Brits experience ‘travel anxiety’ amid delays, strikes and cancellations

Research found that over two-fifths of travelling Brits experienced disruption when flying in the past year

650 members of the Border Force at Heathrow Airport will go on strike between Saturday and Tuesday this week (Getty Images)

Strikes, IT outages and all-around aviation industry chaos have caused a multitude of delays and cancellations of flights in the UK this year, with a significant number of British passengers now feeling worried every time they fly.

World Nomads’ Travel Anxiety Report 2024 has found that 40 per cent of Brits have said flight delays and cancellations are a major concern and cause them to worry when travelling internationally.

It said that over two-fifths (43 per cent) of travelling Brits have already faced some sort of disruption to their flight plan in the past year.

Airlines were one of the many industries that were hit by the CrowdStrike IT outage in July, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled.

The Travel Anxiety Report was released just before Border Force staff at Heathrow Airport, one of the UK’s busiest airports, are due to walk out during the last few days of the school summer holidays.

The PCS union said that 650 members who work in passport control at the airport will go on strike on Saturday 31 August until Tuesday 3 September, as the rush of families is due to start flying back into the country ready for the new school year.

The strike will follow with a work-to-rule and overtime ban until 22 September, all in aid of protesting enforced changes to their rota.

The World Nomads report also found that when a flight has been disrupted, 25 per cent of Brits admit they just stay at the gate and start to worry, whereas 22 per cent say they will go and seek a place to sleep.

While 14 per cent say that they feel lost and don’t know what to do with themselves, a small number of Brits (10 per cent) use the time to be productive and try and catch up with all their work emails.

Around 16 per cent say they feel so frustrated that they consider abandoning their trip altogether.

However, others believe that bad luck can only happen once, with 33 per cent stating that after one disrupted flight, they are confident they won’t encounter any issues on their next trip.

Jonathan Frankham, the general UK and Europe manager at World Nomads, said: “We know Brits treasure their holidays, but the increasing risk of flight delays and strikes can quickly turn excitement into stress.

“Our Travel Anxiety Report highlights that during delays, many travellers experience significant stress or might go as far as giving up a holiday altogether.”

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