Britain’s airports crisis will continue through the Jubilee weekend and was laid bare today in an extraordinary video where two police officers were drafted in to tell irate TUI customers queuing to board their flight that their holiday was cancelled and they had to go home.
Jayesh Patel, his wife and family were among the hundreds of people at Manchester Airport for eight hours until their holiday to Greece was axed while they sat at the gate with newlyweds going on their honeymoon or children ready for their first ever holiday.
Mr Patel, whose half term break had been two years in the planning, said there was anger and tears as two policemen arrived to read a statement from TUI, moments after they began receiving texts telling them their flight and package breaks would not go ahead.
It came as tens of thousands of Britons faced snap cancellations, huge queues through the night, achingly long delays and were even forced to sleep on terminal floors and baggage carousels in chaotic scenes set to continue over the Platinum Jubilee weekend and potentially through the entire summer.
People caught up in the carnage have described shops selling out of food and water and people too frightened to go to the toilet in case they lose their place in the queues snaking around terminals at Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick and Heathrow.
Children heading for their first foreign breaks have had their hearts broken this week.
Autumn McManus, five, was pictured beaming with her Disney bag packed ready for Turkey. Minutes later her smiles turned to tears after the trip with her mum was cancelled.
Greedy airlines and airports have been blamed for the carnage and accused of slashing staff during the pandemic while hoovering up furlough payments and state aid – and now not having enough workers to cope with the numbers booking foreign post-pandemic holidays.
Jayesh Patel was due to travel to Kos from Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 with his wife and their three children, aged nine, 12 and 13 – and after eight hours waiting, he filmed the moment that police – not TUI staff – told holidaymakers that they would not be going away and would have to go home.
He told the BBC today: ‘The airport was understaffed, a lot of the outlets had ran out of food or closed at 6pm. We got called to the gate for the 7pm take off – four hours late. There was no staff.
‘People were very upset – some were going on their honeymoon. And then we all started getting texts that the flight was now cancelled and because it was a package booking the whole holiday was cancelled’.
He added: ‘The worst part that there was no Tui staff to help. And then two police officers arrived and read a statement telling us how we would exit the airport. Because the airplane hadn’t arrived from anywhere, our flight wasn’t listed at any of the baggage carousels so we didn’t know where to wait – people were visibly upset and children were crying. We then had to wait another couple of hours and at this point, we’d spent the whole day at the airport and just wanted to leave. ‘
It was police, not TUI staff, who were sent in to tell weary passengers at Manchester Airport that their entire holiday to Greece was cancelled and they had to leave
Gatwick: Tired travellers lay on the carousel at the West Sussex airport as they wait for their bags to arrive in chaotic scenes
Steven Hession, 45, enjoys some fizz as he heads to Manchester Airport with his family for a £4,000 two week break to the Greek island of Kos. Hours later, after long delays, the entire break was axed
Manchester: Row after row of uncollected luggage at the north-west airport that has suffered problems for weeks
Manchester: The lines left terminal and into the car park at 4.30am this morning
Bristol: Passengers have been queuing through the night as they try to get through airports that are lacking staff to cope
Bristol: There were lines snaking around the terminal at 3.30am today
Birmingham: Regional airports are missing up to a third of the staff they had before the pandemic with airlines and airports accused of pure greed
Her Disney bag packed, Autumn, five, was beaming, left, at Manchester airport ready for her first foreign holiday. But her smiles turned to tears, right, after the trip to Turkey with her mum was cancelled after their flight was axed.
Steven Hession, 45, was also supposed to be flying to Kos on Saturday with his wife, Kerrie, and their two children for a fortnight and an upcoming family wedding.
But after hours of delays and chaos, the family got to the departure gate only to get a text message from airline TUI informing them that their flight and holiday had been cancelled due to ‘significant operational disruption’ – believed to be a missing pilot.
He said: ‘After many hours of delays, we were at the boarding gate just after 7pm and there was no staff one there, but then we saw the cabin crew walking through to the plane, which made us feel reassured. But then we heard people crying… and everyone got this text at the same time saying unfortunately, your holiday has been cancelled, click this link to get a refund within 14 days.’
Britain’s travel crisis will peak next week and is predicted to continue for the entire summer.
A Government source told The Times: ‘The simple fact is that airlines and airports overcut staff during the pandemic, ignoring the fact that the billions of pounds of aid — including furlough — handed out by the government was meant to protect those very jobs.
