U.K. travel chaos with flight cancellations and long delays as weekend rush home begins

[onthedarkside]

 

Tens of thousands of passengers hoping to return to the UK at the end of the main half-term week face flight cancellations and long delays.

 

Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, has so far cancelled at least 42 flights to and from Gatwick, affecting an estimated 7,000 passengers.

 

While most travellers were given several days’ warning and were able to rebook on other services, 14 easyJet departures from Gatwick airport have so far been cancelled on the morning. They include flights to Nice, Seville and Milan, and the return legs, plus three of the four departures to Amsterdam.

 

(more)

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/travel-chaos-with-flight-cancellations-and-long-delays-as-weekend-rush-home-begins/ar-AAY4aEF

 

 

 

[onthedarkside]

Minister was warned staff crisis would lead to ‘inevitable’ travel chaos, says aviation union

Call predicted airlines would fail to cope with huge demand as hostilities between government and industry deepen over appeal for special visas for EU workers

 

The aviation minister was warned at the start of the year that the widespread flight chaos witnessed last week was “inevitable” and government intervention was urgently required to prevent such disruption, union sources say.

 

During a telephone call with aviation unions in late January, Robert Courts was told that the industry wouldn’t be able to cope with high demand unless it received help to offset chronic staff shortages.

 

Those predictions were played out in sometimes farcical scenes last week, with hundreds of flights cancelled during one of the busiest weeks of the year alongside day-long delays and massive queues snaking out of terminal buildings.

 

(more)

 

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/jun/04/minister-was-warned-staff-crisis-would-lead-to-inevitable-travel-chaos-says-aviation-union

 

 

[soi3eddie]

Thank goodness that easyJet doesn't (and hopefully never will) fly to/from Thailand!

 

[bannork]

Brexit strikes again!

Give those EU aviation workers special visa quick!

And don't forget the fruit pickers too.

And the butchers, chefs and hospitality workers.

Then there's the home carers.

Oh what the heck! Back to free movement both ways.

[Bluespunk]

From the linked article in OP

 

''Tube passengers in London are being advised not to travel on Monday 6 June because of a strike by members of the RMT union who work for London Underground.''

 

There's a bit of luck. I land in london on the 7th...

[Bluespunk]

49 minutes ago, bannork said:

Brexit strikes again!

Give those EU aviation workers special visa quick!

And don't forget the fruit pickers too.

And the butchers, chefs and hospitality workers.

Then there's the home carers.

Oh what the heck! Back to free movement both ways.

True enough.

 

From Guardian article above

 

''Meanwhile, hostilities between the government and aviation industry are likely to deepen this week with airlines continuing to lobby the government to relax post-Brexit immigration rules and give EU aviation workers special visas to ease the disruption.''

[baboon]

55 minutes ago, bannork said:

Brexit strikes again!

Give those EU aviation workers special visa quick!

And don't forget the fruit pickers too.

And the butchers, chefs and hospitality workers.

Then there's the home carers.

Oh what the heck! Back to free movement both ways.

Brexit doesn't help of course, but from what I have been hearing, the airlines used Covid to get workers off the books. And once business picked up again, to rehire under worse pay and conditions. 

'Great' in theory, but the problem is for them now, their former staff are telling them to go #### themselves, so recruitment is taking time.

[Doctor Tom]

21 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

From the linked article in OP

 

''Tube passengers in London are being advised not to travel on Monday 6 June because of a strike by members of the RMT union who work for London Underground.''

 

There's a bit of luck. I land in london on the 7th...

The country is a basket case, a third world, falling apart irrelevance. I will never go back, not even to visit. 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Doctor Tom said:

The country is a basket case, a third world, falling apart irrelevance. I will never go back, not even to visit. 

Yep, next thing you know guys with auto guns will be shooting schoolkids. 

[Chomper Higgot]

3 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

The country is a basket case, a third world, falling apart irrelevance. I will never go back, not even to visit. 

That’s an exaggeration, although admittedly only a slight exaggeration.

[Doctor Tom]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

That’s an exaggeration, although admittedly only a slight exaggeration.

It 'slight' enough for me to avoid the UK for the rest of my days. 

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, Doctor Tom said:

It 'slight' enough for me to avoid the UK for the rest of my days. 

I had lunch last week in Nottingham with a former British Thai resident who used to say exactly the same thing.

 

He packed his bags and came back to the UK when he needed the NHS.

 

 

[Doctor Tom]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I had lunch last week in Nottingham with a former British Thai resident who used to say exactly the same thing.

 

He packed his bags and came back to the UK when he needed the NHS.

 

 

Not me Sir,  I'll pay my way here thank you and avoid sub standard care, in sub standard hospitals and long waiting lists. 

[Slip]

5 hours ago, baboon said:

Brexit doesn't help of course, but from what I have been hearing, the airlines used Covid to get workers off the books. And once business picked up again, to rehire under worse pay and conditions. 

'Great' in theory, but the problem is for them now, their former staff are telling them to go #### themselves, so recruitment is taking time.

But aren't those just the sort of behaviours we can increasingly expect from corporations as a direct result of brexit?  P&O's disgraceful recent actions spring to mind.  Boris has got to go.

[baboon]

25 minutes ago, Slip said:

But aren't those just the sort of behaviours we can increasingly expect from corporations as a direct result of brexit?  P&O's disgraceful recent actions spring to mind.  Boris has got to go.

You'll get no argument from me. If this rabble get in again then you can kiss any remaining employment rights goodbye. It'll be serfdom under another name.