Keep it UK and boycott overseas travel airlines

I am old enough to remember a time when foreign travel wasn’t even a mirage on the horizon: we struggled through the year staying in the good old G of B.

If we took an annual holiday, we went somewhere local and enjoyed the change from our everyday lives. The Gower was nirvana and Llandudno was as good as it got. Butlin’s at Minehead was a treat reserved for that once-in-a-lifetime, when the boats were really pushed out.

Now we frown on the simplicity of these delights and, instead, venture into the unknown excesses of foreign parts, to countries hitherto unknown to us. Grab a bikini and simmer in the summer sunshine at Albufeira: I loved it and spent many a happy fortnight there.

Unfortunately, the airport experience was always the dampener. Enter through the portal of the terminal and the impression was that they tolerated the holiday-maker but very reluctantly. Turn up two hours in advance to enjoy the scowls of the staff. The place might well operate better without the public was their opinion.

I was always relieved to get out into duty free as I was, finally, on my way.

Nowadays, the battle is just beginning at duty free.

Line up, line up and get on the plane, sit on the thing for three hours only to be thrown out and told your holiday was just a figment of your imagination and has been cancelled. How silly of you to expect the airline to honour its promise to fly me to my destination. Compensation? Forget it. We decide who gets their money back and, silly Billy, the airline gets my money back.

Stop press - their tails seem to be wagging our dogs! We are paying huge amounts of money to be disappointed by the airlines who are unable to deliver their promises.

Why not dispense with them and visit the delights of the United Kingdom which is there for the taking and is as relaxing and enjoyable as anywhere on Earth and doesn’t rely on the travel industry to get us there?

You may not get the suntan but you’ll enjoy some of the best scenery anywhere. If we all ignore (boycott) the foreign travel industry, maybe, just maybe, they will deliver a service to holiday-makers, rather than annoying the heck out of us.

At the moment the travel tail is wagging the holiday dog. Force them to work for us rather than the other way round.

Wayne Morris