‘Operators are now struggling to meet increasingly busy schedules as we move towards the first Covid-free summer since 2019 — a wholly foreseeable surge in bookings that should have been adequately prepared for.
‘The responsibility for maintaining adequate staffing levels lies with the airlines and airports themselves. Not only are they causing huge frustration to their customers, they are missing out on the benefits of the strong recovery in foreign travel.’
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told MailOnline that the issue is not for the government to step in on: ‘It’s for travel firms themselves to get themselves in order.
‘It might mean sadly diverting money due to go into investment, or earmarked for new aircraft or into better check-in facilities to instead go towards hiring more staff. They’ve got some tough decisions to make.’
‘Sadly, I think it will get worse because were reaching its peak in a few days,’ Mr Charles said. ‘Monday 6 June scheduled to be the busiest day since 2019, with 2,864 departures from the UK, and the same number of inbound flights – it will be the busiest day since before the pandemic.’
Transport workers trade union Unite also blamed the aviation chiefs for their mass-sackings during the Covid-19 pandemic, describing the airport chaos as a ‘crisis of their own making’.
The general secretary at Unite, Sharon Graham, told The Mirror that the chaos is to ‘last the entire summer season’: ‘During the pandemic, when airline operators and others in aviation slashed jobs to boost corporate profits, we warned this corporate greed would cause chaos in the industry.
‘The aftermath of mass sackings is now chronic staff shortages across the board. Aviation chiefs need to come clean with the public. This is a crisis of their making.
‘We are determined that workers will not pay for this crisis. Current pay and conditions in the industry are so poor that workers are voting with their feet. It can only be resolved by offering higher wages and better working conditions for staff. Unite is utterly determined to fight for that.’
A six-year-old girl was left in tears from ‘exhaustion’ after she and her family were stranded on their half-term holiday in Cyprus after TUI cancelled their flights twice – as a travel expert warns the travel chaos in UK airports is only set to get worse. Glenda Powell, 40, from Bristol, took to social media on Sunday night where she shared an image of her ‘exhausted’ six-year-old daughter, Freya, crying (pictured) because she is unable to return to the UK
Another family was left devastated after their first holiday since the Covid pandemic was cancelled by TUI as they waited to board their flight. Anna Saunders, pictured with her husband Matthew, and kids Eva and Jack
Holiday firm TUI sent a crushing text message after delaying the flight saying the family’s entire trip – costing £5,200 – was cancelled for ‘operational reasons’ – code for a lack of staff
Rory Boland, the travel editor of consumer group Which? said that the government must intervene to make sure airlines stop selling flights ‘they can’t actually provide’.
Chronic staffing shortages, IT glitches and extraordinary demand is causing the delays and chaos at airports
Pictured: Stansted. Passengers sleeping at the airport overnight due to flight cancelations and excessive delays during the half term weekend in to travel hell for many passengers hoping for a first holiday in two years
British Airways and easyJet have both been removing thousands of flights from schedules in recent months at Gatwick and Heathrow airports amid staff shortages.
The airlines say most travellers have been given at least a few weeks’ notice, although the situation this week has been compounded by an IT glitch affecting easyJet.
There are also issues recruiting for roles such as security staff, ground handlers and check-in staff which is seeing passengers advised to arrive much earlier than normal for their flights because they are facing long queues.
While many businesses in the aviation sector are struggling to rehire staff after many were let go during the pandemic due to a collapse in demand thanks to successive lockdowns, high levels of staff sickness for those who are still employed is also having an impact.
And as they continue to battle with a tight labour market that has more vacancies than job-seekers, airlines have not been able to recruit staff quickly enough after most foreign travel has been reopened over the last year – with the removal in restrictions both in the UK and abroad in recent months causing even greater demand.
The Unite union said there are ‘chronic staff shortages across the board’, and that ‘current pay and conditions in the industry are so poor that workers are voting with their feet’, adding: ‘It can only be resolved by offering higher wages and better working conditions for staff.’
Union officials added that many airport staff are being asked to work extra hours, and ‘relying on staff overtime to run the business can’t be a long-term solution’.
The situation is also not expected to improve any time soon – with the European Travel Commission saying air travel within Europe is set to recover to pre-pandemic levels this summer, although visitors from outside the region will likely be down 30 per cent from 2019.
He told The Times: ‘We’re already seeing very long queues, widespread chaos at airports, huge stress for people planning to get away, and we haven’t hit the peak yet.
