Half-term travel chaos news: Tui cancels hundreds more flights amid UK airport turmoil & More Trending News

Vueling flight VY6209 from Gatwick to Florence took off empty last night.

The reason? The airline told passengers it was due to delays at the London airport which has seen dozens of flight cancellations daily.

Nisha Gupta, 32, from Windsor, Berkshire, was booked on the flight with her husband Ash.

She told the PA news agency they were forced to queue for more than four hours to check in luggage, but when they arrived at the departure gate they were informed no passengers could board the plane due to a staff shortage.

After being told the plane was flying back empty, she said: “The environmental impact of this is insane and a decision was clearly made to prioritise cost implications over customer experience and environmental impact.”

Vueling passengers at Gatwick have faced severe difficulties in recent days. A group of passengers who missed their flight to Bilbao yesterday due to an hours-long check in queue have said they are still waiting at Gatwick Airport 24 hours later [see 14.29 post].

New data from travel extras company Holiday Extras has revealed that 45 per cent of British holidaymakers have changed their travel plans this year in the face of reduced availability, higher prices, queues and ongoing travel restrictions.

Released after the mass cancellations of flights this week, one in ten (10 per cent) holidaymakers polled said that the queues at airports has led them to tweak their plans, while 18 per cent altered their summer travel intineraries due to their preferred destination still being closed, having Covid-related restrictions or having run out of affordable flights or rooms.

Another 5 per cent couldn’t discover the rooms, flights or rent vehicles they wanted for his or her journey.

Seamus McCauley, head of communications at Holiday Extras, stated: “Most people who flew out of the UK since 2019 tell us they want to get away this summer, but after more than two years without a holiday people are changing or even cancelling their plans just to avoid the hassle of queues, travel restrictions and their favourite resorts running out of rooms.”

Garry Graham, deputy basic secretary of the Prospect union, has spoken out concerning the current travel chaos, saying unions had warned each authorities and travel business concerning the knock-on impact of employees cuts through the pandemic.

“Unions warned the government and aviation employers repeatedly that slashing staff through the crisis would lead to problems with the ramp-up post-pandemic,” stated Mr Graham.

“The government point to the furlough scheme, but ignore that it ended well before the majority of international restrictions on travel came to an end.

“Now we see staff shortages across the industry, with huge reliance on overtime to get by day to day.

“In many areas, like air traffic control, overtime is only a temporary sticking plaster. So, things could get worse this summer before they get better.”

Tim Jeans, director of Cornwall Airport Newquay has stated that the UK’s airways and airports have been “short of the numbers of people they need”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, Mr Jeans stated: “When I used to run Monarch Airlines I always said you must never let the problem get to the airport. You know there’s a problem coming, you know if you can’t crew flights, you know if you don’t have the resources.

“To let people get to an airport and then say ‘I’m sorry, we can’t deal with it’, is… not ideal. So no, we’ve got to plan, we’ve got to plan better, resource better and basically make sure that these kind of things which are putting people off travel do not reoccur throughout the summer.

He added: “Well, it’s going to be a while before they get better, let me say that – there’s no point in being unrealistic. It won’t be I think as bad as this peak weekend – this very, very busy Jubilee weekend – but unfortunately I see things happening through the summer.”

Eurostar passengers say queues are persevering with into the afternoon, following this morning’s delays at London St Pancras.

“Absolute chaos at London St Pancras. Q’s all the way up Midland Road for the Eurostar! A lot of cheesed off travellers,” tweeted buyer Dazza shortly earlier than 3pm.

“Advise anyone trying to catch @Eurostar at St Pancras to stay home. Absolute chaos, queues round several blocks, and zero information. (Also don’t bother turning up early- we were only allowed to start standing in a stationary queue 45 min before departure),” added creator Svenja O’Donnell.

Meanwhile buyer Kirsten Jeffs stated she was nonetheless ready for the two.30pm practice, “which is now leaving god knows when”.

This morning, Eurostar representatives had stated there was a “small backlog” attributable to a technical problem, which ought to have cleared inside half-hour.

A Eurostar spokesperson stated: “Unfortunately delays of 30-60 minutes on departure from St. Pancras are continuing – following on from the technical issue this morning.

“Our staff are working hard to get passengers checked in and on to their trains.”

