Holidaymakers face huge airport queues
SOME CUSTOMERS HAVE WAITED WELL OVER AN HOUR TO REACH SECURITY
HOLIDAYMAKERS jetting off for the Jubilee weekend have reported huge queues at a Yorkshire airport yesterday – as travel experts warned of disruption across the country in the coming days.
Passengers said they had endured long waits to reach security at Leeds Bradford Airport. One man from East Yorkshire said it had taken them an hour and a half to get through.
Others complained of a shortage of staff members at stations including passport control. The queues come as airline passengers around the country faced cancelled flights and long queues on Monday as they waited to jet off on half-term holidays and getaways for the Platinum Jubilee weekend.
Manchester, Doncaster-sheffield, Heathrow and Birmingham airports have all reported issues and delays in recent days. Staff shortages have been blamed for the problems, with airports struggling to cope with demand.
It is feared there will be no letup in the coming days, with more than 10,000 flights are scheduled to depart between Thursday and Sunday - a three-fold increase on this time last year - according to aviation data firm Cirium. Unite, the union, warned of a summer of “travel chaos” unless more was done to deal with staffing issues.
Long queues were reported at Leeds Bradford Airport over the weekend, with passengers filmed waiting in a long line that snaked around the airport in Yeadon on Sunday. On Saturday, passengers described the “utter chaos” that greeted them at the airport with videos of hundreds of suitcases left abandoned in the baggage halls shared by disgruntled jet-setters.
In a notice on its website, Leeds Bradford Airport said: “We are currently anticipating longer queue times for our security process.
“We would recommend arriving no earlier than three hours before departure to allow suitable time for security screening.”
Four-hour queues were reported at Manchester Airport - one of the worst affected – on Monday. Tui and easyjet cancelled a number of flights.
Tui said it was “doing everything to minimise disruption” and claimed “the majority of our flights are operating with minimal disruption”. Manchester Airport said ground handlers were experiencing “challenges” which was “leading to delays at check-in and baggage reclaim for some passengers”.