A stretched travel industry equals stressed-out travellers

It’s only May but the long-suffering travel industry and its equally pressed customers are enduring the kind of chaos you might expect at the height of summer, writes Simon Calder

Tens of thousands of passengers have been left stranded due to short-notice cancellations by easyJet this week (Getty)

And relax: those stories of months-long passport renewals are nonsense. We know that because the prime minister told the House of Commons on Wednesday, in a little-noticed exchange, that: “Everybody’s getting their passport within four to six weeks.”

How did that happen, then? Boris Johnson revealed: “We’re massively increasing the speed with which the Passport Office delivers.” But – and I know you will find this hard to believe – the prime minister was mistaken.

A government spokesperson later told me: “The latest figures show that over 90 per cent of applications have been completed within six weeks.” Which is not quite the same as “everybody”. The traditional waiting time for a straightforward passport renewal was three weeks prior to April 2022, at which point ministers began to warn holidaymakers to allow 10 weeks due to a surge in applications.

Even if your passport has come through, your problems are likely only just beginning. Tens of thousands of passengers have been left stranded due to short-notice cancellations by easyJet this week. They include a family whose initial flight from Manchester to Tenerife was cancelled. The airline bussed them to Gatwick, and then cancelled that flight as well – amid claims that passengers at easyJet’s biggest base were left to fend for themselves and sleep on the floor of the airport.

An easyJet spokesperson, though, insisted: “We have informed all customers and provided them with their options including a free transfer, a voucher or a refund, as well as hotel accommodation and meals where required.”

By Thursday morning, reader Lauren Allery contacted me to say she was “reporting to you live from Gatwick that easyJet is still causing chaos here”. She elaborated: “My flight to Naples this morning cancelled four hours before our 6am departure. No easyJet reps with the ability to help at either terminal and no desk to ask at.”

It was one of seven Italian departures to be axed before 7.30am, and no other easyJet flights were available. I advised Lauren to buy a ticket from another airline and reclaim the cost from easyJet, as air passengers’ rights rules insist. Whatever the cause of the cancellation, carriers are obliged to provide meals, accommodation and flights as soon as possible – including on a rival airline if need be. Even worse was to come later in the day, when more than 200 flights were cancelled by an IT failure.

Over at British Airways, short-haul cancellations are continuing at roughly 120 per day – translating to about 15,000 seats daily. Most passengers are informed well in advance.

So – best to play it safe with a UK holiday by train, then? Not necessarily: ScotRail is currently cancelling 700 trains a day as drivers choose not to work overtime – and that the RMT union is planning the biggest rail strike for decades, and discussing stoppages on Network Rail and 14 train operators beginning in mid-June.

A morsel of joy, though: the central section of the Elizabeth line finally opened, whisking people from Abbey Wood in southeast London to Paddington station in half an hour. And why, you might wonder, is that relevant? Because Abbey Wood happens to be the location for a top-class camping and caravanning site, providing a budget base for your next London visit.

Yours,

Simon Calder

Travel correspondent