I flew from Miami to London, now I'm stranded in Madrid: The passengers hit by Heathrow shutdown
Ani Naqvi's flight left Miami, Florida, at 6.30pm on Thursday night, and it was expected to land at 6.45am at London Heathrow on Friday morning.
But her flight became one of the 1,351 affected by the substation fire resulting in the flight landing nearly 800 miles away from her intended destination – in Madrid.
As many as 291,000 passengers travelling to and from Heathrow are thought to have been affected by the blaze, which is now being investigated by counter-terrorism police.
Ms Naqvi, who had been attending a conference in Miami, told the Telegraph: 'Within an hour of landing time, I asked the crew when we were landing at Heathrow but received a cryptic message from the cabin crew in reply. He said, 'Hopefully ...' .'
'The captain made an announcement that they were going to have to divert us to Madrid instead.'
Ms Naqvi, 53, said that she and her fellow passengers had arrived to a 'completely packed' airport in the Spanish capital where there were 'no representatives' on hand to help.
Eventually – about three hours after landing – she was told that she would need to find a hotel in Madrid.
The executive said: 'I am hoping to return to London [on Saturday], but I have a feeling it won't be until Sunday.'
While she said she was keen to make the most of the opportunity to explore Madrid, Ms Naqvi added: 'It's exhausting and tiring in a foreign country where you might not speak the language.'
Eight primary school pupils were also stranded in Dubai 'in chaos' on Friday.
The students, aged 10 and 11, had been visiting the city in the United Arab Emirates with three teachers as part of the Turing Scheme to learn more about Islam and the city's culture.
The group had been due to fly back to Heathrow on Friday morning and then take a connecting flight to Newcastle.
Jane Davies, headteacher of Lanchester EP Primary School, said they were initially provided with 'no information at all':
'We were just waiting around, and then the later flight started to arrive and it was chaos,' she said.
However, after waiting at the airport British Airways eventually sent them to a hotel and their flight was later cancelled. They later booked an Emirates flight to Glasgow in order to get home.
At Heathrow, other passengers struggled to leave London.
Bridegroom Daniel Bone, 37, was due to fly to Toronto, Canada, on Friday ahead of his wedding next week.
Mr Bone, from Hertfordshire, is set to get married on March 28. He said: 'I woke up to see the whole airport had closed and my flight had been cancelled,' he said. 'It's been traumatising.'
Meanwhile, an academic faced missing the chance to promote her book at a prestigious US conference.
Award-winning scientist Dr Anjana Khatwa only found out her Heathrow flight to Portland, Oregon, was cancelled after arriving at the airport, when a police car chased her taxi down to inform the driver of the fire.
Dr Khatwa had hoped to promote The Whispers of The Rock at the Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting.
Describing the delays as having a 'personal impact', she added: 'It's horrendous. The whole situation is absolutely manic.'
Meanwhile, Siya Shah, 21, faces missing a much-anticipated Indian wedding in Gwalior.
The research assistant and her mother and father had woken at 3am in order to reach Heathrow in time for their 8.45am flight to Delhi – a six-hour drive from their final destination.
However, despite the fire starting in the early hours of Friday morning, Air India only cancelled their flight at about 6am, after the family had already spent more than £100 on a taxi to the airport.
The four-day wedding of the family friend is set to begin on Sunday.
Ms Shah, who lives in South London, said: 'A lot of energy and effort has gone into this wedding – and while we may get a refund, the flights we could book tomorrow are now double the price of what we originally paid.
'Heathrow might have known it was closed, but it seemed that airlines didn't get the memo, as we were still told the flight was on when we were in the taxi.'
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