tough to wait another week or month but we have no commitments.
‘We have been planning the trip for a month, it’s a bucket list trip and we’ve used practically all our savings.’
Meanwhile, devastated passengers caught in the disruption have also shared their frustration on social media.
One person wrote: ‘There’s a major fire at Heathrow Airport so my flight has now been diverted to Washington and diverted.
‘No clue what happens next. I just want to go home and see my family.’
Another added: ‘Today my flight from Heathrow has been cancelled so what should I do now? My mum is not well and I have to go and see her ASAP.’
At least 1,357 flights have already been cancelled, diverted or delayed today. Some planes already on their way London managed to land at other UK airports – but many including Gatwick are now full.
Dozens of flights have been diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lyon and other European cities, stranding tens of thousands of people abroad. Some planes were even forced to set down in New York, Los Angeles and Delhi.
More than 16,300 homes in west London are also suffering from blackouts as the fire at the electrical substation continues to rage. All trains to Heathrow have also been cancelled.
The airport, which sees a plane land or take off every 45 seconds, announced its closure at 2am on Friday and ordered passengers not to come to its terminals.
The fire broke out at around 11.30pm on Thursday, and despite firefighters working throughout the night to bring it under control, part of the transformer remains alight.
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: ‘Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage.
‘To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March. Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport.’
