(CNN) – Now it’s the summer of our discontent, Shakespeare didn’t write exactly in “Richard III,” but for air travelers to the United States and Europe this is exactly what it looks like this summer.
Flights are disappearing from schedules, some at the last minute because airlines do not offer services in which travelers have spent significant amounts of money, often in hopes of enjoying their first getaway in years. In the United States alone, more than 1,500 flights were canceled this past Saturday and Sunday, and the United States is facing its busy July 4 holiday weekend. Delta Air Lines has cut about 100 flights a day from its schedule in July to “minimize disruptions” and has issued an exemption for July 4 passengers as it prepares for passenger volumes “not seen before of the pandemic “. Air Canada has said it will cancel up to 10% of flights in July and August, about 150 a day.
At airports, scenes of passengers queuing outside terminal doors or camping in boat lounges are becoming increasingly familiar, as security delays, check-in and immigration add to the chaos.
Passengers have been asked to show up even earlier to make their flight and, to add to the confusion, have been asked again to come not too soon. “Please note that you are only welcome in the departure lounge 4 hours before your flight,” Amsterdam Schipol Airport reported this week.
And then there’s the luggage problem. At London Heathrow Airport, photographs showing large piles of bags separated from their owners have become iconic to the experiences of many flyers faced with the frustration of trying to reclaim lost possessions or wait days to find them. be with them.
There are no quick fixes
Airports and airlines have been struggling to replace the trained workers they dropped during the pandemic.
Chandan Khanna / AFP / Getty Images
All in all, air travel is a bit of a nightmare, even a gamble, right now. And the high season is just beginning.
Apparently there are no quick fixes. This week, German airline Lufthansa warned passengers in an email that “the situation is unlikely to improve in the short term,” insisting that stability would only be achieved in the winter.
“There are still not too many employees and resources available, not only to our infrastructure partners but also in some of our areas,” he said. “Currently, almost all companies in our sector are hiring new staff, with several thousand planned in Europe alone.”
Even when the problem is mainly related to the airport, this can also mean that flights are delayed and canceled. The Dutch company KLM was recently forced to abandon all incoming European flights to Amsterdam, apparently due to airport congestion.
So what’s going on? Much of commercial aviation is almost a real rocket science, but the set of problems that airlines and airports are currently experiencing are not these. Instead, it is a much more normal business problem: staffing.
And the aviation industry should have seen it coming.
‘No surprise’
Crowds and queues at airport terminals are becoming a feature of air travel in the summer of 2022.
Stephane Mahe / Reuters
“Between their own research, the research that my company and others have conducted and their booking systems, airline executives should have seen, and therefore should have known, that there would be a great demand to travel again, ”says Henry Harteveldt, director. at the market research and consulting firm Atmosphere Research.
“Either they didn’t look at their own data, or they misread it or they misinterpreted it, but none of that should have been a surprise to the airlines.”
In almost all cases, the problem is that during the pandemic too many experienced people were let go, either fired or with a voluntary departure, and that airlines, airports and other key parts of the aviation system have not contracted or qualified. enough people to replace them.
This rating point is important. Because airlines and airports know all too well, there is a whole process to get someone the kind of security pass that allows them to work on a plane or at the door of an airport.
In the UK, there is also the fact that they cannot turn to the group of workers in the European Union after Brexit.
There’s also often quite complicated training to get the job done, mostly because the look and feel of many air travel computer systems looks more at home in the 1980s than in the modern world of the iPhone or Android.
Addison Schonland, a partner at aviation analysis and reporting company AirInsight, sums up the likely sectors affected as “any part of the air travel system that has employees.”
“Dismissals are easy, going back to people with the right security clearance is difficult,” Schonland says. “Also American airlines, in particular, have a reputation for being unreliable employers: boom and fall cycles mean unstable careers, and work requires skilled people and is trying to work. that these people have more attractive options now. “
Some of the problems are around over-outsourcing.
