Thousands Stranded After Heathrow Fire
Vocab level: B2
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It's a surprise pilot announcement at 30,000 ft.
We have made a 180-degree turn.
We are headed back to Charlotte.
Let me tell you what's going on.
There was a huge fire at London Heathrow.
Hundreds of flights were forced to turn back around
after a massive fireball exploded at a power supply facility near London's Heathrow Airport,
leading to a shutdown.
This map shows all the inbound flights that had to be diverted.
1300 more flights had to be flat-out canceled,
stranding thousands of travelers, many here in the U.S.
This husband and wife were stranded at LAX and had to sleep in a hotel lobby.
"We tried to get a hotel. We went to several hotels, but L.A. is full."
"We called about 30 hotels and couldn't find a spot."
"So we ended up sleeping a couple of hours in a hotel lobby."
So what do you do if your flight suddenly gets canceled?
Experts say it's important to know your rights as a passenger.
We spoke to travel expert Pauline Frommer.
"If your international flight gets canceled,"
"you have the right to a full refund, full stop, right away. No arguing with the airlines."
Depending on your airline, if you're stranded overnight,
you may be able to recoup costs for meals, hotel nights, and ground transportation.
The thing you shouldn't do is go up to the poor person behind the desk and start yelling at them.
It's not their fault.
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