Flight cancellations – live: easyJet and BA cancel more flights as Eurostar trains delayed

Some easyJet flights grounded on Friday as staff shortage continues to blight airline’s schedules

Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, has made another round of flight cancellations for the second day of the Platinum Jubilee holiday.

The Independent has identified some of the grounded flights to and from easyJet’s biggest base, London Gatwick.

The only service of the day to Munich has been cancelled, along with departures to Budapest and Barcelona.

After large numbers of flights were cancelled at very late notice last week, easyJet has cut around 24 departures a day to and from Gatwick.

Affected passengers must be flown to their intended destination on the original day of travel if any seats are available – including on rival airlines.

In addition hotel accommodation must be provded if an overnight stay is required, with commensurate meals.

Your full rights here:

Simon Calder2 June 2022 16:00

Special Sunday opening for Elizabeth line

The final day of the long Platinum Jubilee weekend, on 5 June, is a Sunday – the day of the week which would normally see no service on the new Elizabeth line.

But because of the celebrations, the new railway beneath the centre of London is to open specially between around 8am and 8.30pm.

Trains run every five minutes on a short route between Paddington station and Abbey Wood in southeast London.

The closest station to Buckingham Palace, Bond Street, is not yet open.

The Elizabeth line, also known as the Crossrail project, opened three-and-a-half years behind schedule.

Simon Calder2 June 2022 15:40

Could the German €9 rail deal prove too popular?

Large crowds of travellers have converged at the main station of Hamburg – apparently taking advantage of the “9-Euro-Ticket”, which allows unlimited travel anywhere in the nation during the entire month of June for a one-off payment equivalent to £7.70.

After a journey of around 30 miles, the pass has paid for itself – meaning all travel for the rest of the month is effectively free. While the €9 ticket cannot be used on the fastest expresses, cross-country journeys are perfectly feasible using “Regional Express” trains.

A journey from Hamburg to Salzburg, just across the Austrian border (but allowed with the ticket) takes 14 or 15 hours.

British traveller Barry Freeman told The Independent: “The first test might be this coming weekend. It’s Whitsun weekend.”

Simon Calder2 June 2022 15:32

Tube strike averted for Friday but still set for Monday of jubilee weekend

Industrial action which was set to affect Green Park and Euston stations in London tomorrow has been averted.

However, a separate, much bigger tube strike planned for Monday 6 June - the day after the long weekend - is currently still set to go ahead.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 14:56

Ireland transport minister accused of being ‘asleep at the wheel’ over Dublin Airport

Ireland’s transport minister, Eamon Ryan, has been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” over the travel chaos at Dublin Airport during the past fortnight.

The Irish hub has seen hours-long queues with several passengers missing flights.

Speaking in the Dáil, Sinn Féin spokesperson Pearse Doherty said: “Everyone knew that aviation would rebound once the pandemic subsided, with pent-up demand for international travel, such as it is. Everyone, minister, except yourself and the Daa.

He continued: “Your government can’t get an international airport to function properly on your watch. What does it say to the tourism sector that relies on Dublin Airport to function properly and provide a service that tourists can depend on?

“The fact that the airport plans to function with security staff levels at 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels is not acceptable.

“Now, you’ve been unable to give an assurance that we won’t see scenes like we did last weekend. And frankly, you’ve been asleep at the wheel minister.

“You’ve been asleep at the wheel right throughout this process, only to appear last weekend.”

Mr Ryan responded by saying the scenes last weekend were “inexcusable”, but that he was “confident” passengers would be able to get through smoothly in the coming weeks.

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 14:13

Two European passport holders with settled status asked for ‘additional ID’ to fly home to UK

Two women with settled status in the UK claim that airlines have asked them for “additional ID” in order to fly back to the UK within the last week.

Andreea Dumitrache and Lara Parizotto were both travelling on European passports - Romanian and Italian, respectively - when they say easyJet and Ryanair staff insisted they needed to see extra identification.

Ms Parizotto took video of her encounter with an airline worker over the issue.

When they resisted or could not show another form of ID, both say airline staff threatened to deny them boarding.

Read the full story:

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 13:36

Queues continue at St Pancras for Eurostar customers

“Queues, queues and more queues,” tweeted Daniela Karmios at St Pancras, posting a photo of heavy lines.

Twitter user @Alewidge added, “My Eurostar 9132 from London to Lille Europe is being delayed by 1h45, which means I’m going to miss my connection with TGV 9836 from Lille Europe to Valence TGV. This is the last train of the day in that direction from Lille. What is the solution here?”

Meanwhile Ian T wrote a useful thread for those catching Eurostar trains today, saying: “Arriving at KGX [St Pancras] in the 60-90 [minute] window before your train leaves is the right decision.”

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 12:59

Manchester Airport nightmare as passenger misses flight in security queue

One passenger has spoken of a “nightmare” morning at Manchester Airport, where she says long security queues caused her and three other passengers to miss a flight.

Holly Blackwood told The Independent that she had arrived three hours before her easyJet flight - 4.45am - but still managed to fall foul of a three-hour security queue.

“We arrived three hours before our flight to Copenhagen. We’d checked in online so literally just had to get through security,” says Ms Blackwood, who was due to fly on flight EZY1985 at 7.45am.

“The security staff were clearly overrun with people but they kept saying we’d all be fine and make our flights.

“I ran to the gate but by the time I got to the gate at 7:45am it had closed. The plane was still there but the easyJet team wouldn’t let me on.”

Ms Blackwood says she was able to book a later easyJet flight for this evening but must now wait four hours to go back through security,

“I’m now having a Bloody Mary!” she reports.

Read the full story:

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 12:49

Holidaymakers arriving in UK report hours-long waits for baggage

As airport bosses get a handle on queue management just in time for the jubilee weekend, frustrated air passengers returning from holidays are reporting hours-long waits for baggage.

Tui customers arriving at Bristol Airport this morning told The Independent more than two hours for bags to appear following an eight-hour flight.

Shortly before 6am this morning, passenger Louis Parkes reported waiting for three hours for luggage from an easyJet flight to appear at Gatwick.

“@Gatwick_Airport Any idea when the luggage from @easyJet flight from Dalaman as been waiting for 3hrs now and still no word from @dhlexpressuk as to when we might see it?” he wrote on social media.

Read the full story:

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 11:51

‘It isn’t helpful for government to rewrite history and point the finger at the airlines’ says pilot union boss

The general secretary of pilots’ union BALPA, Martin Chalke, has spoken out about the travel chaos experienced by airlines and airports in the past fortnight, saying “pointing the finger never helps anybody.”

“A lack of staff is the bottom line and that isn’t easy to fix,” said the British Airline Pilots Association boss.

“Delay and cancellation are the result of not having the right people in the right place and with the right experience.”

He said “there isn’t a shortage of pilots” and that applications were being made for people to become cabin crew.

“It’s more about being given the training to operate. The training systems can only expand so much and at the moment they’re flat out,” he explained.

He said some aviation staff could take between one and six months to retrain, depending on how long they’ve been away.

Of the government’s comments about the aviation industry this week, Mr Chalke said: Finger pointing never helps anybody.

“The best way is analysing the experience and learning from it.

“It isn’t helpful for the government to rewrite history and point the finger at the airlines.

He did say that “airlines themselves are not completely blameless”, saying they need to “offer quality employment”.

“The aviation industry has to learn that it needs to offer worthwhile jobs and the government needs to learn to work with us.”

(BALPA)

Lucy Thackray2 June 2022 11:39