Chaos at European airports as winter weather cancels thousands of flights

LONDON - Night curfews were lifted and ticket refunds offered at Heathrow on Monday as authorities took a series of unusual steps to ease the chaos at Europe's busiest airport in the run-up to the hectic Christmas-New Year holiday period.

Across the continent, there were similar scenes of disruption for a third day as early winter snow hit air, road and rail travelers struggling to get home for one of the biggest holidays on the calendar.

Some of the European problems stemmed from woes at Heathrow, where furious passengers, hundreds of whom had spent up to two nights sleeping on the floor, besieged staff at the airport, which has struggled to operate since five inches of snow fell in the space of an hour Saturday.

Elsewhere in Europe, tensions remained high at Frankfurt airport, where thousands of travelers' plans were also thrown into chaos. Fraport, the airport operator, provided more than 1,000 field beds for passengers - as well as clowns to entertain children. A shortage of de-icing liquid forced the Brussels airport to cancel all flights from Monday evening until Tuesday morning at the earliest.

(READ: Capital Weather Gang: Freak pattern brings Europe record cold and snow)

By Monday afternoon, BAA, Heathrow's owner, appealed to all passengers heading for Terminals 1 or 2 without a confirmed flight to turn back, adding they could ride on the Heathrow Express fast train free of charge.

British Airways, which is based at the airport, made what some of its staff said was an unprecedented offer to its Heathrow passengers flying before Christmas Eve, saying they could either cancel their flight in return for a full refund, or book on another date over the next 12 months. This did not appease some passengers. One wrote to a Sky News Web site to ask: "What - postpone Christmas!!"

The British government agreed to lift Heathrow's 11:30 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew so the airport would stay open until 1 a.m. for takeoffs and landings.

Although Gatwick, London's second-largest airport, remained open, staff at some airlines said the situation had been worse at Heathrow because it was the country's main international hub.

If the snow had come in January, when flights were less full, many passengers would have been shifted on to BA's rival carriers such as Lufthansa or Air France.

But because the disruption was occurring in the week before Christmas, all flights were full, so this was impossible. This also meant that many passengers who were able to rebook could not get another flight until after Christmas Day.

In Frankfurt, Fraport hinted in a statement that the problems lay elsewhere in Europe. Action by its winter service meant a "relatively normal service" was possible in Frankfurt, it said.