Travel disruption – live: Calls for automatic airline refunds grow as Wizz Air adds to advance cancellations
Wizz Air has announced ‘a large number’ of cancellations from 10 June onwards
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The travel disruption experienced by UK holidaymakers in recent weeks looks set to continue, as Wizz Air becomes the latest airline to announce a series of cancelled flights to and from the UK.
The Hungarian low-cost carrier announced that it is cancelling “a large number of flights” from Doncaster Sheffield Airport from 10 June onwards.
The airline says the move is “a result of Doncaster Sheffield Airport indicating that it is unable to guarantee the terms of its commercial agreement with Wizz Air”.
Meanwhile, easyJet has cancelled at least 30 flights on Friday - the airline has said it is proactively cancelling 240 flights in the 10 days to 6 June, giving passengers some advance notice. British Airways also cancelled 120 flights for Friday - the airline says these are pre-planned and that passengers were given advance notice.
The UK’s airport queues are reported to have largely eased, with fewer problems at security and check-in reported by passengers than in recent days.
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.
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:
All the British Airways flights cancelled today from UK airports
Cancelled flights at Gatwick and Heathrow
Dublin airport operators summoned to meet minister to explain chaos
Dublin Airport officials have been summoned to an urgent meeting with Irish junior minister Hildegarde Naughton today after “significant queues” yesterday forced the airport to admit that some passengers could miss their flights.
In a statement on Sunday, the Department of Transport said Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Ms Naughton have “expressed deep unhappiness” over the scenes at the airport over the weekend. Irish prime minster Micheal Martin said the situation was “not satisfactory”.
As a reminder of what it was like yesterday, see the following video which features scenes not dissimilar to those at Bristol airport this morning [see earlier post].
Dublin airport passengers told they ‘may miss flights’ due to queues
The chaos continues at Dublin airport today, as snaking queues reportedly started building up in the early hours of this morning (Helen Coffey writes).
A passenger shared video filmed at 3.40am, in which long lines can be seen waiting for security.
“Queues thick with people growing in depth too,” tweeted Dr Barrett, alongside the footage. “Management well aware for months – worse it’s getting.”
They added: “Time through security display has been turned off ... sums it up really.”
Manchester Airport ‘blames everyone else'
Manchester Airport has been criticised for pinning the blame for mass flight delays on airlines and baggage handlers.
In a statement, the airport apologised for the disruption but said delays at check-in and baggage reclaim were the responsibility of airlines and ground handling firms, which run their own services.
It added that staff were “in contact with the senior management teams of the relevant airlines and ground handlers” to “understand the cause of these issues”.
Twitter users were not satisfied by the airport’s statement and voiced their disagreement.
“Another statement that pretty much blames everyone else ... They seem in denial. Management overhaul needed,” one wrote.
Manchester airport also said it was working to make security waiting times shorter – which one user alleged was because of a shortage of security staff.
They wrote: “How are the ‘airline companies’ to blame for the ridiculous and dangerous security queues?? This is a shameful statement as a large number of ‘Security’ were laid off at the start of covid as you didn’t want to make up the furlough shortfall!!”
After delays at the airport earlier in Spring, a spokesperson said it was “under-resourced” and trying to recruit more staff.
Passengers queue for hours to enter Bristol ‘zoo’
Stranded travelers have reportedly compared the scenes at Bristol airport to “a zoo” with scenes of disorder and confusion.
Over the weekend, the chaos at Bristol saw thousands of passengers arrive to board flights ahead of the May half term and bank holiday weekend.
Today, passengers reported having to wait hours to even enter the airport building.
The following pictures were taken at Bristol airport today.
'People were behaving like animals’ at Amsterdam Schiphol
Britons waited for two hours outside Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport amid half term holiday chaos, with flights jetting off without passengers who were stuck in queues (Josie Adnitt writes).
Queues stretched from outside the building through to security with the airport blaming staff shortages for the delays.
Passengers said they waited for around two hours outside and then spent up to a further hour in various lines inside the terminal.
EasyJet customers in the queue had already faced additional delays after their Saturday flights were cancelled due to “IT issues”.
‘People were behaving like animals’: Britons tell of Amsterdam Schiphol chaos
Staff shortages are blamed for security queues that stretched outside building
Tui and Jet2 flights delayed at Manchester and Bristol
Carriers besides easyJet are suffering long delays. At Bristol and Manchester airports, many Tui and Jet2 passengers are departing two or three hours behind schedule.
Many Tui customers waited all day at several airports over the weekend only to find their entire holiday eventually cancelled.
A Tui spokesperson said: “The half-term holidays are always an incredibly busy period with many customers looking to get away.
“Unfortunately, due to various operational and supply chain issues a small number of flights have been delayed or cancelled.
“We’d like to reassure customers that we are doing everything we can to minimise delays and will be in direct communication should their holiday be impacted.
“We can confirm all passengers awaiting inbound flights from destination have been able to stay in their hotels and meals have been provided. We are in touch and will update them with revised travel plans as soon as we can.”
More easyJet flight cancellations
After grounding dozens of holiday flights over the weekend, particularly to and from London Gatwick, easyJet has done the same on Monday morning. At least 32 departures have been axed at the Sussex airport, affecting more than 5,000 passengers.
Britain’s biggest budget airline made hundreds of cancellations last week, and on Friday decided pro-actively to axe 240 flights up to 6 June.
While most of Monday’s cancellations were advised two days ago, the grounding of the dawn flights to Seville and Rome was announced only an hour ahead. The airline blamed the impact of air-traffic control restrictions at Gatwick on Sunday evening.
All the easyJet flights cancelled today
Passengers at Gatwick heading for Rome and Seville on Monday morning were given an hour’s notice that their flights were cancelled
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