Fog Hits UK Travel: British Airways Cancels 100 Flights and Other Airlines Grounded at Heathrow

As fog blankets south-east England, airline travellers face a frustrating start to the working week. More than 100 of today's flights have been cancelled by British Airways - mostly to and from its main base, London Heathrow, and the Docklands airport, London City. BA is warning passengers not to travel to the airport unless they have confirmation their flight will be operating.

Many other airlines have cancelled flights to and from Heathrow, which is the busiest in Europe. KLM, the Polish airline LOT and Brussels Airline have cancelled their first departures of the day,

Most of the cancellations are of domestic and short-haul European flights, but some intercontinental services have been affected - including a United Airlines flight to Chicago.

Some passengers delayed overnight by cancellations of flights complained that their airlines failed to provide accommodation, as EU rules demand. Following the massive disruption at Heathrow because of snow at Christmas 2010, airlines were told to have plans in place. But Peter Webster, booked to fly on Air India to Delhi, said he had to fix his own hotel room and pay 40 pounds for a taxi to reach it. "There was no attempt to communicate what they were doing."

Among arrivals, the Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi has been diverted, though the airline has not revealed where it has landed.

At Gatwick, easyJet cancelled many flights yesterday, and more are expected today. The low-cost airline has by far the largest number of services at the Sussex airport.