Still wish you were ‘flying’ off to somewhere exotic..?
A MILLION holidaymakers face having their flights cancelled this summer – with another five million to be hit by hours of delays at airports.
Experts fear the school holidays from July 22 will bring even worse queues than those seen during the recent half-term break that included the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee long weekend.
And they have warned the disruption for travellers at airports could also affect Christmas and skiing trips – with thousands of staff, air crew and baggage handler jobs set to remain unfilled until next year amid the recruitment crisis.
The chaos has prompted some people to give up on summer trips abroad, with internet searches for “cancel my flight” almost trebling in recent weeks, Google data analytics show.
It means many people are looking at another “staycation” summer, with bookings at some resorts – such asweymouth in Dorset, where tourists were enjoying a sunny day at the seaside yesterday – spiking since the travel chaos began.
British Airways has already scrapped 8,000 flights over the summer season up to October.
Around 500,000 passengers face having their summer holidays cancelled at the 11th hour during the six-week break if airlines’ short-notice cancellations are similar to half-term.
Flight data firm Cirium said around 100,000 people had Jubilee week trips scrapped – some at minutes’ notice.
Holidaymakers wanting to travel to the Continent on Eurostar trains also face having to buy full-price fares as many cheaper advance tickets have sold out.
Rory Boland, travel editor for consumer group Which?, warned: “We’re seeing widespread chaos at airports and huge stress for people planning to get away
– but we haven’t hit the peak.”
And Mike Clancy, of airport staff union Prospect, added: “It would be difficult to give anybody confidence we’re going to be OK by the school holidays in July. Cancellations are damaging.”
With many of the 30,000 UK airline and airport jobs cut during the pandemic still unfilled, even Christmas trips face disruption, with Heathrow chief executive John Hollandkaye predicting “it will take 12 to 18 months for the sector to fully recover capacity”.
Manchester and Gatwick have been worst hit by disruption but long queues have also been reported at other airports.
Easyjet is ditching around 30 flights per day andtui is axing 200 departures this month.
With at least five million passengers checking in luggage, further stressful queues and delays on both outward and return journeys are expected.
And tens of thousands of holidaymakers face the nightmare scenario of their plane leaving without them as they are not able to get through airport queues in time to reach the departure gate.
Which? has also blasted airlines’ treatment of travellers after a passenger at Gatwick watched hisvueling flight take off without him and his two children, ages six and seven, having run from check-in.
They had to spend the night on the airport floor waiting for another flight.
Juan Boga, 50, from Hillingdon, north London, said: “Airline staff assured us the plane would not leave due to all the passengers stuck in the queue. It still left.
“My kids then went 13 hours overnight without any food or water offered by the airline.”
Mr Boland said: “Airlines are showing a cavalier approach towards customers by ignoring passengers’ rights.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is meeting airline chiefs to address the crisis.
Mr Shapps said: “We’ll work with the industry very hard between now and the summer.”
Jonathan Walker
David Williamson
TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps has accused rail unions of “rushing into strikes” – as industry experts warned that walkouts will cause shortages in shops and hit the post-pandemic recovery.
Furious MPS said RMT union chiefs are adding to the cost-ofliving crisis by pushing up prices, with strike action set to disrupt passenger and freight services. Some want a ban on walkouts.
Mr Shapps said: “Unions should be around the table helping to work out a fair deal for staff, passengers and taxpayers – not rushing into strikes which will disrupt services and endanger the essential movement of freight.
“We are working with the rail industry and Network Rail to minimise disruption where possible.”
Freight trains move nonperishable shop staples such as tinned food or coffee, plus materials used in the construction and steel industries – to the value of £30billion each year.
Maggie Simpson, director general of industry body the Rail Freight Group, said: “Everyone is going to work as hard as they can on this but I couldn’t put my hand up and say there won’t be some products that aren’t available.
“If you look back to before Christmas, when we were seeing supply chain disruption across the economy, I think that kind of disruption is probably likely.” The
RMT action on June 21, 23 and 25 may see more than 50,000 staff walk out, causing six days of disruption for freight as trains due to run overnight or early on a day after strike action will be affected.
Union leaders say staff at train operators and Network Rail, the taxpayer-owned outfit that manages infrastructure, have had years of pay freezes and face the loss of thousands of jobs.
The Rail Freight Group, which represents freight operators, logistics firms and ports, is working with Network Rail and the Government to identify the most vital deliveries due on strike days.
Key freight services will be rescheduled and given priority, to even fewer trains being available for passengers.
Jake Kelly, Network Rail’s network operations director, said: “We are working non-stop to keep nationally important freight flows – including supermarket supplies and fuel – moving.”
London Underground will also be affected by an RMT and Unite strike on June 21, while Aslef members on Hull Trains, Greater Anglia and Croydon Tramlink services will stage a series of walkouts between June 23 and July 14.
More disruption is likely after the Transport Salaried Staffs Association said it is to ballot its members at Crosscountry, East Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains. Exwork and pensions secretary Esther Mcvey urged ministers to consider outlawing rail strikes.
She said: “Isn’t it about time that the railways were treated as being strategically vital, and workers were banned from strike action? This should be a priority for a Conservative government with a majority of over 70.”
Tory MP Julian Knight said: “It’s entirely unacceptable to hold the country to ransom in this way, particularly as people are already struggling with the cost of living and the economy is just getting back on its feet.”
Labour’s Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy was critileading cised for backing the RMT. Asked if she supported the strikes, the MP said: “I’ve stood with our rail workers just like I stood with junior doctors when they protested against the treatment that was being meted out to them by the Government, and our nurses.”
A Labour spokesman said: “We’ve been clear in the position that the strikes shouldn’t go ahead. Nobody wants to see industrial action that is disruptive.”
Senior Tories demanded that Labour backs firms and travellers by opposing industrial action.
Baron Mcloughlin, former Tory Transport Secretary, said: “This is a defining moment for the Labour Party.are they a party that’s going back to the 1970s and 1980s?” Tory MP Brendan Clarke-smith said: “It is truly shocking that the Opposition supports this outrageous strike and that they have sent Lisa Nandy out to defend the sort of action that should have been confined to the 1970s.”
However, some backbench Labour MPS spoke up in support of the unions – Khalid Mahmood said: “If the Government refuses to allow sensible negotiations to take place and refuses arbitration then the workers have little choice but to exercise their legal right to withdraw their labour.”
His colleague Emma Lewellbuck said unions “are fighting for better rights for workers right across the rail network.
“This isn’t just about the train drivers, it’s about everyone who works there. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and every worker is entitled to stand up for their rights.
“Everyone wanted to avoid a strike, and it is the last option, but they have had to do this.”
An RMT spokesman said: “We don’t want to cause anyone disruption but industrial action has to be effective if it is going to make the rail bosses sit up and come to a negotiated settlement.
“All those affected by our proposed strike action should direct their anger and frustration at the Government and the rail industry for failing to give railway workers a decent pay rise and proposing to cut thousands of jobs.”