Airline strikes across Europe spell more travel chaos
HOLIDAYMAKERS are facing a weekend of travel chaos as airline staff at Europe’s busiest destinations go on strike.
Ryanair cabin crew in Spain walked out on Thursday and will go on strike again this weekend. This is likely to cause disruption in Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona, Alicante, Sevilla, Palma, Valencia, Girona, Santiago de Compostela and Ibiza. Easyjet crew in Spain will also strike for nine days this month.
It comes after Ryanair staff in Belgium, Portugal, France, Italy and Spain staged walkouts last weekend.
Figures from the data company Cirium show that in the past month airlines have cut 611 flights from their schedule for the week of July 1-7.
Strike action is weighing over a sector that is already battling chronic staff shortages. A rapid increase in demand for international travel has not been met with adequate hiring. Although airports and airlines are trying to ramp up recruitment they are struggling to employ people quickly enough. This has led to delays at check-in and security and also led to bags going missing.
The disruption continued yesterday. Passengers due to fly from Heathrow in the morning were blindsided when the airport ordered flights to be cancelled because it could not handle them.
Thousands of travellers were disrupted by a rare “schedule intervention” which led to the scrapping of 30 flights during the morning peak.
Some passengers did not find out that their flights were cancelled until they arrived at what is the UK’S busiest airport.
Passengers complained about the disruption online. Andy Mossack, a travel writer and broadcaster, wrote on Twitter: “Total chaos at Heathrow this morning. British Airways flights cancelled and zero customer service!”
Heathrow blamed a surge in late bookings as passengers scrambled to rebook flights that had been cancelled by airlines departing from other airports.
However, Which?, the consumer group, said there was “absolutely no excuse for it to be ordering on-the-day flight cancellations”.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Heathrow knew how many passengers were due to fly from the airport weeks ago, so there is absolutely no excuse for it to be ordering onthe-day flight cancellations.
“Airports and airlines need to be held to account for the unacceptable disruption travellers have faced in recent months.”
British Airways said in a statement: “As a result of Heathrow’s requirement for all airlines to reduce their schedules, we’ve made a small number of cancellations.
“We’re in contact with affected customers to apologise, advise them of their consumer rights and offer them alternative options, including a refund or rebooking.”