Holidaymakers are facing long lines again this morning as Britain’s airports and Eurostar are both experiencing major delays – and Britons are being advised to just bring carry-on luggage to prevent losing their belongings.
Hundreds of travellers’ travel plans for the four-day Jubilee festivities have been thrown into chaos following a’shambolic’ week of flight cancellations as Britain’s travel hubs continue to be wracked by a staffing shortage.
Following reports of a person being hit by a train, Eurostar services have also experienced substantial delays this morning. All routes to Paris are now delayed due to traffic disruptions between Lille and Calais.
So far, the Eurostar has seen delays of around two hours each way – with all of this morning’s services affected.
Families have been advised to pack light and only take a rucksack of essentials with them to avoid facing further delays and painfully-long queues – meaning they will have to purchase toiletries and clothing while abroad.
Britons returning from their holidays have complained of ‘three hour delays’ and ‘abandoned luggage’ left in ‘stacks’ in baggage reclaim across UK airports – travellers have also said ‘their luggage has been diverted to another airport’, while others have reported their baggage missing altogether.
Andy Prendergast, GMB union’s nationwide secretary who represents aviation workers, told The Telegraph passengers should ‘consider packing lightly and travelling with a small bag they can take on board the aircraft’.
He added: ‘It is one much less factor to fret about. If individuals can test in on-line and don’t take luggage, that limits the disruption. It’s not a magic bullet however it does scale back the prospect of there being issues.’
Today holidaymakers are facing even more travel chaos – with exceptionally lengthy queues at Bristol and Manchester Airport at 4am this morning.
Armed police were also seen patrolling the check-in area at Manchester airport today as the bank holiday Jubilee break begins.
Shocking scenes from around the country in recent weeks have shown holidaymakers stuck in huge queues with some forced to sleep on the floor of airports amid long delays.
Industry chiefs have pointed the finger at mass layoffs during the pandemic which saw staff let go because of the collapse in demand for travel during the various lockdowns.
Airlines are now struggling to rehire workers previously let go, leading to a shortage of security staff, ground handlers and check-in staff.
Aviation bosses were yesterday ordered to ‘do their bit’ and ‘run services properly’ by the transport secretary amid the ongoing half term travel chaos.
Speaking at a ‘tense’ urgent meeting on Wednesday, Grant Shapps said while he understands there have been ‘resourcing strains on the aviation sector’, that is ‘no excuse’ for poor planning and overbooked flights, as he pushed for ‘automatic refunds’ for affected passengers and declared: ‘We do not want to see repeat of this over the summer.’
He described scenes at airports with lengthy queues and flight cancellations as ‘heart-breaking’, particularly as some holidaymakers had hoped to take their first trips abroad after the years-long Covid pandemic.
It comes after more than 150 UK flights were cancelled alone on Wednesday, which saw a blame game emerge between the government and industry leaders – as one trade union told Brits to travel with just a rucksack to avoid any baggage mayhem.
Meanwhile, issues with e-gates at Eurostar in France risked causing further chaos, causing delays to immigration checks for travellers returning to the UK.
Mr Shapps had earlier said the government had ‘done its bit’ and that companies should have been more prepared, particularly as they were given £8bn in relief to help cope with the predicted surge in bookings.
But travel firms, trade unions and the Labour Party said the Government had failed to provide enough support to the sector.
Elsewhere, MailOnline revealed yesterday how travel firms were still selling cut-price holidays and flights in June despite scores of such bookings being axed, while families have had trips cancelled even as they boarded planes.
Others have been stuck at airports for 48 hours after flights were delayed or had to wait for hours for their luggage to arrive due to a shortage of staff.
On Wednesday, Mr Shapps and aviation minister Robert Courts led what the Department for Transport (DfT) described as a ‘productive meeting’ with senior leaders from the aviation industry including airports, airlines and ground handling companies.
He emphasised to them his concerns that airline passengers are being unfairly sold tickets for holidays they cannot go on, and said he will continue to discuss options for introducing automatic refunds for passengers.
Following the meeting, Mr Shapps warned that there cannot be a repeat of such disruption over the summer.
He said: ‘We’re grateful to those airlines and operators who have continued to deliver good services despite the current pressures and we recognise that not all operators have been affected in the same way.
‘I also understand the resourcing strains on the aviation sector but it does not excuse poor planning and overbooking flights that they cannot service. The companies who have seen the most disruption need to learn from those who ran services smoothly.
‘We will continue to monitor the situation closely to make sure consumers don’t lose out from any further disruption.’
He said he and Mr Courts ‘have made the changes needed to allow the sector to prepare for summer, but now we need industry to do their bit’.
