By Jenny Matthews BBC News Online, at Heathrow

Parts of Heathrow Airport were unusually quiet on Wednesday as most air passengers to France and southern Europe, forewarned about the strike disruption, made other arrangements.

But some were caught out, with Kent businessman Simon Reed saying the first he had heard of the French and some other European traffic controllers' action was on the radio on the way to the airport.

Simon Reed: Could be "stuffed" on Thursday as well

"I'd been hoping to fly on Iberia to Madrid at 1135 BST," he said.

"I know there's delays of at least half an hour, because that's how much the incoming flights are delayed by.

"I've got a very important business meeting scheduled for this afternoon/evening, and I need to know if I can make it," he said.

"They won't tell me how big the delays could be, they just keep giving me the 'best truth' - so I'm a little bit frustrated.

"Then of course I could be stuffed trying to get back tomorrow because of the general strike in Spain."

Flights on time

The Air France check-in desk at Terminal 2 - which had cancelled all its flights on Wednesday - was almost completely deserted, with acres of shiny floor space standing where queues of passengers usually hover.

Marta Sousa: Hoping to get to Lisbon on time

Occasional passengers who had not heard the news and did turn up - usually hoping to fly to France en route to destinations such as West Africa - were being put on the next available Eurostar train instead.

The feared disruption to most other southern European destinations - Italy, Greece and Portugal - did not appear to have transpired, with most passengers expecting to get away on time.

"My flight's on time so far, I hope I don't speak too soon," said Marta Sousa, who was hoping to fly to her home city of Lisbon, Portugal, at 1145 BST.

She aimed to arrive in Lisbon at about 1415 local time on her TAP (Air Portugal) flight, barring any problems.

"I just hope it is allowed to land if there is no air traffic control," she joked.

'Other arrangements'

Parts of the usually busy British Airways check-in desk at Terminal 1 looked like a ghost town, after 122 of the airline's 126 daily flights to France were cancelled.

Jess Obhrai: Less busy than could have been expected

"Luckily this time we've been forewarned, so we've had time to make other arrangements for the passengers," said one member of the check-in staff.

"The very few that have turned up have been booked on the next available flight."

BA customer services representative Jess Obhrai was relieved that his morning had been less fractious than could have been expected.

"Very, very few have turned up this morning hoping to go to France," he said. "It's really not been too bad at all."

Thursday fears

But airport staff were gearing up for possible further disruption on Thursday, with 400 flights into Spain already cancelled in preparation for the strike action.

A customer information representative at Terminal 2 said: "We don't really know yet what action has been confirmed in Spain, or what effect it will have.

"There could also be a knock-on effect tomorrow if all the passengers to France can't fit on the Eurostar today.

"But today the disruption hasn't been as bad as expected."