Passengers sleep on floor at airports while ‘mountains of luggage’ build up
People sleeping on the floor, huge queues and massive piles of luggage building up – these are images we are gradually becoming used to as the travel crisis rumbles on.
Fears summer holidays are going to be ruined continue as we approach July with little sign of improvement in airports across the country.
Pictures taken at Heathrow Airport in London, Manchester Airport and Bristol Airport show familiar scenes of chaos as people still attempt to leave the country despite the ongoing problems.
Massive queues are seen in Manchester, huge piles of bags at Heathrow and people are even pictured sleeping on the floor in Bristol.
Mountains of luggage have continued building up in airports across the country in recent days as airlines struggle to cope amid staff shortages.
After laying off too many employees in the midst of the pandemic when no one could travel abroad, airlines are having difficulty dealing with the surge in demand for holidays.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary warned passengers should brace for a ‘less than satisfactory experience’ this summer.
Some airlines are cancelling 5% to 10% of journeys and the disruption has worsened due to Brexit, he claimed.
He told Sky News that when pandemic restrictions were lifted, airports were unable to hire workers from abroad to fill vacancies.
‘There are hundreds of thousands of jobs in the UK that frankly British workers don’t want to do,’ he said.
‘These problems will not be resolved until we start allowing people in to do the jobs.’
Mr O’Leary added 99% of Ryanair flights managing to leave and claims the experience is better at its Stansted base than other UK airports.
He blamed the issues on shortages of air traffic control, baggage handling and security staff for widespread delays at airports.
‘This problem is going to continue particularly at airports like Gatwick and Heathrow right throughout the summer.
‘It will be worse at weekends and better during the week.’
And the problems are set to continue after British Airways (BA) workers at Heathrow voted to strike during the school summer holidays in a dispute over pay.
Some 700 members of staff are set to walk out during the peak travel period, which lasts from mid-July to the beginning of September.
The exact dates have not yet been decided, but union bosses said this will cause ‘severe disruption’ to services at the airport.
The GMB union said a 10% pay cut imposed by BA during the pandemic has still not been restored, and claim this is unfair while profits start to rise as demand for flights increases again.
‘With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways,’ said national officer Natalie Houghton.
‘BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard.
‘Our members need to be reinstated the 10% they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10% bonus which other colleagues have been paid.
‘GMB members at Heathrow have suffered untold abuse as they deal with the travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures.
‘At the same time, they’ve had their pay slashed during BA’s callous fire and rehire policy.
‘What did BA think was going to happen? It’s not too late to save the summer holidays – other BA workers have had their pay cuts reversed.
‘Do the same for ground and check-in staff and this industrial action can be nipped in the bud.’
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