usrentacar.co.uk ® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

As you probably know and have probably seen from our USA Snow in Pictures blog, 49 of the 50 U.S. states were hit with the white stuff.

To date, only Florida has escaped

With ferocious blizzards pounding the East Coast, and a number of other storms blowing across the western U.S. and plains states, the country now has the presence of snow in 49 of the 50 states. An arctic blast rolled across the country earlier this week, sending temperatures falling in southern states that normally are spared winter’s wraith. Only Florida remains free of snow at the moment.

Many residents in the North East of America are getting to grips with 10 inches plus of snow.

According to CNN, meteorologists estimate that approximately 69.4% of the lower U.S. states are currently buried under some amount of snow. Alaska of course has snow all year round and it is not uncommon for Hawaii’s Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea mountains to have snow throughout the winter either.!

Have you had any dealings with the USA snow storms?

Regards,

James

Hi all,

Although the UK snow has grounded almost everything to a hault. usrentacar.co.uk is still open  for business as usual althought we are working with a skeleton staff so please be patient with us

The office will be open from 09:00 until 13:00, although this could change depending on snow conditions, you can call us on 0845 226 8523 or view other ways to contact us.

The picture on the right shows the conditions around usrentacar.co.uk headquarters.

Well done to all those staff that managed to make it in, it is very much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Gavin Boswell,

Managing Director,

usrentacar.co.uk®

As snow continues to fall across the UK this is affecting other airports, causing delays and in some instances cancellations. Please check with your airline prior to travelling to the airport for flight information.Hi all,

Following on from Gatwick and Heathrow Airport updates please find below updates for further UK airports.

Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport is currently operating normally.

Although forecasts anticipate some snow flurries this morning we don’t expect any significant disruption.

Around 15 flights to areas of South East England, Scotland and Northern Europe that have experienced significant snowfall have been delayed or cancelled. Passengers travelling to these regions should check with their airline before setting off for the airport today.

All other passengers travelling from Manchester Airport today are advised to come to the airport as planned.

03/12/10

Manchester Airport is currently operating normally

Southhampton Airport

Southampton Airport will be closed until at least 2pm today due to the adverse weather.   Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport this morning, and to contact their airlines for the latest information.

Further updates will be provided as soon as more information is available.

We aim to be the local airport you can breeze through, linking the South Coast with around 50 destinations across Europe on over 900 weekly flights. Whether you’re travelling for business or pleasure, rediscover the joy of flying at Southampton Airport.

03/12/10

Southampton Airport will not be operating flights before 12 noon at the earliest, due to icy conditions on the airfield.

Passengers are asked not to come to the airport at the moment, and to contact their airlines for the latest information.

Edinburgh Airport

Thursday 2 December

Edinburgh Airport is closed due to heavy snow showers. We anticipate that the runway will be clear and open at 4pm.

Friday 3 December

Passengers are advised to contact their airline to find out about rescheduled flights.

Birmingham Airport

At present is open.

Glasgow Airport

As snow continues to fall across the UK this is affecting other airports, causing delays and in some instances cancellations. Please check with your airline prior to travelling to the airport for flight information.

London City Airport

Due to adverse weather conditions,our runway is closed until 1200 today. Affected pass’s should contact their airlines b4 travelling to LCY.

03/12/10

The runway at London City Airport is operational this morning, but due to low visibility flights are experiencing disruptions. Affected passengers are advised to contact their airlines

Regards,

James

Hi all,

Follwoing on from our Gatwick Closure blog I thought I’d updat you on Heathrow’s Status.

Thursday 2 December

Heathrow is open and most flights are operating. Some airlines are experiencing cancellations or delays today due to snow disruption at other airports. For information about a specific flight

Friday 3 December

Heathrow is open and most flights are operating. Some airlines are experiencing cancellations or delays today due to snow disruption at other airports.

Will keep this updated as news comes in.

Regards,

James

Hi all,

The snow has caused its usual disruption to the UK! Today London Gatwick is closed. Gatwick state

Due to the current weather conditions, departing and arriving flights at Gatwick will be severely disrupted. The runway is currently closed to allow snow clearance activities to be carried out. Passengers are advised not to set out for the airport and should check directly with their airline or visit our website – gatwickairport.com – for the latest information.

Due to severe weather conditions, there will be no departing and arriving flights at Gatwick today or overnight. The runway will remain closed until at least 10:00 Thursday 2nd December. There will be significant disruption, delays and cancellations tomorrow and passengers should not set out for the airport before checking with their airline for the latest information.

After more heavy snow overnight and with forecasts of further snow, Gatwick will remain closed until at least 6am on Friday 03 December.

There will be no flights arriving or departing today, and passengers can expect further disruption, delays and cancellations as long as the severe weather continues. Passengers should not travel to the airport today, those scheduled to fly tomorrow should check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

We are doing everything we can to resume operations, our teams are working around the clock to make the runway safe for aircraft to use and get our passengers flying again.

Update 03/12/10

Gatwick Airport has safely re-opened this morning.

Our advice to passengers remains – do not travel to the airport without first checking with your airline to make sure that your flight is departing today.

Passengers should expect delays and cancellations and it is likely to take a few days before flight schedules return to normal. Train services to and from the airport continue to be limited and road networks are likely to remain severely affected by the weather.

Virgin Atlantic have just announced

UPDATE: London Gatwick airport is closed and more heavy snow is forecast to fall in the area therefore we have cancelled ALL flights leaving from LGW on Wed 1 Dec & Thurs 2 Dec 2010. For more info, please check virgin-atlantic.com or our updated note entitled ‘FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS’ found below. Currently LHR and MAN airports operating as normal. Please check Flight Status before you travel to the airport.

Remember if you flight is cancelled or delayed please contact us as soon as possible so we can make necessary amendments.

Regards,

James,

Hi all,

Just to depress you even more (or perhaps get you in the festive mood!?) I thought I’d compare the weather.

First up is Universals Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida. 28c !!!

Next up is the usrentacar.co.uk office in Farnborough, Hampshire. -7c this morning.

Its a tricky one, but where would you rather be?

Freezing cold regards,

James,

Hi all,

Due to the snow that has hit the UK today our call centre will be closing early to make sure all our staff can get home safely.

Our call centre will be closing at 1pm on the 6th January 2010, however our live chat facility available in the top right hand corner of our homepage www.usrentacar.co.uk will be online until 5pm.

In the event that you have been delayed by the weather conditions we suggest that if you cannot contact us via our call centre or our live chat facility then you contact the supplier you are booked with directly.

Alamo – 0871 384 1086 – http://www.alamo.co.uk &  http://www.alamo.com

Budget – 0844 544 3407 – http://www.budget.co.uk & http://www.budget.com

Dollar – 0808 234 2474 – http://www.dollar.co.uk & http://www.dollar.com

We will post further information here once we see what the weather does. You can still book online as normal.

regards,

U.S. Rent A Car

Our Live Chat facility will be open until 5:00 pm