Half-term travel – live: Airport chaos continues as easyJet and British Airways cancel flights
Holidaymakers face delays, queues and flight cancellations
Kass
British holidaymakers hoping to jet off this week face continuing travel disruption across the UK.
After preemptively axing 240 flights over the weekend, easyJet cancelled two more services at the last minute from Gatwick this morning.
The budget carrier’s grounding of the dawn flights to Seville and Rome was announced only an hour before they were due to depart.
Meanwhile, passengers arriving at Dublin airport in the early hours of this morning continued to report long queues for security following a weekend which saw lines stretch outside the terminal, with passengers warned by the airport they could miss flights as a result.
Outside of the UK, travellers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport also reported similarly chaotic scenes. Britons waited for two hours outside the terminal amid half term holiday chaos, with flights jetting off without passengers who were stuck in queues.
Elsewhere, other carriers are suffering long delays. At Bristol and Manchester airports, many Tui and Jet2 passengers are departing two or three hours behind schedule.
British Airways continues to scrap more than 100 flights a day, though these are pre-planned cancellations, with affected passengers warned ahead of time.
Passengers yodel in queue at Dublin airport
Passengers at Dublin airport were seen singing and yodelling in the check-in queue for German airline Lufthansa.
Delays at Dublin have continued today after a long weekend which saw scores of passengers missing flights.
Liam James30 May 2022 15:48
Gatwick ‘still suffering delays'
Delays persist at London Gatwick, according to accounts from social media users.
One Twitter user claimed today they had been waiting more than three hours for airport staff to drop their bags off for a flight.
The Independent learnt yesterday that easyJet had decided to cancel more flights at Gatwick, its biggest base, after a week that saw hundreds of planes grounded.
The airline is cutting 24 flights per day from Saturday 28 May to Monday 6 June inclusive.
The Independent has asked Gatwick for an update on the general situation.
Liam James30 May 2022 15:35
Watch: Dublin airport chaos continues
Scenes from Dublin airport this morning after a weekend of delays that led the Irish government to summon aiport managers for a meeting to explain themselves and what they had planned to remedy the situation.
Dublin airport chaos continues as huge queues cause passengers to miss flights
Liam James30 May 2022 15:29
Plane takes 12 hours to fly from Dallas to LA
A recent American Airlines flight took 12 hours to fly between Dallas Fort Worth, Texas to Los Angeles, California – a trip that normally takes just over three hours (Helen Coffey writes).
The worst part for frustrated passengers was that their intended destination had been Tokyo.
The 28 May service to the Japanese capital was more than seven hours into its standard route to Narita airport and was flying over the North Pacific Ocean when it was forced to make a U-turn.
Liam James30 May 2022 15:18
Airport warns against arriving too early for flights
Operators at Bristol airport have warned passengers not to arrive too early for their flight as this makes queues longer and adds to delays.
Head of customer operations Richard Thomasson said: “The Bristol airport team and business partners are working hard to ensure all customers have a smooth and easy journey through the terminal.
“For early morning flight departures we are seeing customers arriving five hours prior to flight departure, adding to the congestion in the terminal. This is something we have not experienced before.”
Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the appropriate check-in time.
Liam James30 May 2022 14:58
'Many in tears’ at Manchester airport
A man who said he was stuck at Manchester aiport for 11 hours before his flight to Greece was cancelled told the BBC people were “in tears” amid the chaotic scenes.
James Sutton, 50, of Warrington, said he had been due to take off on Sunday on the 07:55 BST flight to Heraklion in Crete.
He said: “It was a shambles. It took nearly three hours just to check-in with our bags.
“When we did get on the flight it couldn’t take off as they didn’t know where anyone’s bags were.”
Mr Sutton added: “After a few hours, the pilot decided to take everyone off and the flight was cancelled.
“There were lots of angry people with many in tears.
“The police came at one point as I think staff were worried it was going to boil over.”
Manchester airport has apologised for the general disruption.
Liam James30 May 2022 14:45
Passengers queued 1 and a half hours at security gates – Bristol
Bristol airport said passengers queued for one and a half hours at security gates this morning.
Delays to security checks have been behind lots of travel chaos in recent months.
Several airports have reported staff shortages as travel picks up from the pandemic nadir.
Liam James30 May 2022 14:31
More on the ground from Bristol
Some more pictures have come through from Bristol airport, where passengers were forced to queue outside the terminal building this morning due to delays [see earlier post].
Passengers at the Jet2 stand today
(Tom Wren/SWNS)
Departures at Bristol
(Tom Wren/SWNS)
Liam James30 May 2022 14:18
Which? posts advice on claiming compensation
Consumer advice brand Which? has posted a guide on claiming compensation for flights missed due to delays.
It says passengers are unlikely to be refunded if the delays are due to the airport rather than the airline.
Liam James30 May 2022 14:05
All the British Airways flights cancelled today from UK airports
British Airways has cancelled 140 short-haul flights to and from its main base, London Heathrow airport on Monday.
The Independent calculates 26 domestic flights have been grounded, including four round-trips from Heathrow to Edinburgh and two to both Aberdeen and Glasgow. inverness, Manchester, Newcastle and Jersey are also affected.
One hundred and fourteen international flights are cancelled, including four round-trips from Heathrow to Amsterdam and holiday flights to Faro, Malaga and Venice.
Helen Coffey and Simon Calder have compiled a list of all cancelled flights here:
Liam James30 May 2022 13:53
