The feared passenger backlog at Heathrow airport has been averted, thanks to a well-rehearsed emergency plan - in operation for the first time - and the fact that many travellers stayed away to avoid threatened delays.
Terminal 1 was totally queue-free at mid-morning on Wednesday and all other Heathrow terminals were reported as dealing with fewer passengers than normal.
The British Airports Authority (BAA) was drafting in an extra 200 staff per shift as helpers, as part of a carefully-rehearsed anti-congestion plan set up in the wake of severe criticism of BAA's handling of travel chaos at the airport during last winter's snow.
"We've been training for months," said Nick Clark, normally a BAA IT worker.
"We reservists have been gearing up for months to be brought in if it looks like we could be facing a backlog of passengers and aircraft.
"We've been through the procedures often enough, but this is the first time the system has been used for real, and it looks like it's working. We're all very pleased."
He and other BAA reservists were on hand with snacks and drinks, and armed with computers hooked up to help passengers dashing to make connections, or trying to re-route after cancellations or lengthy delays.
They were particularly looking out for the elderly, the disabled and others likely to be most affected by hours of queuing to get through passport control. By mid-morning they were pleased to find none of it had happened.
Heathrow was peaceful with passengers passing through passport control in seconds. At times there were more BAA reservists - distinguished by their purple fleeces - than people to assist.
"I've never, ever, seen so few people passing through here in mid-week," said one regular traveller. "I had the choice of every single passport aisle to walk down with no-one else in them."