‘Utter bedlam’ as 160 more flights are cancelled

PASSENGERS faced further misery yesterday as at least 160 more flights were cancelled while others were hit with delays.

Those using London’s three main airports – Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted – along with Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester were affected, with one departure lounge described as ‘utter bedlam’.

EasyJet cancelled at least 31 flights at Gatwick, while TUI axed six at Manchester. BA axed 124 short-haul flights at Heathrow, but said passengers were given advance notice.

One easyJet passenger tweeted a photo from Manchester Airport at 4am showing a long queue outside Terminal 1. He described the situation as ‘carnage’, adding: ‘Took two hours 45 minutes to get through.’ Another easyJet passenger said they waited two hours and 40 minutes to get their bags having landed at Gatwick before 3am. Those taking off began to arrive at a similar time only to find flights cancelled at the last minute.

Alice Emery, 28, and husband Alan, 31, from Southampton, tried to board an easyJet flight to Venice at 5.55am. Mrs Emery said: ‘There was a massive queue... at least three flights cancelled. There were no easyJet staff there at all.’ The couple ended up paying £960 for one-way BA tickets. She added: ‘Why do airlines have the cheek to sell tickets when they never know if it is going to take off?’

Chris Simpson, 57, whose BA flight to Doha was axed, said staff wouldn’t help as he had booked via a travel agency. He said: ‘The way BA handled it is disgusting.’

And at Bristol yesterday afternoon, one passenger said on social media: ‘The departure lounge is utter bedlam.’