Schumer is stranded

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

August 11, 2006

WASHINGTON - Chuck is stuck.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is stranded at Heathrow Airport with thousands of travelers, many of them constituents, whose flights were canceled after the London bottle-bombing arrests.

"I'm very tired," said Schumer, who had hoped for an uneventful continental holiday. "It's been a long day."

The senator had taken a 9 p.m. Wednesday night red-eye from Kennedy Airport with his wife and two daughters, expecting to arrive yesterday in time for an 11 a.m. local-time London-to-Amsterdam flight. Instead, his plane was frozen on the tarmac for two hours in London, the connecting flight canceled until Sunday and his bags lost in a London fog of confusion.

"We couldn't find our luggage," said Schumer, who finally unearthed his stuff after eight hours of crisscrossing Heathrow.

What he hasn't found are train tickets or a rental car.

"We're up in the air; we don't know what's going to happen," added Schumer. "I guess we're going to explore London."