Huge queues at airports today as Brits try to escape for Bank Holiday weekend
HUGE queues are building at UK airports today as Brits escape for the Bank Holiday weekend.
Chaotic scenes erupted in the early hours at Bristol Airport as holidaymakers scrambled to check in their bags on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
A vast snake of queuing holidaymakers waiting to board flights sent the terminal to breaking point with queues out the door.
And it is just the start of an estimated 32,000 passengers expected to pass through the airport everyday this weekend.
Bristol Airport chiefs have recently admitted it experienced "challenges" ahead of handling the expected 900,000 strong footfall in August.
And there were similar scenes at Manchester Airport as a whopping queue swelled at the check-in desks.
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Red-eye scenes from the early morning rush to the terminal show hundreds waiting in winding queues for hours to drop bags.
Many resorted to the self-check in machines but queues for these also bulged.
And London Heathrow Terminal 2 saw the same - with check in and departures chock-a-block with holidaymakers streaming out the country.
Thousands are attempting a Bank Holiday dash to the sun with families keen to get kids away before they go back to school.
Nearly 290,000 seats have been cut from Bank Holiday flight schedules in recent weeks, according to new analysis.
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Aviation data company Cirium said around 1,200 flights due to depart from UK airports over the Bank Holiday have been cancelled.
The data found that approximately 900 inbound flights and 900 outbound flights have been cancelled across the bank holiday weekend since the start of July.
The data found that British Airways has made the largest cuts since July 1, with 380 departures cancelled.
This is followed by Flybe with 130 and easyJet at 90.
Both Bristol and Manchester airports were rocked by vast passenger delays and baggage issues earlier this summer as the nation's terminals failed to cope.
Millions of Brits faced utter misery as they were slapped in the face by thousands of flight cancelations and delays.
The issues were made drastically worse when entire flight's saw their baggage disappear amid the chaos erupting at UK airports.
Extraordinary pictures from inside Heathrow Airport in June saw thousands of suitcases abandoned as baggage handlers broke under the impossible footfall they were faced with despite staff shortages.
It followed a multi-pronged hangover of Covid-related staff shortages and a failure to train staff fast enough to fulfil demands.
Crippling shortages of baggage handlers and thousands leaving the industry for jobs elsewhere because of pay and working conditions supercharged the issues.
The chaos led to caps on operations at airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick as scores of flights were cut, delayed, cancelled or rescheduled just to cop.
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Chaos is also expected on Britain's roads today as 12.5 million journeys will be made over the bank-holiday weekend.
Friday will be the busiest day for hitting the road with some 4.3m separate leisure trips planned by drivers making the most of the long weekend.
