Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Passengers in a makeshift tent wait to be let into Terminal One in at Heathrow.
First, they cruised the Mediterranean on the Brilliance of the Seas, ugg stripe cable knit boots 5822the ship, now notorious, whose battle with hurricane-force winds and gargantuan waves became worldwide news.ugg argyle knit boots 5879 Then they decided to spend a ugg sundance IIrelaxing day in London before returning home.

“I’m not trying to be negative, but they herded us argyle knit in here and we have not been able to talk to anyone,” Mr. Barlow said of the tent, the latest step in a surreal odyssey in ugg classic paisley boots 5831 which the couple has tried mightily to find a flight to Washington, despite there being no flights and no information ugg metallic tall boots 5812 after a snowstorm five ugg baiey button days ago. (At this point, there is no longer any snow, either.)

The couple’s latest potential ugg classic tall
flight — to Frankfurt, from where they ugg classic cardyhoped to continue on to Washington — was scheduled to depart in a little over an hour, but passengers ugg ultra tall boots 5245 had been barred from entering the terminal unless their flights had been confirmed.ugg ultra The Barlows’ flight had not been confirmed.

“There aren’t too many third world countries that couldn’t have done a better job at dealing with this,” said Mr. Barlow, who was passing the time reading a book about the football legend Johnny Unitas, as his wife filled in Christmas cards. They ugg classic tall had meant to travel with their extended family to Florida this year; that trip has been canceled, and they hope instead to host Christmas at their house, should they ugg bootindeed get there.

“I have found it hard not to cry at times,” Mrs. Barlow said.

Actually, Thursday was the day cheap ugg bootsthings finally began to turn around at Heathrow, which was virtually shut down by five inches of snow that fell on Saturday and has struggled to catch up ever since. About 91 percent of the day’s flights were on track to leave at some point,ugg boot said a spokeswoman for BAA, which owns and operates the airport. As the afternoon wore on, though, many European flights were delayed ugg classic shortand others canceled because of new outbreaks of bad weather in Ireland and on the Continent.

Those were not Heathrow’s fault, the spokeswoman said.ugg classic tall “There are issues in northern Europe that are complicating our efforts to allow everyone to continue ugg sundance II boots 5325their travel plans,” she said.

These things are all relative. The airport was hardly its usual self on Thursday. Many stranded passengers had been sent to hotels, but others were still sleeping inside, some of ugg ultra shortthem in BAA’s own areas. “We’ve given over large parts of our offices to make the passengers more comfortable,”classic cardy the spokeswoman said.

Earlier in the week, some passengers slept in the tents put up outside the terminals. On Thursday, the tent areas looked less like campgrounds than refugee way stations, holding pens where blanket-swathed, baggage-burdened travelers clustered together, lured by the prospect of heat, chairs, free coffee and scraps of rumor leading to possible concrete information.

Other passengers had decided to brave the sharp cold outside and form a huge line in the car drop-off area, not ugg metallic short boots 5842realizing or not caring that nothing about being in the line could help them penetrate the building’s perimeter.

“We’re quite surprised that there’s even a toilet, actually,” said Alexander Mills, a 19-year-old student, ugg argyle knitwho was sitting on his luggage in a tent and reading a novel called “How to Survive Christmas.”

Just then an official in a yellow fluorescent ugg nightfall boots 5359jacket came in and declared: “Any passenger traveling on Flight 2473 to Munich, can you please make ugg ultra tall yourself known to the guys at the front.”

Mr. Mills, who was not traveling to Munich, said that the problems at Heathrow were indicative of ugg sundance II boots 5325a general lack of competence in Britain during the latest cold snap.

“We’ve lasted two world wars, ugg bailey button boots 5803and we can’t even deal with some snow,” he said sadly, describing how the local government arrived to pour sand and salt on the icy roads near his house just as the ice was beginning to melt.