compton3....your are wrong, majority of pax could not get alternative flights ex LTN, as most of the flights were full pre Christmas, some were accomodated at other airports. On one of the big days of disruption, handling agents for Easy and Ryanair announced withn minutes of each other that the desks were closing, everybody was to leave the airport, and contact the airline via the website to re-book. Within seconds of that a large police contingent emerged for crowd control. Yes, customer service in the modern era. The core problem is the inability of the airport to cope due lack of equipment.
The direct monetary loss to LTN of the last week was probably in the region of 300k. The induced loss however was far greater, the bad press (actually prohibited TV crews from filming inside terminal), disrupted pax who will chose to use an alternative airport in future, and you have armed airlines a reason to dilute services, the loss of peak time revenue, don't forget, breaking even (or achieving budgeted losses) in December for any ailrine is predicated upon Christmas week.
Yes, it is winter, yes LTN is on top of a hill, yes it did snow, and yes it is time to purchase proper some proper snow clearing equipment!