London terrorist plot snags Livermore mother

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

A harrowing, but ultimately safe trip to and from Scotland landed Amanda Hlawaty in the middle of chaos at London's Heathrow early on Aug. 10.

That morning, the British announced that London Metropolitan Police had arrested key suspects in a likely terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives on several airliners traveling from England to the United States. A Livermore mother of two young sons, Hlawaty said she was looking forward to visiting an American friend in Edinburgh, Scotland, and having a much-anticipated, one-week holiday.

Hlawaty and her older sister left Denver International Airport for a connecting flight from Chicago to London on Aug. 9, blissfully unaware of what awaited them.

On arrival in London, she said, the first they knew of anything unusual was from a woman in the long passport control line, who said there was an announcement on her plane about a terrorist plot. When Hlawaty presented her passport, she said, the official was very thorough and almost aggressive.

"She fired questions at us one after the other: How did we know our friend in Scotland? What is her name? Where are we staying? When is our flight back to the U.S.? How were we getting to Edinburgh?

"When we tried to find our luggage before going through customs, everyone was being told it was unavailable. They closed off the transit area because passengers arrived with hand luggage that now had to be checked."

Hlawaty said the terminal was a madhouse and security lines were endless. "We waited four hours in line, hearing announcements about flights either delayed or cancelled," she said. "Since we didn't know the status of our flight to Edinburgh we stayed in line, but then when we got to the security check, we were told it was cancelled and we should leave the airport as soon as possible. Luckily, we still had our hand luggage."

Hlawaty and her sister took a taxi to some nearby airport hotels to see if they could find a room to rest in and think about what to do next. She said they tried three before finding a small room with one double bed ($140). From there they were able to organize train tickets to Scotland ($110 each) and hop a cab into London ($100) to King's Cross station.

Hlawaty said they finally met their friend at the train station in Edinburgh at 10:30 p.m., and by then they were exhausted and still didn't have any information about their luggage.

Meanwhile, in Steamboat Springs, Amanda's husband, Stephen, was spending the weekend with their sons Ethan and Benjamin, her parents and her sister's husband and children. They heard about the situation when the women called at 6 a.m. Colorado time, so they quickly switched on the television and were stunned when they saw what was happening at Heathrow.

Stephen Hlawaty said he wasn't overly worried since his wife and sister-in-law were out of the airport and away from danger. He said he hoped his wife could just have a good time once she got to Scotland.

Hlawaty said she tried to get through to the airlines the next morning to inquire about luggage, but the lines were jammed. A message on one number instructed passengers to just go to their destination airport and wait. She said her luggage was already set aside at the Edinburgh airport, but they had to wait another two hours for her sister's luggage to arrive.

Midway through her holiday, Hlawaty learned their return flight on Aug. 16 was one of those targeted by the terrorists for detonation. "It was very unnerving and my sister especially was very upset," she said. "I figured it would be the safest flight we'd ever take."

"We were treated very well leaving London and had ample food and water on the flight," Hlawaty said. "People were worried, but they were mostly very polite and friendly. We scrutinized our traveling companions, and one worried me."

She also noticed that passengers watched the map showing the plane's progress toward Chicago instead of watching the movie. "When we landed in Chicago everyone on board clapped," Hlawaty said.