Travel question: Will climate protest disrupt our flight from Heathrow?

Q We have booked a family holiday to Canada this summer with Trailfinders. We are due to fly out of Heathrow to Calgary on 23 July. Due to the planned disruption by Extinction Rebellion, would it be worth trying to find a flight from Gatwick instead?

Name withheld

A Many readers have been in touch concerned that their flight to or from Heathrow could be affected by the next wave of protests by the climate-change activists Extinction Rebellion. After shutting down several key intersections in central London in April, the group has now vowed “to carry out nonviolent direct action to ensure Heathrow authorities close the airport for the day” on 18 June.

Extinction Rebellion aims to deploy drones over the airfield. The intention is to close the airport to highlight what it calls “the genocidal impact of high carbon activities, such as flying, upon the natural world”.

Although drones are tiny compared with passenger aircraft, they can jeopardise safety. A drone ingested into an engine could shut it down, and were a device to strike one of the key surfaces on an aircraft, airworthiness could be affected. If the government does not immediately agree to cancel plans for expansion, the group warns it will then take action from 1 to 10 July inclusive. Continuing the campaign later in July, to include the date for your departure, cannot be ruled out.

But having reported on Extinction Rebellion protests in both central London and at Heathrow – when the group attempted to disrupt traffic one morning – my view is that there is little likelihood of any long-term disruption. The airport is regarded as an essential element of national infrastructure, at risk to terrorism as well as protest, and the Heathrow action was very quickly tackled.

Given the extreme sensitivity of aviation to any perceived danger, Extinction Rebellion’s plan might initially meet with what it regards as success, in interrupting operations and forcing the diversion of many flights and the cancellation of others.

But police will be combing the area in large numbers. Anyone caught operating an unauthorised drone will be arrested, charged and, if found guilty, given a prison sentence for endangering aircraft.

Add to that the extra emissions that the action would precipitate – including additional flights as a result of diversions – it may be that Extinction Rebellion loses public sympathy.

In any event, many weeks before your planned departure no airline is going to offer the opportunity to cancel with a full refund. In the most unlikely event that your flight is affected, the airline is responsible for getting you to your destination as soon as possible. That could involve buying you a ticket on another airline, and perhaps flying from a different departure airport. Trailfinders also has a good record for helping customers at times of disruption.

But in your position, I would not fret for one moment about the prospect.

Every day, our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder