Cancelling holiday... Due to current airport situation

[Flidina]

Watching the news this morning and the current situation with the holiday companies cancelling flights, has left me pondering whether to actually cancel our long awaited holiday this year,we fly at the beginning of July, the payment balance is due in 2 weeks, and we would lose the deposit, a few hundred, it looks like things will not be improving anytime soon, in fact could get worse. Is anyone considering cancelling?

We flew in the Easter Holidays, and these problems had already been encountered. What you're hearing on the news it worst case scenario - we had a hiccup but easy to sort.

Our return flight was cancelled before we flew, but I got through to BA within five minutes and it was very easy to change my flight (made it clear I wanted that done at no extra cost to us). I'd omitted to book seats together previously and they booked them for free due to inconvenience.

Heathrow and BA were asking us to be three three hours before. We arrived 3.5 hours, no queues and found we couldn't check in until two hours before. We went for coffee and found a free table overlooking the runway (there were others) so that kept us entertained. It took about five mins to get to front of the queue for checkin - a lot of that was snaking our way through the corduns. Again security was five mins, but there were staff along the queue directing everyone to the shortest queue at that time. It really wasn't a problem.

Most anxious time was on our return. Checkin didn't open up until 1.5 hours before departure. One person on checkin, that same person checked our boarding passes. Even so, we departed the airport for the runway early. Luggage was already going away by the time we reached reclaim.

Agreed

I work in aviation and we are just as busy if not busier with maintenance & repair. Our AOG (aircraft on ground) calls are through the roof at the moment. Operators could face all sorts of significant (i cant stress the word significant enough) consequences if they didnt confirm to the repair schedule on a aircraft. In most circumstances their licensing will be revoked to fly over European/international airspace and the business heavily fined. This would be a media disaster for a large aerospace business and therefore they carefully manage any maintenance. To fly in European/ US airspace the operators need to have exceptionally high standards.

The operators will cut costs where they legally and safely can;

Cancelling flights that are less than X% full (i dont know the individual aircraft load rate)
Reducing staff at airports
Paying for cheaper stands at airports
Etc

I think your holiday will be safe in July. It will calm down again at airports in the next week or so.

That's my experience too @saleorbouy

When I rule the world, people who have stood for half an hour next to a poster of instructions, followed by 10 minutes in earshot of security staff shouting out 'no liquids, ipads out' etc etc on repeat and still leave things in their bags (multiple things, lots of them) won't be allowed to travel. There. Simply. Is. No. Excuse. for that level of stupidity.

Except this news is very much true.

Oh and don't do what I did. Checked in online today to find I can't print boarding pass because my passport details were old ones. I have no idea why because I've flown with the airline twice with current passport details...but anyway that now means will have to queue at airport to get boarding pass even though I've now updated the details :(

Double and triple check and quadruple check everything! Oh and if you are flying with BA you have to fill in a covid form even if your destination has no covid requirements

I wouldnt

Every time we have flown the last year there has been news of luggage delays by hours and queues. Days later we have flown and it’s been fine, from various airports as well.

people not prepared at security drives me made. It’s Been the same rules almost 20 years. Yet people still have 1kg pots of liquid yogurt, expensive perfume to argue over, pockets full of money, wear bazillion pieces of metal jewellery to remove, 12 belts…

Out of school holidays I would go and allow some extra time for security ect. We flew last week from Bristol to Dublin return. Bristol was fine with minimal ques and Dublin took about 45 minutes to get through vs the usual 20. This was outside school holidays

Both of those airports have this week ( school holidays) been in the news due to chaos. My point is the news this week is mostly due to the sheer volume which shouldnt really be the case when kids are in school.

But the TUI cancellations aren’t just about the airlines. TUI are cancelling entire holidays.

Reality is that people will stop booking with them if this keeps happening on a regular basis, and they have already said they are going to be cancelling thousands of holidays over the next month.

That is going to have a financial impact on them which in turn is going to have an impact on their finances which is going to have an impact on those who are booking holidays through them.

Due to fly from Manchester on 25th with TUI. Paid in full so will definitely not be cancelling and sincerely hope they don't!

