I thought LHR did very well - particularly ATC. I thought the idea of firstly getting people away when they had de-iced, and then (when the backlog got too big) queueing up people to tell them when to de-ice worked very well. The real problem was (for the most part) the handling agents, who have limited equipment, and were left struggling to interpret the situation from all their pilots who failed to communicate what exactly was happening.
Just one thing, though. The "free-market" approach of letting people provide their own de-icing vehicles on the stand was an accident waiting to happen. Taxying out to 09R from T1 was really pushing the holdover times for above freezing snow. Any slight deterioration would have meant that the trickle of aircraft coming back to stand for another squirt would have become a flood.
The safest way of doing this is stationing de-icing rigs near the threshold of the runway and cleaning the aircraft just before they line up. This gives maximum hold-over time, and gets rid of the shambolic process of trying to juggle slots, de-icing, pushbacks, taxying and boarding on the stand. However, this would require a change in procedures, and is dangerously communistic for UK air transport, so I guess it won't happen.
Incidentally, I assume the Air ***** 747 that said it didn't need to be de-iced in the height of the storm made it to its destination OK?!?
