Holidaymakers are facing flight cancellations and the possibility of road delays as the middle of the period begins and the UK is preparing for a weekend of extended bank holidays.
Mid-June traditionally heralds the start of the summer tourist season, and this year comes amid rising consumer demand for leisure getaways following the relaxation of Covid’s travel restrictions in the UK United.
At the start of the busiest pandemic travel period, over the weekend, passengers were seen trapped in one-hour queues at various airports and flight chains canceled by airlines such as easyJet and Tui.
There were new problems at Manchester Airport, where many passengers lost their flights in the early spring after waiting for hours to pass through security due to staff shortages.
The airport, which along with much of the aviation industry has struggled to recruit staff after pandemic layoffs, warned on its official Twitter page that there were delays in billing and recovery. luggage.
The airport tweeted that it was “aware of the challenges facing various airlines and management agents” and, apologizing for the situation, urged passengers to contact their airline.
Matthew Ashton, vice president of design for Lego toy maker, was one of the passengers who shared problems at Manchester airport on Sunday. He tweeted that this Ryanair flight had been “sitting on the runway again for about an hour”, without being able to take off, because the luggage from the previous flight had not yet been unloaded.
Dublin Airport also warned passengers on Sunday that they could miss their flights due to “significant queues” inside the terminal for check-in, baggage and security. About 50,000 passengers had to leave the airport during the day.
Passengers from airlines hoping to leave with the travel company Tui over the weekend also complained about the late cancellation of several flights that had been scheduled to take off from UK airports.
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The travel company said it had canceled a “small number” of flights between Friday and Sunday at airports such as Gatwick, Birmingham and Bristol, and blamed it on “operational and supply chain problems”.
Tui’s cancellations came after easyJet cut off more than 200 flights scheduled to leave London Gatwick over a 10-day period from May 28 to June 6, disrupting travel plans of tens of thousands of tourists.
An easyJet spokesman apologized for the “inconvenience” caused to passengers, but said the measure was “necessary to provide reliable services during this busy period”.
According to Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, which added that “this is not an isolated event.”
Boland said the consumer group had “heard from passengers complaining that the airline is not taking their consumer rights into account, as well as not communicating effectively with those trapped abroad and not they know when they could go home. “
Which one? calls for the aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, to have the power to issue direct fines to airlines that do not comply with consumer law.
On the roads, motorists have been warned that they will face delays and disruptions, as an estimated 5 million more people will use their cars over the long weekend.
Drivers are planning 19.5 million leisure trips during extended rest, according to RAC Breakdown research, while people visit family and friends or go out daily.
RAC traffic spokesman Rod Dennis said: “The fact that the holidays coincide with the end of the mid-quarter in many places has the potential to put additional pressure on the road network, so it’s important plan a trip carefully to overcome the worst of queues. “
However, some travel disruptions are expected to last beyond bank holiday celebrations. A railway union leader has said he “does not see a way out of the strikes” that could affect the railways from mid-June, ahead of an expected march by members of the railway union, Maritime and Transport (RMT) on jobs i sou.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge program on Sunday that the strike action was “very, very likely” unless the government instructed companies to change their line. “.
The prospect of a rail strike has raised fears of the closure of large parts of the rail network, which could affect the supply of petrol and diesel and the delivery of goods to stores.