He added: ‘We have been crystal clear – run services properly and according to schedule or provide swift, appropriate compensation. We do not want to see a repeat of this over the summer – the first post-Covid summer season – and will be meeting again in the coming weeks to understand the progress that is being made.’
The chief executive of Airlines UK said the problem is not ‘an airline issue or an airport issue or a Government issue’.
Tim Alderslade said: ‘We want to work collaboratively with ministers to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, in good time for the summer peak, and it was good to discuss options with the Transport Secretary during what was a productive meeting.
‘We ultimately have to work together to solve this. Aviation is a complex eco-system with lots of moving parts and we can’t operate in isolation.
‘This isn’t an airline issue or an airport issue or a Government issue. We’re in this together and we look forward to exploring options with ministers to move the sector forwards as we approach the summer.’
Chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, Karen Dee, described the meeting as a ‘good opportunity to discuss the challenges currently facing airports following the devastating impact of the pandemic’ and to set out how the industry is ‘putting its full effort behind getting passengers away smoothly this weekend and preparing for the summer’.
Those in attendance at the meeting included British Airways, easyJet and TUI Airways.
TUI bosses behind air chaos were on ‘workations’ doing their jobs from beside swimming pools in the med to ‘improve their work-life balance’ as problems mounted
By Jamie Phillips
TUI bosses behind the chaos at UK airports were on ‘workatations’ doing their jobs from beside swimming pools in the med to ‘improve their work-life balance’ as problems began to mount.
Holidaymakers faced hours of delays and snaking queues on Wednesday as TUI cancelled more flights amid a staffing crisis at Britain’s travel hubs.
Such was the extent of the issues, a TUI pilot was forced to call the police to help hundreds of passengers disembark an ‘abandoned’ plane after they were left sat on the runway for three hours due to staff shortages.
But as holidaymakers face mayhem, the airline admitted today that it allowed members of its head office workforce to enjoy its ‘Workwide’ scheme – allowing staff to work outside the UK for up to 30 days a year.
Andrew Willis, head of talent acquisition and workforce management, was among the senior employees to take advantage, The Telegraph reports.
He posted online about working poolside at an all-inclusive TUI hotel in Ibiza.
Mr Willis said: ‘When I finished my work at 5pm, the sun was still there until 8.30pm, so I had plenty of time to swim and relax. In the evenings I could then switch off wonderfully.’
A business procurement manager also told of how he worked from Norway while watching the norther lights.
And a senior product development manager described using the scheme to work from Gran Canaria.
He said: ‘I had made sure beforehand that the rooms had a good Wi-Fi connection and so I could work from my balcony or from the pool bar.’
Staff have spent 4,500 days working abroad as part of the scheme, which was launched in August last year.
On Wednesday TUI took the decision to cut 43 flights a week – 186 in total through June carrying 37,000 passengers from Manchester – just hours after an extraordinary video emerged revealing two police officers were drafted in to tell their irate customers their holiday to Kos was now cancelled as they queued to board the plane.
The airline, which decided to cut 8,000 jobs during the pandemic and furloughed 11,000 of its staff, apologised to passengers and attributed delays to ‘ongoing challenges in our operation’.
British Airways, which has also cancelled more than 100 flights from Heathrow Airport, is another airline to have celebrated staff working from home.
Last year, it said it would allow employees to enjoy a hybrid of office and home working.
The airline, which has axed more than 10,000 jobs in recent years, heralded its approach to ‘offering more agile and flexible ways of working’.
Shocking scenes from around the country in recent weeks have shown holidaymakers stuck in huge queues with some forced to sleep on the floor of airports amid long delays.
Airlines are now struggling to rehire workers previously let go, leading to a shortage of security staff, ground handlers and check-in staff.
It comes as TUI is still selling holidays from Manchester leaving this weekend despite axing six flights per day from the airport branded ‘hell on earth’ because of long queues and shops running out of food and water.
Despite carnage at Manchester, 180 of Tui’s seven-day breaks to destinations including Majorca, Gran Canaria, Morocco and Mexico are still being sold for as much as £1,500 per person, leaving on Friday.
A spokesperson for TUI said: ‘We’re proud of the flexible ways of working we offer our colleagues who work in non-operational, office based roles.
‘We’ve always had a culture of trust with our colleagues and have offered this style of work for a number of years, and long before the work from home trend after the pandemic.
A statement added: ‘The TUI Workwide scheme is not open to staff who work in fixed locations, such as pilots, cabin crew, retail and those working in operational aviation roles, like in our operations control centre where this is manned 24/7 from an office location.
‘We believe this balance is important for understanding the nature of our global travel business alongside having a fulfilling career and improving overall personal well-being.’