We will get there as early as possible. Our flight is at 7:30 so will probably try to get there by 4am😮

My sister flew from there just over a week ago. We dropped her off at the door and we were barely 10 minutes away when she WhatsApp to say she was already through security! She had paid for Fast Track but even so. Trouble was she had been told to get there three hours before her flight and then it was delayed by an hour so she had four hours to kill before she could board.

Flatandhappy - Where I am now (Aus) I don’t think any airline could do that, they would need to get you on an alternative flight whether than meant finding another plane or negotiating with competitors.

Thats not correct as I’ve had one cancellation and they just refunded and left it at that. I’ve also had two cancellations and they rebooked me on different flights. So, they don’t have an obligation to find you a flight if they refund, they obviously try to but sometimes I guess it’s just not logistically possible with the number of people they would need to rebook and the overall number of flight cancellations as other flights are generally all running at capacity now.

Should have said, I’m also in Australia and these experiences have been with Qantas.

Pay your deposit with a credit card so you also have that protection.

@HoppingPavlova but you don’t have to accept a refund here if they offer, you can ask them to put you on the next available flight. Obviously yes, if you accepted the refund they have no further obligation to you. I have had many flight cancelled and you just wait for the text/e-mail giving details of your new flight with the option of a refund if that isn’t convenient. I’m just wondering how carriers like Easyjet can cancel flights for people already at an airport and everyone just meekly trots home.

But the TUI cancellations aren’t just about the airlines. TUI are cancelling entire holidays.

TUI is a tour operator with it's own aircraft. If the plane can't go, then the holiday needs to be cancelled - they can't just magic up another way to get you on holiday.

TUI has financial commitments with many hotels, they would not be cancelling holidays unless they had no option, especially last minute because they'll still have to pay.

I've just returned from a work trip to Cyprus. My last trip in May 2019 had lots of hotels telling me how nervous they were about Thomas Cook, business was down, they weren't being paid etc. No-one was saying anything negative about any operator on this trip. So I don't believe these current cancellations are indicative of a financial issue with TUI or anyone else.

People do realise that school hols are not the same throughout the UK?! The beginning of July is the start of the school hols in Scotland, that is always the busiest time of the year for travel.

The problem is the whole infrastructure, not the airlines themselves. Airports and the travel industry in general were hit hard by the covid restrictions. Many people lost their jobs straight away. Unsurprisingly many former airport and airline workers got new jobs and never came back. Trying to find new people to do the essential jobs is proving much harder than expected.

People would do well to remember that this is all down to the Government's Covid response, poor recovery planning and lack of support for the travel industry. If anyone is to blame it's them.

OP in answer to your question, don't cancel. We've just been away and there were no issues at all. You'll only hear sensational stories on the news, 'flights operating as normal' is not interesting is it?

People would do well to remember that the Government caused this issue with their Covid response, lack of planning and support for the travel industry.

I’m flying home to the US on Sunday with BA and have had (probably) the same email. It doesn’t say you have to check in the night before, it’s just giving you that as an option to ease congestion on the day.

I had a holiday cancelled on Saturday with Tui
9hr delay at the airport then a text to say the holidays been cancelled

so we rebooked with Jet 2 to fly out this morning same airport and had no problems at all
flight went on time
I’m now sat on the beach in Corfu 😂
I wouldn’t touch Tui atm they are cancelling flights everywhere and because they use 2nd party flights like easy jet these are being cancelled as well

only good thing was that Tui did pay back the 5k owed for the holiday on the Monday

We are flying from Gatwick, three weeks today, with EasyJet, and I have no intention of cancelling. 90% of flights are fine, some are just a bit delayed, so it’s not worth losing money and holiday over those odds. I have insurance so that will pay out anyway. I’m lucky to live relatively close so won’t be spending hours on an airport floor if I can help it!

@70kid great to hear you’ve made it on holiday! I’m feeling so sorry for everyone who has missed out. Hopefully most of those can rebook.

