Chaos at airports?

[Little My]

My Mum (an executive merchant of doom & gloom) keeps telling me that UK airports will be a nightmare with long delays and cancellations.

Are they really that bad?

It would be nice to get advice on that from actual travellers, rather than the media or a lady who hasn't flown since the 80s.

[Dáire]

Manchester is in an absolute state, with hours of security queues, no baggage handlers and most people abandoning it for another day, and multiple frequent cancellations. But I've not heard as much about other airports.

I just know I wish I hadn't booked anything.

[emma_p]

Two friends flew from Gatwick this half term. Both made it but had delays going out and on the return and collecting baggage took hours. One family gave up and left the husband behind at 2am to wait for them while they took an uber home.

[Glint]

Delays and cancelled flights will happen, but I think you'll be fine coming in from Canada.

If you are flying via AMS, then your luggage might be delayed as it is very congested.

[kiwi]

It seems to be just selected airlines cancelling flights doesn't it? TUI and Easyjet? But I guess the baggage handling situation will affect all flights.

Sorry, we're not helping with the doom and gloom.

[Marth]

easyJet cancelled 8 flights this morning from Bristol. I'm not getting my hopes up for my flight to Corfu in two weeks.

[kiwi]

I'm going to Corfu with easyjet in October Marth! And I'm not holding out much hope for that, even though it is months away.

[Derek Nimmo]

It seems to be just selected airlines cancelling flights doesn't it? TUI and Easyjet? But I guess the baggage handling situation will affect all flights.

Sorry, we're not helping with the doom and gloom.

BA and Wizz Air too at least.

According to my friend who lives there, AMS / Schipol is an utter shitshow even if you are lucky enough to have a European passport, but even worse if you don't. Yay.

[Cosmopolitan]

I'm going to Crete with easyjet on Saturday morning. It's a 7am flight. I'm very hopeful it will be okay.

[F'Artiste]

We flew with easyJet at Gatwick during half term to Rhodes. It was ok (for us), got through security quite quickly (at 10am ish), but then spent an hour plus queuing to get lunch in the departures lounge (which was necessary as the flight had no food available at all).

Coming back we were delayed an hour, had to fly in a holding pattern for twenty minutes or so as there was no space to land, and then had to wait for someone to be free to direct the plane to disembark/get stairs to get off (so all in all we were waiting for nearly an hour on the ground). But I’ve also had that in pre-travel chaos times. Coming back there was no food on the flight either (both times we got an email three days before).

So my experience was fairly smooth/ok, but I’ve also heard of horrors too (generally people having their return cancelled, and then being stranded in an airport because local hotels/alternative flights are booked out or too expensive).

ETA: baggage was fine for me, but they might have started unloading whilst we were waiting on the plane.

[ParisGal]

What's going on? I thought it was specific problems in a couple of airports?

[Blondiejude]

From what I’ve seen and heard, it’s mainly BA, easyJet and another airline I forget cancelling. The reason being they bought the berths at the airports, sold the flights but then simply don’t have the ground staff for take off/ baggage/ etc.
Mr flew to Spain form newcastle, no problems this end but delayed coming back.
We’ve booked with jet 2 for summer and have had a few e nails saying they won’t cancel flights and they have sufficient staff to cover, I’m just praying their right.

[Suzi.Q]

I flew from Manchester the Friday before half term and had fast track security tickets, it took us 27 minutes from car park to duty free and was the best security experience I’ve had there. The normal security queue was obviously longer, but not out of the terminal doors. The terminal was horrible though, so crowded, we queued longer for a table in the bar. Flying back from Berlin security took about an hour, and the flight back was delayed by an hour due to the incoming flight being late. We’re flying from Liverpool in august and I’m nervous, but hoping some of the issues will be sorted by then.

[Edith Bacon]

My friend recently flew from Manchester during term time and she said it was utter chaos at bag drop. They got there at 4am for a 7.30 flight and had to run to the gate.

To be fair though, Manchester has been a nightmare at bag drop and security for a long time - I had to run for a flight in 2017 due to their chaos and S (along with loads of other people) actually missed a flight whilst waiting to drop his bags there in 2019. I imagine the current situation with staffing etc is just making a shitty situation even shittier.

[Rebel Pebble]

As a general thing, short haul flights are always cancelled over long haul so you're less likely to be affected by that aspect if you're flying direct. LHR seems to have been less impacted all round.

Mr R is doing his first trip in 2.5 tears to see his mum in LA later in June on BA and hopefully it'll be ok.

The worst thing when we flew back into Gatwick from Hurghada in March was the passport e-gates - a mix of them being temperamental and user error from tired travellers, plus shouty unpleasant Border FORCE (I fucking hate that name) staff.

There are minimal staffed lanes now, and if you have kids under 12 they can't use e-gates. Even if you're British.

[kiwi]

Yes, I'm more relaxed about our Bali flights in December due to long haul less likely to be cancelled. Also it's just me & M travelling so it's no biggie if we have to crash at the airport or whatever, it must be horrendous to be in that chaos with children.

[Dandelion]

My best friend has just gotten back from Bordeaux with her two children after being stranded since Sunday. The Bristol outbound has been repeatedly cancelled so the inbounds couldn’t run either.

Jet2 and most long haul airlines have their own airport staff, so seem to be faring better. It’s BA, Easyjet & Tui who are mostly caught up in staff shortages.

Flight prices are absolutely insane at the moment, and will only get worse now that some airports (including Heathrow) have demanded airlines shed a third of their slots to ease the congestion.

[Little My]

No, that's OK, I'm looking for the truth not sugarcoating.

Delays and cancelled flights will happen, but I think you'll be fine coming in from Canada.

If you are flying via AMS, then your luggage might be delayed as it is very congested.

We're flying Iceland - Glasgow in and out of the UK.

[Annabella]

My friend recently (for work and weddings etc) Heathrow to Italy with easyJet - complete disaster and had to rebook with BA for £££ to make the event. Italy to Germany OK. Germany to London 10 hours in the airport. London to Dublin (return) OK on way out - sat at gate for passport etc for 2 hours on return. All in a two-week window.

[Pippedydeadeye]

I’ve had notification this morning that my flight from Lyon to Luton at the end of August is cancelled. They’ve switched my flight into Gatwick, leaving earlier the same day. Bit of a problem as we’re flying from Luton.