Half-term flightmare
Families sleep on airport floors as lack of staff sparks travel chaos
FAMILIES are having to sleep on airport floors and catch separate planes as staff shortages inflict further misery on holidaymakers.
Airlines cancelled dozens more flights on Sunday and yesterday sparking huge delays and lengthy queues.
half-term sun-seekers were pictured lying on the floor at Stansted following the disruption. And long, snaking lines were seen at Bristol and Gatwick airports from 4am yesterday.
It follows chaotic scenes at Manchester airport over the weekend when hundreds of Tui passengers were told their holidays had been cancelled after an eight hour wait. Industry sources say staffing levels are around 80 to 90 per cent of where they need to be for the peak summer season at larger airports and about 70 per cent at smaller ones.
But bosses insist queues have also been exacerbated by passengers turning up earlier than normal first thing in the morning. Ministers are facing calls to slash more red tape to help travel firms recruit staff quicker after they slashed thousands of jobs during Covid.
Easy-Jet announced it was cancelling at least 200 flights over the half-term holidays, which started yesterday, affecting around 30,000 passengers. It axed a further 32 flights yesterday while BA cancelled another 140. BA says the cancellations were made weeks ago and customers were given plenty of notice.
Bosses at Bristol airport said its queues were being caused by people turning up five hours early to check in. But passengers hit back and said the ‘morning rush hour’ – departures before 8am – was simply more than staff could cope with. One father, who booked with airline Vueling, claimed his teenage son had to fly ahead of him due to the flight being overbooked.
he posted online: ‘Anyone thinking about booking to fly with Vueling think again.
‘Waiting nearly six hours at Gatwick airport and counting.’
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last month announced new laws so travel firms can begin training new recruits before they complete security checks.
But industry leaders say they are taking around four to five weeks to complete. Boss of heathrow, John holland-Kaye, has called on ministers to allow aviation employers to access HMRC records.
A No10 spokesman said yesterday: ‘We will continue to work with the aviation industry and be clear with them that we want to see disruption reduced to a minimum.’
‘Waiting six hours and counting’