The Airports That Saved Christmas

By: Clayton Truscott
Published: 22 December 2010
Tags: news, holidays

It's been a rough month for those who've wanted to fly to or from the UK. Our usually cold and gray winter season has been unusually snowy and frost ridden, leaving thousands of travellers marooned in airports.

While there will never be sweet enough hot chocolate or fun enough boardgames to quell the frustration of waiting around for the weather to change - especially when one delayed flight means that your whole trip is thrown out - you can't help but spare a thought for those working at the airports. Dishing out bad news is no easy task, especially when its telling people they won't be going home for Christmas on time.

Today we'd like to raise our party hats and charge our glasses to those airports that have been keeping travellers and their disappointed families in the know during this unlucky time. This is our personal choice for the Top 5 Airports During the Snowy December of 2010.

Number 5 - London City Airport (LCY)

While London Airports have been knocked badly by the freezing weather, London City Air has been on top of their game as far as providing info goes. With website, facebook and twitter updates every day, stranded passengers have not been left out in the cold.

Twitter updates since the 16th of Dec: 59

Number 4 - Aberdeen Airport (ABZ)

While staff at Aberdeen Airport may not be able to change the weather, they have been making a superb effort to keep travellers in the loop with a steady flow of tweets and updates every day. Even if its not good news, just them being online every day with customer information is really helpful to those wanting to know what is going on.

Twitter updates since the 16th of Dec: 63
Website: twitter.com/ABZ_Airport

Number 3 - Cardiff Airport (CWL)

While Cardiff Airport may not be the busiest in the UK, the support staff have gone to great lengths in keeping travellers updated - even if its reporting on what is going on at other airports, just their presence on and offline shows a large degree of customer care.

Twitter updates since the 16th of Dec: 69
Website: twitter.com/cardiff_airport

Number 2 - Gatwick Airport (LGW)

The task of keeping customers in the know for an airport like Gatwick is not an easy one. Not only are they one of the busiest airports in the UK and Europe, they have also been badly knocked by the snowy conditions. Rising to the occasion though, their twitter account has not stopped pinging updates, replying to personal messages and updating their website with all the latest news about delays and cancellations.

Number of twitter updates since the 16th of Dec: 120

Number 1 - London Heathrow (LHR)

Heathrow sees the largest volume of international passengers in the world. So when bad weather causes delays and cancellations that last throughout the month, you've got plenty of unhappy faces to deal with. The support staff at Heathrow have played their boots off though, providing the latest info as it comes out, so that everyone at least knows what to expect.

Twitter updates since the 16th of Dec: 120
Website: twitter.com/HeathrowAirport

Clayton Truscott

Clayton is a comfortable traveller, having grown up in a small city that was far away from everything. He spent lots of time in the car as a child, driving up and down the coast of South Africa on surfing trips with his family. After studying abroad in the United States and spending a year working in London, he moved to Cape Town, where he completed a Master's Degree in Creative Writing. He now works as a freelance writer for various travel, surfing and action sports publications.