Flights cancelled LIVE: BA cancels MORE trips leaving Brits’ summer plans in RUINS; plus easyJet, TUI & Ryanair latest
TENS of thousands of passengers are anticipating turmoil this summer as airlines prepare to announce a new wave of cancellations.
On Friday, it was reported that EasyJet is already cancelling thousands of flights this summer due to staff shortages.
The airline has said: “The vast majority of customers’ flights will not be impacted and of those that are, the majority of customers will be re-booked within 24 hours.
“We will be notifying affected customers directly in the coming days with information on their alternative flight or the option to rebook or receive a refund.”
British Airways has also cancelled several flights, sparked by an amnesty on take-off and landing slots.
It previously intended to carry 1.8 million passengers across more than 9,000 flights from Heathrow during July alone.
Read our live flight delays blog below for the latest information...
Baggage chaos gets worse
BRITS have faced huge baggage problems in recent weeks due to staff shortages across the travel industry.
Yet one woman was left stunned after her husband received his suitcase bag - only for it to be completely shredded.
Passenger Karen Nowland was travelling with Etihad from Manchester to Colombo in Sri Lanka.
However, the bag they received was destroyed, with huge holes it in and falling apart.
What was even worse was inside, with his clothes also in tatters - one image showed his t-shirt complete backless with a panel ripped out.
Another one of his tops was left as rags, covering very little.
Delta cancelled flights and delays
Delta has canceled approximately 4% of its flights since Memorial Day.
According to , an additional 20% of Delta flights have been delayed by almost an hour.
Ryanair has cancelled several flights
Ryanair has canceled several flights traveling to England and Italy. Some of the canceled destinations include London, Santorini, and Pisa.
According to , Spain-based Ryanair crew members are conducting a twelve-day strike in the hopes of better working conditions.
British Airways flights cancelled
British Airways has canceled several popular routes over the past year.
According to the , British Airways plans to cancel over 105,000 people's flights.
Destinations include:
- London
- Dublin
- Belfast
- Frankfurt
- Amsterdam
- New York
EasyJet flights cancelled today
EasyJet has canceled a handful of flights in the last several days, which include flights to London, England, and Venice, Italy.
EasyJet offers to put you up in a hotel if your flight gets canceled.
Pilot performs amazing stunt
A PILOT has been spotted going above and beyond for a passenger after they left their handbag in the airport.
Despite having already pulled away from the air bridge, the captain managed to get the bag onboard.
In a video shared on , an airport worker is seen approaching the end of the bridge with the bag in his hand.
The pilot, who is flying a Frontier Airlines plane, then leans out of the window in the cockpit and catches the bag that is thrown to him.
Their efforts impressed the internet, with the clip racking up millions of views, more then 50,000 likes and 600 comments.
One person said: "Going forward I will only fly exclusively on an aircraft named Ichabod the Whooping Crane."
Why have flights been getting cancelled?
UK airlines cut about 30,000 jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, when strict UK travel restrictions prevented travel.
Now they are trying to “scale up” by recruiting new staff, but for many, it hasn’t happened quickly enough.
Oliver Richardson of the Unite union says: “When you look at who is performing worst, it correlates with the companies that carried out the most redundancies.
“Ryanair agreed on no redundancies and a different position was taken by British Airways who lost 10,000 staff through redundancies. They got rid of too many people.”
BA 'welcome new measures'
Government ministers told airlines to review their flights after the May half term chaos, which was blamed on a shortage of airline and airport staff.
A BA spokesperson added: "We welcome these new measures, which help us to provide the certainty our customers deserve by making it easier to consolidate some of our quieter daily flights to multi-frequency destinations well in advance, and to protect more of our holiday flights."
Other airlines are expected to follow, with easyJet also cancelling flights in recent months.
Moment Brit ‘bomb hoax’ teen, 18, is hauled to court after fighter jet scrambled
A British teenager accused of making a bomb hoax on a packed easyJet flight has been pictured arriving in court in Spain after his mum flew out from the UK to see him.
