EasyJet canceled 222 flights over the weekend due to staff shortages, with about 70 more cancellations expected today. British Airways also canceled about 70 flights to and from Heathrow today, following their cancellations at the weekend. About 20,000 passengers will be affected by today’s upheaval. A spokesman for easyJet said: “As a result of the current high rates of Covid infections across Europe, like all businesses, easyJet is experiencing higher than usual levels of employee illness.” Elsewhere, many passengers at Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham and Dublin airports experienced long queues and delays this week as they arrived to take off for the Easter holidays. Airport bosses attributed the delays to the sudden increase in passenger volume as they struggled to hire enough new staff to deal with customer traffic, which is growing as Covid travel restrictions loosen in many countries. Yesterday, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham suggested that police and firefighters could be called in to help control the chaos at the city’s airport, which has sparked fighting, with customers rioting for space and leaving their luggage. Follow all the latest updates below.
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BA and easyJet cancel about 70 flights on Tuesday Queues in Manchester continue amid staff shortages Dublin Airport still has three-hour queues
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Passengers stranded in long lines at Birmingham airport as staff shortages lead to delays
Passengers are stranded in long queues at Birmingham Airport as staff shortages lead to long delays. Delays at the airport began on Monday (April 4th) as the Easter holidays in the United Kingdom began. A Birmingham airport spokesman told Birmingham Live on Monday that the cause of the problem was the sudden return of people who wanted to fly, but the airport did not have the right number of security officers to check on everyone as quickly as they wanted. Travelers stranded at Birmingham airport as staff shortages lead to delays Holly Patrick5 April 2022 13:31 1649160924
Why are the airport security queues so long right now?
The problem is rooted in the extensive cancellations of British Airways and easyJet: an increase in demand for holidays abroad following the lifting of travel restrictions by the United Kingdom after almost two years. Covid has a huge impact in two ways. First, current staff illness levels are higher than normal. But there is also a long-term result – for the tens of thousands of aviation professionals who have left the industry, taking with them everything from decades of experience to security clearance. Airlines and airports are now finding it difficult to hire the right staff – and to train and secure them. Starting work at 4 in the morning in a high pressure environment is not everyone’s idea for a great job. In addition, airports say that during the coronavirus pandemic many passengers did not fly and may have forgotten the “liquid rule” (all liquids in hand luggage should not be more than 100 ml and be presented in a sealed plastic bag ). When bags have to be searched by hand, the security process slows down dramatically. Simon Calder5 April 2022 13:15 1649158242
Dublin Airport was three hours late
Dublin Airport was still facing long queues last night, says Alice Murphy, editor of The Independent. She arrived at Dublin Airport on Monday almost three hours before her flight to Stansted – and had just arrived at the gate before closing. Mrs. Murphy waited to scan her boarding pass for much more than an hour in a queue that reached the back door of the terminal, before standing in line for another 40 minutes before reaching the top of the security clearance, recorded in a video below . He said he had “never seen so many bags contaminated with explosives at any airport”, and could not believe the time it took to get through an airport that usually offers a relatively stress-free travel experience. “It seems unbelievable that there would have been no staffing problems before this, which is arguably the first post-Covid holiday period for the aviation industry,” he said. Passengers wait in long lines at Dublin Airport amid security chaos Lucy Thackray5 April 2022 12:30 1649156212
What are your rights if you miss a flight due to queues at the airport?
A top lawyer says the options for travelers who miss their flights due to long queues at the airport are difficult. Gary Rycroft, an associate of Lancaster company Joseph A Jones, says the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act – which require companies to perform a service with “reasonable care and skill” – do not apply as travelers do not have a direct contractual relationship. with the airport. He told The Independent: “The courts will determine that there is a legal obligation to care beyond a strict contractual relationship, if three criteria are met:
“The damage must be a reasonably predictable outcome of the behavior – here I would say that delayed ticket checks or security checks leading to missed flights are reasonably predictable. “There has to be a ‘proximity’ relationship between the parties – here the holidaymakers have no choice but to go through the check-in / security checks managed by the airport – so I can not see what could be closer. “It must be ‘fair and reasonable’ to impose responsibility. Here the behavior of the parties will be relevant. For example, if the passenger arrived at a “good time”, as indicated in his bureaucracy, the airline had enough staff available. An analysis of what caused the delays and why it will be required. “
On a tort claim for negligence, Mr Rycroft says, “establishing a ‘duty of care’ and ‘breach’ of that duty are essentially the first steps in bringing a claim.” It must be proven that safety delays led to the loss of the flight. Simon Calder5 April 2022 11:56 1649154414
Industry source says slow airline staff control is behind shortages
After hundreds of flight cancellations last week, some elements of the airline industry blame government oversight procedures for staff shortages that led to flight cancellations this week. An unnamed industry source told The Telegraph that checking airport staff for security reasons – a process that takes about 14-15 weeks to complete – takes “substantially longer” than usual. The source told the newspaper that the already long process of government staff control takes weeks longer than it should in England and months longer in Northern Ireland. The process involves reviewing a potential employee’s previous five years of employment and criminal record before being audited by the UK Security Service (UKSV), part of the Cabinet Office. Lucy Thackray5 April 2022 11:26 1649152723
Emergency services could help deal with queues at Manchester airport, says mayor
Police could be called in to help with the chaos at Manchester airport, the city’s mayor suggested. “We do not want to see the scenes we saw over the weekend and obviously we need to work with them to address these issues and make sure we manage these things,” said Andy Burnham. Mr Burnham is due to meet with airport officials today to seek reassurance and support. Helen Coffey5 April 2022 10:58 1649149204
What is early? Airports need to ‘do better,’ says Who? author
Which? Travel writer Rory Boland has urged airports to “do better” than advising their customers to arrive earlier. Airports have to do better than “arriving early for your flight” due to long queues. What is early? 3, 4, 5 hours? » wrote on Twitter. “Airports know how many passengers there will be each day and how many staff there are, wholesale. They have to give the passengers a specific time, for the time being, to arrive “. Lucy Thackray5 April 2022 10:00 1649147745
EasyJet says the “vast majority” of flights will take place normally
Britain’s largest financial airline has said that “the vast majority” of its flights will take off normally today. More than 70 easyJet flights to, from or within the UK were canceled on Tuesday, with passengers at Gatwick’s main airline base being most affected. The total schedule is 1,525 flights, indicating that about one in 20 has landed across the network – but the UK has been disproportionately severely affected. An easyJet spokesman said “a small percentage” had been canceled “to allow customers to re-book alternative flights”. Airlines are required to carry passengers to their destination on the first day of the journey, if possible, to any airline. The spokesman said: “We are sorry for any inconvenience to the affected customers.” Simon Calder5 April 2022 09:35 1649146567
Cancellations today: Gatwick and Heathrow passengers hit hardest
Some 20,000 passengers booked at the UK’s largest airlines have found that their flights to Tuesday have been canceled. The Independent estimates that both British Airways and easyJet have canceled more than 70 flights. BA ‘s cancellations concern domestic and European flights to and from its main base, Heathrow, London. Destinations with multiple cancellations include Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Milan. The vast majority of BA cancellations were announced about two weeks ago as the airline cut short its schedule to deal with limited resources. By far the hardest hit base of easyJet is its main hub, Gatwick, which has seen 44 cancellations so far – including some longer holiday flights to Greek destinations such as Corfu, Kos and Preveza. Ten Luton flights have been canceled, with Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool and Belfast International also affected. Simon Calder5 April 2022 09:16 1649146211
The long queues at Manchester Airport continue
A video posted on Twitter shows another long wait for safety for passengers flying from …