‘Airports and airlines have known this recovery was coming for a period of time now. We’re continuing to see things get worse, not better.’
Airlines cancelled dozens more flights on Sunday and yesterday, forcing some travellers to lie down on airport floors while resting.
Half-term sun-seekers were pictured laying on floors at Stansted Airport following disruption and lengthy queues.
Snaking queues also formed outside Bristol and Gatwick airports from 4am yesterday.
It comes following chaotic scenes at Manchester Airport over the weekend when hundreds of Tui passengers were told their holidays had been cancelled after an eight-hour wait.
Industry sources say staffing levels are around 80 to 90 per cent of where they need to be for the peak summer season at larger airports and about 70 per cent at smaller ones.
But airport bosses insist queues have also been exacerbated by passengers turning up earlier than normal from the early hours, with most of the carnage cleared by yesterday afternoon.
Ministers are facing calls to slash more red tape to help travel firms recruit staff quicker in a bid to avoid similar scenes throughout the summer after they slashed thousands of jobs during the pandemic.
But British Airways travellers were warned they face a summer of chaos as two unions representing check-in staff – GMB and UNITE – said they have started balloting members on strike action in a row over pay.
Hundreds of staff at Heathrow Airport took a 10 per cent pay cut during the pandemic and are demanding their full salaries are reinstated amid cost-of-living pressures and passenger numbers surging again after the pandemic.
Without any check-in staff, most flights will likely be grounded.
It comes after easyJet announced it was cancelling at least 200 flights over the half-term holidays, which started yesterday (MON), affecting around 30,000 passengers.
EasyJet axed 32 flights yesterday while British Airways cancelled another 140. BA says the cancellations were made weeks ago and that customers were given plenty of notice.
Like queues at airports, the cancellations are fuelled by staff shortages.
Some airlines and airports have also struggled to recruit new staff since all Covid travel restrictions were dropped by the Government in March.
Operators like BA and easyJet slashed thousands of jobs during the pandemic, which critics say was too many.
Bosses at Bristol Airport said its bottlenecks were being caused by people turning up five hours early for their flights.
But passengers hit back and said the ‘morning rush hour’, during which dozens of flights left before 8am, was simply more than staff could cope with.
One Bristol passenger wrote online: ‘Only half the security lanes open and not fast track.
‘Two hours to get through. Queues started 300m on road outside.’ One father, who booked with airline Vueling, claimed his young teenage son was forced to fly ahead of him due to the flight being overbooked.
He posted: ‘Anyone thinking about booking to fly with @vueling think again. They consistently overbook flights so your flight is not guaranteed.
‘Waiting nearly 6 hours at Gatwick airport and counting.’
Gatwick: One holidaymaker with binoculars found wherever he could to sit after long delays
Birmingham: Holidaymakers wait for their bags at 11.30pm, with no sign of them arriving
Manchester: Holidaymakers queue for check-in at the Tui desks at just after 7am today
Heathrow: Terminal 5, home of British Airways, was also very busy this morning
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last month announced new laws so travel firms can begin training new recruits before they complete security checks.
New rules mean they can also write a letter to HMRC asking them to confirm employment histories, which form part of the checks.
However, industry leaders say they are still taking around four to five weeks to complete.
Boss of Heathrow Airport, John Holland-Kaye, said the Government changes were ‘limited’ and called on ministers to go further by allowing aviation employers to access HMRC records.
He told the Mail: ‘Currently it can take weeks if not months to validate someone’s employment.
‘Quite often we have to do five years of checks for background employment and for some people that might be ten or 15 employers over that time.
‘The HMRC change, accessing their records, would take the amount of time down from about four weeks to four minutes. It’s not too late to make that change.’
Asked about the fiasco yesterday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘We recognise that passengers are understandably frustrated and upset by the delays in some cases and flight cancellations and other disruptions.
‘We want everyone to be able to travel as freely and easily as possible and we want to see the travel and aviation sector bounce back from the pandemic.
‘What we saw what we saw over the weekend is an exceptionally high number of people travelling, which has meant that airports and other ports have been exceptionally busy.
‘We will continue to work with the aviation industry and port sector and be clear with them that we want to see disruption reduced to a minimum that includes working with them in terms of recruitment.’
Separately, a Government spokesman said: ‘The aviation industry is responsible for making sure they have enough staff to meet demand, and we have been clear that they must step up recruitment to make sure disruption is kept to a minimum.’