Military fighter jets were scrambled after the 18-year-old triggered panic onboard the flight from London Gatwick to the Spanish island of Menorca on Sunday afternoon.
He appeared in court in the Menorcan capital Mahon on Tuesday morning wearing the same blue shorts and green shirt he was reportedly wearing on the easyJet flight.
His mother, who had flown to the island from the UK, was waiting for him at the court entrance and greeted him as he was led into the building by an armed police escort and handed over to a judge for questioning.
'Regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions'
A British Airways spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: "As the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions.
"We're in touch with customers to apologise and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund."
British Airways has confirmed the cancellations after airlines were given until Friday to take advantage of a government “amnesty” to the rules on airport slots, allowing airlines to change schedules without facing a potential penalty.
BA set to cancel more flights
BRITISH Airways is to cancel more flights this summer, causing chaos for more than 100,000 passengers.
More than 1,000 flights will be cancelled from London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airport.
The flag carrier has already confirmed that 650 flights would be cancelled across July.
This was on top of the scheduled cancellations of 16,000 flights from March to October.
However, more flights will also be cancelled across August, the reports.
Routes affected will likely be those with multiple flights a day, with destinations such as Malaga, Palma and Faro being hit by the cancellations.
Ryanair staff to strike THREE TIMES in Spain again this month
Spain-based cabin crew at Ryanair plan to strike for 12 more days this month, the USO and SICTPLA unions said on Saturday.
The Irish low-cost carrier said it expected "minimal" disruption for its flight schedules in July because of the strikes.
Cabin crew will strike on July 12-15, 18-21 and 25-28 across the 10 Spanish airports where Ryanair operates.
In pictures: Discarded luggage fills Heathrow Airport
Traveling this weekend was disastrous for many, but non more so than those who had their bags thrown to the wayside at Heathrow airport.
This occurred due to understaffing and a technical fault with the airport’s fuelling system, leading to massive delays.
Adam Kent, who arrived at Heathrow from Florida, described the scenes as “chaos.”
He said: (There was) lost luggage everywhere, stacked between baggage belts everyone stepping over it and no one doing anything about it.
“Being brutally honest, it looks like a serious health and safety issue.
“No one visible on the ground to explain the carnage or sort out the mess, it seems like lots of luggage has not arrived with passengers and just been dumped.”
Dublin airport says plan to handle summer surge 'is working'
The Dublin Airport Authority has said that "significant improvements" made at the airport are "achieving their desired result" to alleviate pressure on the system amid a strong return to air travel.
The authority said that despite the vast majority of flights operating on time, a spike in Covid-19 cases resulted in some airlines and baggage handling crews being "short of staff", leading to flight cancellations and delays at airline check-in desks and bag drop areas.
"Whereas issues relating to flight cancellations and delayed, or lost, luggage are outside DAA's remit, we empathise with those affected and regret the impact this is having on their passenger experience," it said.
It added that baggage is an issue across Europe, the USA and Canada and that it is liaising with affected airlines about baggage issues.
The statement comes amid pressures on airlines and airports across Europe after they cut jobs during the depths of the Covid-19 crisis and as travel demand returns after two years of pandemic restrictions.
Representatives of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) appeared before an Oireachtas committee in early June to outline its plan for dealing with the summer surge, with Higher Education Minister Simon Harris warning that there could be consequences for management if the airport authority did not get to grips with the surge in demand.
BA cancels 650 flights from UK airports to Spain, Portugal & Greece
The Telegraph newspaper reported late on Monday BA was cancelling more than 650 flights from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports to destinations including holiday spots in Spain, Portugal and Greece, affecting up to 105,000 travellers.
BA did not comment directly on the Telegraph report.
Airlines and airports across Europe are struggling to keep up with strong post-pandemic demand from holidaymakers, causing chaos for travellers and forcing Heathrow and Gatwick to impose their own limits on capacity.
British Airways cancels MORE flights
British Airways is cancelling more flights scheduled for the summer holiday season, it said on Tuesday, at a time of widespread disruption at airports caused by staff shortages and a surge in travel demand.
The airline said it would now reduce its April-October schedule by 11%, having said in May the cuts would amount to 10%.