Recipe for the interruption
Mountains of bags separated from their owners at London Heathrow Airport have become iconic to the current problems of air travel.
Takuya Matsumoto / The Yomiuri Shimbun / Reuters Connect
At many airports, especially in Europe, key tasks such as check-in, security, baggage, gates and airport operations are performed by staff working for third-party airlines with whom airlines and airlines operate. airports contract. You will often find them in a soft uniform. this is not the same as the employees of your airline.
These people do work that in some cases is quite hard, such as lifting bags outside with snow and sun, working before dawn and late in the evening, and dealing with increasingly frustrated passengers.
Some of them are also a real labor relations issue.
For example, during the pandemic, British Airways asked some UK employees to reduce their pay by 10%. Since then, some workers have raised their wages, but not the Heathrow registration staff, who are now willing to strike to get it. British Airways has said it is disappointed with the measure and hopes to find a way to prevent industrial action.
No matter which side of the Atlantic you’re on, it’s a recipe for disruption.
In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration faces problems due to the shortage of air traffic controllers, says Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research.
“Covid-related health restrictions limited the FAA’s ability to hire and train new air traffic controllers in 2020 and 2021,” he says. “Also, air traffic controllers have to retire at 56, and the timing didn’t stop during those two years.
“The FAA is actively hiring people to become air traffic controllers, but the training process takes time. In the meantime, airlines are scheduling more flights to some destinations, especially Florida, than the FAA can handle.
“So even when the weather is good, sometimes the FAA has to give some longer flights and less direct routes that can cause delays, in order to distribute the load among its air traffic control centers.”
So what should flywheels do?
The best advice I can give you as an aviation journalist who has never seen so much interruption is to book defensively.
– Consider alternatives to the flight, if your trip is possible in less than eight hours by train, boat, bus or car. If you are not traveling with people who need to return to school in the fall, consider a trip in September or October instead of July or August.
– If you have to fly, choose non-stop flights instead of connecting flights if they are available and affordable. Connections add complexity and increase vulnerability to cancellation or delay, especially those through sites that can experience severe weather issues in the summer.
– In Europe, choose the smallest centers with a reputation for efficiency and without any major interruptions recently reported: Munich, Zurich and Vienna are the safest bets.
– Choose flights earlier than later; this would mean more options for same day travel in case your flight is canceled or significantly delayed. If possible, close connections, less than a couple, should be avoided.
– Opt for airlines that offer many flights a day on a route instead of those with only one or two.
– Investigate what other options are on a route. If you show up for the day and there are storms in Dallas or Houston, can you ask the airline agent to direct you to Chicago, Philadelphia or Dulles?
– Some airlines offer quick check-in and security, room access and priority boarding as an additional purchase, and this is a better deal than ever. Or in the US, consider TSA PreCheck. Sign in to your booking every few weeks to see if there are any discount upgrade options – it’s a good time to step down for more convenience and quick benefits.
– Join your airline’s frequent flyer program. Not only will you get a few miles, but most booking change systems will prioritize frequent travelers in some way, even those with a low mileage balance. Also use the airline app, which will provide you with any booking changes.
– In case the app’s backup change options don’t work, phone calls or social media may work. Airlines often respond to direct messages via Twitter. The platform is also good for airlines, airports or even weather updates.
– Pack lightly and choose to bring only the car, if you can. If you need to check in your luggage, store your clothes for a few days and anything essential in your carry-on luggage. Bring snacks, chargers and charge your devices with TV and movies. And bring the most important thing this summer, and any time you travel: patience.
Good luck and feel free to ask questions on Twitter, where you can find me as @thatjohn.
Top image: Passengers on a TSA checkpoint at Orlando International Airport, May 3. Credit: Kirby Lee / AP
Aviation journalist John Walton specializes in the passenger experience. With more than a decade of experience spanning aircraft, seats, cabins, connectivity, digital, design, marketing and branding, he has a unique perspective on what makes the world’s largest industry work. You can find him on Twitter at …