CASE STUDY: Emergency Travel Support

Corporate Travel Management (CTM)’s efficient response to the electrical fire and subsequent power outage at London Heathrow Airport minimised disruption and ensured alternative travel plans were put in place for the 2,400 customers directly impacted by the situation.

Our operational teams provided excellent customer service by quickly identifying the customers affected by the closure, maintaining open lines of communication for incoming calls, and efficiently coordinating new travel arrangements to ensure no passengers were left stranded.

Read on to find out how.

Overview

On the 20th March 2025, a fire broke out at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, Hillingdon, London, at approximately 11:23pm. This substation was a critical power source for Heathrow Airport. The fire led to a significant power outage at the airport, which backup systems could not manage, meaning the entire airport was temporarily forced to shutdown operations.

The closure resulted in the cancellation and or diversions of over 1,300 flights, affecting approximately 250,000 passengers – including 2,400 CTM customers.

Challenges

Large Number of Customers Impacted: The main challenge was the sheer volume of passengers affected by the outage. London Heathrow is the UK’s biggest airport and Europe’s busiest, and its close proximity to the capital means many business travel plans had been impacted by the cancellation and/or diversion of more than 1,300 flights.

Solutions

CTM Out of Hours Support: CTM’s Out of Hours team monitor all incidents and emergency situations that occur outside of our core operating hours. This allows us to stay up-to-date with situations as soon as they occur and take immediate action to support our customers. We continually monitored the situation at Heathrow as it evolved, so we could respond efficiently to any developments.

Traveller Tracking Reports: As part of our emergency protocol, we ran traveller tracking reports for every customer to establish who was due to travel. Our operational teams then ensured our phone lines and mailboxes were monitored so the influx of incoming enquiries could be managed efficiently. A number of our team started their shifts early in order to support the volume of incoming calls and many volunteered to work late to ensure our every passenger was fully supported.

Pro-active Arrangements: At the same time, we also pro-actively contacted the travellers who were due to depart or fly into London Heathrow from the early hours of Friday morning into to Saturday, to inform them of the situation and coordinate alternative arrangements.

Results

Efficient Emergency Travel Support: Our team answered 4,867 calls between Friday and Saturday morning and proactively contacted all customers who would be affected, ensuring everyone who was due to travel was fully supported with alternative arrangements.

Customer Satisfaction: The proactivity and dedication of our operational teams helped to minimise the inconvenience of this unexpected travel disruption and ensured all of our customers had access to support as the situation unfolded.

Testimonial

Nimisha has been absolutely brilliant today. The trouble at Heathrow meant that I was 3 hours into my flight last night from Denver, before we were turned back to Denver. This resulted in a need to book extra nights in hotels and work with BA to re-book my flight home. Nimisha was calm and extremely helpful and tenacious in getting clarity from an airline and re-booking everything, including being on hold for 3 hours. She has made what could have been very stressful seem easy. I and my colleague are very very grateful.

- Matthew Hawley, Chief Information Security Officer, Janus Henderson -

Jacqui was incredibly helpful today when I was going back and forth trying to amend, book, refund and find new flights due to the Heathrow closures. Thank you so much for all your help - so appreciated!

- Kate Hargreaves, PA to Bank CIO & Team, Close Brothers -

On a shocking day (Heathrow closure) that I can only imagine was like hell for all the team, Rachael was an absolute rock-solid paragon of virtue. On my issue alone they spent at least 2 hours trying to sort out a way for me to arrive in the timeframe needed. she built rapport immediately and I felt like I was not only in safe hands, but that Rachael cared about providing a good outcome. I think we must have spent a good 30-45 minutes on the phone working together, trying to solve the problem. We were both coming up with any idea we could, investigating them and tossing them aside as they proved unworkable. Just as we were about to close on booking a new solution, the airline fixed the problem. 5/5 stars, 10/10 NPS rating -every positive accolade I could give, Rachael deserves.

- Nick Williams, The Access Group -

I was running into multiple issues with my reservation, which made me feel upset and stressed, but the communication with Luciano turned that all around! Luciano is very knowledgeable, could help me right away, but also really appreciate his human touch to our conversation. Our conversation made me feel so much better and really turned around my experience. Big thanks!

- Kristine Liepina, Vista -

Just have to say, Steve is always incredible. Everyone is helpful at CTM but Steve is always on another level! He always responds really quickly and is always helpful, patient and understands what is needed and finds solutions and good deals. I can't praise him enough.

- Kate Hargreaves, PA to Bank CIO & Team, Close Brothers -

Quality quality service. I really appreciate the quick and clear response to my cancellation request. I'm used to mailbox functions taking some time to resolve issues and with something as timebound as travel plans it's reassuring to get this turned around so quickly. Thank you!

- Ruth Smethurst, Workplace Change Lead, Government Property Agency -

Lost without Yvette, fast, responsive, makes suggestions proactively, with a lovely attitude.

- Claudia Turner, Executive Assistant, Freepoint Commodities Europe LLP -

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