"As the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions," a British Airways (BA) spokesperson said via email.
"We're in touch with customers to apologise and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund."
Best ways to track your flights
Here are some VITAL tools for tracking your flights:
Ryanair boss says plane tickets are too CHEAP and warns of price hikes
PLANE tickets are too cheap and will rise over the next five years, Ryanair’s boss said.
Costs will keep going up to match soaring fuel prices and environment charges, Michael O’Leary added.
Mr O’Leary, who took credit for low-cost flying with Ryanair, told the : “It’s too cheap for what it is.
“I find it absurd every time that I fly to Stansted, the train journey into central London is more expensive than the air fare.
“It has been my doing [taking prices so low]. I made a lot of money doing it.
“But ultimately, I don’t believe air travel is sustainable over the medium term at an average fare of €40 (£34).
“It’s too cheap at that. But I think, you know, it will still be very cheap and affordable at €50 and €60.”
Fire and rehire to blame for travel chaos, claims expert
An expert has noted that Covid, and the policies adopted by airlines during the pandemic, are to blame for the current situation.
During 2020, many airlines sacked their workers, before trying to rehire them at lower wages, this as caused many airports to be short staffed.
Express.co.uk reports that he said during an interview with BBC Breakfast: “Really interesting. Speaking to BBC North West Tonight Chris Woodroofe said that effectively, ‘you are not going to have as good an experience this summer as you did in 2019 before the pandemic’.”
Simon added: “Simply, the airport is overstretched.”
He later said: “Covid has come back to haunt us as the BBC has reported, lots more cases of Covid and that is now hitting staff numbers not just in the UK but Lufthansa making loads of cancellations in Germany and to and from the UK because so many of their staff are calling in sick.”
Airlines underestimated Brits eagerness to travel
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey today told Sky News: “Airports and airlines released a lot of people after the furlough scheme had come to an end.
“Perhaps they did not anticipate the desire for people to get out of the country.
“It matters that airlines have confidence flights can be delivered and passengers know well in advance if their flights is cancelled. “
Airports relax vetting of staff in order to ease travel chaos
This summer has seen a deluge of delays and cancellation hit airports across the country.
But now, airports are set to relax checks on workers in order to raise staff numbers.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps praised the move, claiming it is evidence of the Government “doing its bit to help deliver for passengers”.
EasyJet set for further strikes this month
Strikes hit EasyJet flights this weekend, and more are on the way.
Following this weekend’s action, further strikes will then take place between the 15th and 17th, and finally between the 29th and 31st.
Last month an easyJet spokesperson said they still aimed to run all their flights despite strikes, but this looks to be impossible.
They said: “We are extremely disappointed with this action as we have made considerable progress towards a new collective labour agreement and so would like to continue a constructive dialogue with them.
“Should the industrial action go ahead there could be some disruption to our flying programme to and from Málaga, Palma and Barcelona during the strike period.
“However, at this stage, easyJet plans to operate its full schedule and we would like to reassure customers that we will do everything possible to minimise any disruption.”
EasyJet boss QUITS amid travel chaos
EasyJet’s chief operating officer Peter Bellew has resigned as the airline faces more cancellations and strike action.
Bellew has reportedly resigned to pursue “other business opportunities.”
This weekend, the Luton-based airline was brought to a standstill by strike action, as workers seek fairer pay and better treatment in the workplace.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “I would like to thank Peter for his hard work and wish him well.
“Everyone at easyJet remains absolutely focused on delivering a safe and reliable operation this summer.”
Best ways to track YOUR flights
As travel CHAOS hits the UK, seeing flights cancelled across the country, it is important you know which flights are set to go ahead and which aren’t.
Here are some VITAL tools for tracking your flights:
How do I know if my flight has been cancelled?
With all the delays and cancellations taking place at the moment, it can be tough to keep track.
If your flight has been cancelled your airline should contact you, this could be via email, text or phone call.
Here, your airline should explain what options you have, this can range from rescheduling to a refund.
If you haven’t been contacted by your airline, you may want to check their website.