Urgent warning as experts say travel chaos ‘could last until NEXT YEAR’ with holidays at risk & huge queues at airports
HOLIDAYMAKERS have been warned that travel chaos could last until next year as ailing airlines struggle to cope with soaring demands.
Distressed passengers have been left stranded in huge queues at airports across the country amid a slew of cancelled flights.
Aviation experts had previously told how staff shortages, IT issues, air traffic problems and a surge of travellers post-Covid had caused a “perfect storm” of chaos for holidaymakers.
And today, Britain’s biggest Union Unite added a further blow to travellers.
General secretary Sharon Graham told the : "Airlines assumed, wrongly, that people who had either been made redundant or got out of the industry would come back on a pittance pay.
"That’s not going to happen.
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"There is now a chronic shortage of staff and I can’t see how it’s going to change by July. If they don’t get their act together, this chaos could go on until next year."
Airlines have been at the forefront of growing criticism - including TUI who left customers furious after days of delays and chaos.
Footage emerged of cops as they were forced to tell exhausted Tui passengers their flight was cancelled after eight-hour delays during the week.
And an eight-year-old girl was left in tears after a 32 HOUR delay for her family's £8,000 TUI holiday.
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Martha and her family had been planning on traveling to Heraklion, Crete, before their flight was cancelled due to "shambolic" airport chaos and ground staff shortages.
The Tynan family is one of many left disappointed as they were left waiting on the runway for four hours before the pilot told them their flight was cancelled.
Kate, 44, Ben, 45, Noah, 10 and Martha, 8, were told their flight was rescheduled for the following day but upon arrival, TUI staff were nowhere to be found and had 'no idea' about this plan.
Kate said: "TUI are disgusting! Total Utter Incompetence should be their tagline! They most certainly don't put 'you' in the middle.
"They are driven by greed and do not care one bit about the people who have paid them thousands of pounds to go away this half term."
After two anxiety-ridden days, the family boarded the plane but sat in fear waiting to be told it had been cancelled again.
After the co-pilot helped load luggage into the hold, due to staff shortages, the family were finally on their way, two hours after the scheduled departure time.
TRAVEL CHAOS
Kate said: "When the plane eventually took off, everyone cheered. I cried - I was so emotional.
"I'd not slept the night before worrying if I was going to have to tell my children they couldn't go on holiday anymore."
The mum-of-two said by the time they arrived at their hotel her children were hungry and exhausted, while she and her husband were emotionally drained.
She explained the holiday, which was now shorter than planned, was the most expensive holiday they'd been on and had taken years to save up for.
The family felt 'robbed' and expressed it will take a while to feel okay about the 32-hour delay.
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In a statement, TUI said: "Whilst every delay and cancellation is regrettable, the vast majority of our flights are operating as planned, with more than 26,000 customers taking off yesterday on holiday.
“We’d like to apologise again for the inconvenience caused and we thank customers for their understanding.”