The small Canadian price range airline OWG (quick for Off We Go) has raised the entry-level wage of all its cabin crew.

In a press launch headed “More Love!”, OWG says: “In order to thank its flight attendants for their continued high-calibre in-flight service despite the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic, and to celebrate International Flight Attendant Day, OWG is announcing today that it will offer a new, extremely competitive salary scale which will undoubtedly stand out in the market.

“From their first year of service, flight attendants will be able to earn an annual salary of $45,000 (£28,250), in addition to all the other benefits which include, among others, insurance plan benefits, a group pension plan and access to a profit-sharing programme.

“It should be noted that another training [session] is planned over the next few weeks and there are still a few flight attendant positions to be filled…”

A bunch of passengers who missed their flight to Bilbao yesterday because of an hours-long verify in queue have stated they’re nonetheless ready at Gatwick Airport 24 hours later.

Valentina Montoya Vivas and 4 members of the family, together with youngsters aged two and 11, say they had been had been set to fly out on Vueling’s flight VY6306 yesterday at 3.25pm, however discovered themselves in a three-hour-long check-in queue for the airline.

When the group flagged to airline employees that they might probably miss their flight, they had been suggested it was being held.

However, the flight took off with out the household one hour and 25 minutes late, and the group say there was hardly any customer support reps out there to assist them rebook a flight. In the top she booked her personal resort room in a single day.

Now Ms Montoya-Vivas says she is again ready at Gatwick the place queues are “worse than yesterday”. She has been provided a flight tomorrow however is hoping to get on an earlier one at the moment.

The Independent has contacted Vueling for remark.

With travel disruption throughout the UK in the mean time, many readers are struggling to rebook flights and get compensation from airways.

So what are your rights in case your flight is cancelled?

The Independent’s travel skilled Simon Calder author: “You are entitled to travel on the original day of departure, if there is any commercial way of getting you to your destination.

“You should give the cancelling airline the opportunity to arrange a new flight (or, for domestic links in Great Britain, or trips to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, a train).”

He continues: “In addition to buying you a ticket to the country/region, the cancelling airline must also provide or pay for any additional ground transportation to get you to your original destination.

“For example, if your easyJet flight to Naples is cancelled from Gatwick and the only alternative departure that day is on British Airways or ITA from Heathrow, then the airline should provide transport for your from Gatwick to Heathrow (likely a National Express bus).

“If you are not given help, again you can pay and reclaim – but do all you can to keep the cost down. A taxi would not be reasonable and appropriate unless, say, you are in a group of four.”

Read Simon’s full breakdown of your client rights when travelling from the UK and Europe right here:

Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel has slammed the “blame game” between the travel business and the UK authorities over the present travel chaos, saying that each one “must take their share of responsibility” and assist holidaymakers.

“The blame game over staff shortages and flight cancellations is no help at all to passengers, who need instant action to bring an end to the airport chaos that is causing so much misery and leaving many people out of pocket, with little hope of getting all their money back,” stated Mr Boland.

“The government and regulators must take their share of responsibility for creating a situation where airlines feel empowered to treat passengers poorly and ignore their legal obligations to put passengers on alternative flights to their destinations, with other carriers if necessary – enforcing this rule would help thousands of passengers immediately.

“Ministers should drop plans to cut passenger compensation when UK domestic flights are delayed or cancelled, and give the Civil Aviation Authority the powers it needs to hold airlines to account when they flout the law – including the ability to fine operators directly.

“It is obvious to anyone witnessing the shameful scenes at UK airports that passenger rights desperately need to be strengthened, rather than weakened further.”

It’s already been fairly the week for travellers making an attempt to get away on half-term holidays.

Over the previous couple of days, chaotic scenes have been reported at airports throughout the UK and Ireland, plus Amsterdam, the place Schiphol airport noticed quite a few passengers miss flights whereas ready in line for safety.

Airlines have additionally been struggling beneath the strain of elevated demand, with easyJet and Tui compelled to preemptively axe hundreds of flights this week.

But why is the aviation business discovering it so difficult to reduce up as travellers return en masse? And what do you have to do in case your flight’s been cancelled?

Our skilled Simon Calder can be available later at the moment, Tuesday 31 May, to reply all of your questions in an ‘Ask me anything’ occasion, between 4-5pm.

Click under to submit your query: