Travel disruption – live: Calls for automatic airline refunds grow as Wizz Air adds to advance cancellations
Wizz Air has announced ‘a large number’ of cancellations from 10 June onwards
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Your support makes all the difference.The travel disruption experienced by UK holidaymakers in recent weeks looks set to continue, as Wizz Air becomes the latest airline to announce a series of cancelled flights to and from the UK.
The Hungarian low-cost carrier announced that it is cancelling “a large number of flights” from Doncaster Sheffield Airport from 10 June onwards.
The airline says the move is “a result of Doncaster Sheffield Airport indicating that it is unable to guarantee the terms of its commercial agreement with Wizz Air”.
Meanwhile, easyJet has cancelled at least 30 flights on Friday - the airline has said it is proactively cancelling 240 flights in the 10 days to 6 June, giving passengers some advance notice. British Airways also cancelled 120 flights for Friday - the airline says these are pre-planned and that passengers were given advance notice.
The UK’s airport queues are reported to have largely eased, with fewer problems at security and check-in reported by passengers than in recent days.
Tube strike averted for Friday but still set for Monday of jubilee weekend
Industrial action which was set to affect Green Park and Euston stations in London tomorrow has been averted.
However, a separate, much bigger tube strike planned for Monday 6 June - the day after the long weekend - is currently still set to go ahead.
This would involve 4,000 Underground staff and would see much of the tube network shut down for 24 hours.
Here’s everything you need to know:
Jubilee bank holiday tube strike cancelled
Walkout suspended after talks between TfL and union progress
Ireland transport minister accused of being ‘asleep at the wheel’ over Dublin Airport
Ireland’s transport minister, Eamon Ryan, has been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” over the travel chaos at Dublin Airport during the past fortnight.
The Irish hub has seen hours-long queues with several passengers missing flights.
Speaking in the Dáil, Sinn Féin spokesperson Pearse Doherty said: “Everyone knew that aviation would rebound once the pandemic subsided, with pent-up demand for international travel, such as it is. Everyone, minister, except yourself and the Daa.
He continued: “Your government can’t get an international airport to function properly on your watch. What does it say to the tourism sector that relies on Dublin Airport to function properly and provide a service that tourists can depend on?
“The fact that the airport plans to function with security staff levels at 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels is not acceptable.
“Now, you’ve been unable to give an assurance that we won’t see scenes like we did last weekend. And frankly, you’ve been asleep at the wheel minister.
“You’ve been asleep at the wheel right throughout this process, only to appear last weekend.”
Mr Ryan responded by saying the scenes last weekend were “inexcusable”, but that he was “confident” passengers would be able to get through smoothly in the coming weeks.
Two European passport holders with settled status asked for ‘additional ID’ to fly home to UK
Two women with settled status in the UK claim that airlines have asked them for “additional ID” in order to fly back to the UK within the last week.
Andreea Dumitrache and Lara Parizotto were both travelling on European passports - Romanian and Italian, respectively - when they say easyJet and Ryanair staff insisted they needed to see extra identification.
Ms Parizotto took video of her encounter with an airline worker over the issue.
When they resisted or could not show another form of ID, both say airline staff threatened to deny them boarding.
Read the full story:
Two UK residents travelling on EU passports ‘asked for extra ID’ to fly home
Exclusive: UK residents with indefinite leave to remain say easyJet and Ryanair demanded extra identification and threatened to deny boarding
Queues continue at St Pancras for Eurostar customers
“Queues, queues and more queues,” tweeted Daniela Karmios at St Pancras, posting a photo of heavy lines.
Twitter user @Alewidge added, “My Eurostar 9132 from London to Lille Europe is being delayed by 1h45, which means I’m going to miss my connection with TGV 9836 from Lille Europe to Valence TGV. This is the last train of the day in that direction from Lille. What is the solution here?”
Meanwhile Ian T wrote a useful thread for those catching Eurostar trains today, saying: “Arriving at KGX [St Pancras] in the 60-90 [minute] window before your train leaves is the right decision.”
Manchester Airport nightmare as passenger misses flight in security queue
One passenger has spoken of a “nightmare” morning at Manchester Airport, where she says long security queues caused her and three other passengers to miss a flight.
Holly Blackwood told The Independent that she had arrived three hours before her easyJet flight - 4.45am - but still managed to fall foul of a three-hour security queue.
“We arrived three hours before our flight to Copenhagen. We’d checked in online so literally just had to get through security,” says Ms Blackwood, who was due to fly on flight EZY1985 at 7.45am.
“The security staff were clearly overrun with people but they kept saying we’d all be fine and make our flights.
“I ran to the gate but by the time I got to the gate at 7:45am it had closed. The plane was still there but the easyJet team wouldn’t let me on.”
Ms Blackwood says she was able to book a later easyJet flight for this evening but must now wait four hours to go back through security,
“I’m now having a Bloody Mary!” she reports.
Read the full story:
Manchester Airport nightmare as passenger misses flight in security queue
Exclusive: ‘The security staff were clearly overrun with people but they kept saying we’d all be fine and make our flights’
Holidaymakers arriving in UK report hours-long waits for baggage
As airport bosses get a handle on queue management just in time for the jubilee weekend, frustrated air passengers returning from holidays are reporting hours-long waits for baggage.
Tui customers arriving at Bristol Airport this morning told The Independent more than two hours for bags to appear following an eight-hour flight.
Shortly before 6am this morning, passenger Louis Parkes reported waiting for three hours for luggage from an easyJet flight to appear at Gatwick.
“@Gatwick_Airport Any idea when the luggage from @easyJet flight from Dalaman as been waiting for 3hrs now and still no word from @dhlexpressuk as to when we might see it?” he wrote on social media.
Read the full story:
Holidaymakers arriving in UK report waiting 2-3 hours for baggage
‘EasyJet you are a shambles... the state of Gatwick Airport this morning at baggage reclaim is farcical’ wrote one irate passenger
‘It isn’t helpful for government to rewrite history and point the finger at the airlines’ says pilot union boss
The general secretary of pilots’ union BALPA, Martin Chalke, has spoken out about the travel chaos experienced by airlines and airports in the past fortnight, saying “pointing the finger never helps anybody.”
“A lack of staff is the bottom line and that isn’t easy to fix,” said the British Airline Pilots Association boss.
“Delay and cancellation are the result of not having the right people in the right place and with the right experience.”
He said “there isn’t a shortage of pilots” and that applications were being made for people to become cabin crew.
“It’s more about being given the training to operate. The training systems can only expand so much and at the moment they’re flat out,” he explained.
He said some aviation staff could take between one and six months to retrain, depending on how long they’ve been away.
Of the government’s comments about the aviation industry this week, Mr Chalke said: Finger pointing never helps anybody.
“The best way is analysing the experience and learning from it.
“It isn’t helpful for the government to rewrite history and point the finger at the airlines.
He did say that “airlines themselves are not completely blameless”, saying they need to “offer quality employment”.
“The aviation industry has to learn that it needs to offer worthwhile jobs and the government needs to learn to work with us.”
Is this the best rail deal in history? Travel around Germany for a month for £7
Rail passengers across Germany – as well as British visitors – are flocking to take up arguably the best public transport deal in history.
For the month of June, the “9-Euro-Ticket” allows unlimited travel anywhere in the nation for a one-off payment of €9, equivalent to £7.
The month-long pass costs £1 less than a one-way ticket for the 11-minute journey from Bristol to Bath on GWR in the UK, and works out at just one penny per hour for the whole month.
The €9 pass allows 30 days of journeys on Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) trains, as well as local transport by tram, bus, U-Bahn and even some river ferries.
Read the full story:
You can travel around Germany by train for a month - for just €9
Ticket also covers urban public transport, including buses, trams and even some river ferries
‘Delays of up to 60 minutes’ on Eurostar
A Eurostar spokesperson has told The Independent that the part of the track that had been closed due to the incident this morning has now reopened. They said that although trains are now moving, all routes are affected.
“We would estimate delays of up to 60 minutes at this stage,” they added.
‘Arrive at normal time,’ evening Eurostar passengers told
Despite the present delays to Eurostar’s train services, passengers for services later this evening are being told to arrive at London St Pancras on time.
“Due to a fatality in France this morning, our trains are operating with some delays,” says a text alert from the operator.
“St Pancras Int’l is very busy and queues are longer than usual.
“Please arrive at the normal time as shown on your ticket.”
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