I flew out of Manchester yesterday evening, it took me 1hr 15min to get through check-in and security - but I flew business class and has security fast track through my ticket. Yes, lots of people who are not taking their electricals out or not listening to the staff sadly. Aspire lounge was also closed, quite a few with paid passes stuck outside calling up for refunds.
Not all food/drink outlets are open, so I gave up on that too.
Would really recommend finding out if FastTrack or some other priority service is available for advance booking, seeing if you can drop the bags in early if you are checking any in, checking what current regulations are on hand luggage and being prepared to be at the airport at least 3hrs before a scheduled flight and longer for charter ones.

I've just tried to book fast track for Manchester T2 for 30/6 and they say it's not available, so we'll just have to get there early with fingers crossed.

Last time we travelled through T2 it was last October when it was all about getting covid passes checked and it took 3 hours from the car park to boarding, with only a quick 15 minute coffee/snack stop, the rest queueing to get into and through security and endless walking.

My airline said I needed to get to the airport 4 hours before my flight (in very late April) instead of the usual 2, because of the airport issues. I did. And got through everywhere far more quickly than I ever have, and spent 3.5 hours in the departure lounge twiddling my thumbs.

The security queues were cited as the main porblem in the media. I'm a frequent traveller and I've never know them as short!

I was travelling outside schoool holidays though, as you are. So I wouldn't dream of cancelling.

Flatandhappy- but you don’t have to accept a refund here if they offer, you can ask them to put you on the next available flight. Obviously yes, if you accepted the refund they have no further obligation to you. I have had many flight cancelled and you just wait for the text/e-mail giving details of your new flight with the option of a refund if that isn’t convenient.

yes, I fly often and understand all of that. How much are you flying here at present? I’ve had many planes cancelled where they shuffle you onto earlier or later flights, that’s not what I am including as ‘cancelled’. I’m talking cancelled as in having to fly days later, not just half a day earlier or later, or next morning instead of an evening flight. That was two of my flights and yes, they got us on another flight, next available a few DAYS later (and no I could not find an earlier one with capacity for 3 of us to fly together when I looked myself). That worked and we took the rescheduled flights. That did have a ripple effect though as rescheduling accomodation meant someone else’s was cancelled as they were full (mine was booked under corporate and they decided that was more to their advantage). Similarly, one flight that I considered cancelled and they automatically refunded rather than rebooked, on waiting forever and finally getting through to someone on the phone they could rebook the seats but over it was over 2 WEEKS from when our flight initially was. Again, on trying to book myself I couldn’t get on an earlier flight than they were offering.

I think if they go over a few days in reorganising you they just refund as most people will accept another flight hours or a day later but not several days later. That one I consider cancelled was a holiday, not work related, we had all booked leave, couldn’t all reschedule with work and even with a few that could the accommodate couldn’t all be reworked so we happily accepted the refund and didn’t argue they must book us onto the next available weeks later! I do find it more likely you can be shuffled at present if flying solo (which I do for business) rather than travelling with several people under the booking as is common for leisure.

We went with jet 2 three weeks ago from Manchester T2 and it wasnt as bad as you think you do your baggage tag on a machine now for hold luggage and then just put it through onto the conveyor belt if youve checked in online first, took us ten minutes, we bought security fast track passes and they were well worth the fiver each we got through security in about half an hour there was a triple queue for non fast track and our plane took off ten minutes late

No. Don't cancel. Wait until they do (and hope that they don't, obviously). If you cancel then you lose your deposit. If they cancel then you should get everything back.

We are flying from Stansted with Jet2 in three weeks. I haven't heard of any issues withg Jet2 and our fingers are all crossed here. At the moment it seems to be mainly TUI that is having the most issues, with maybe some Easyjet flights affected too (crew shortages?). TUI is a tour operator which sells whole holiday packages and operates its own airline. If it hasn't enough crew for its aircraft and is unable to book passengers onto other carriers then it is having to cancel the holidays. It is getting an absolute pasting over this, understandably.

The crew and staff shortages are largely down to the fact that during the Covid pandemic many were furloughed or laid off and had to find other jobs - leading to the current problems, i.e. that new crew (flight deck and cabin crew) cannot be hired and trained up overnight. Lets all hope that next year, or maybe sooner than that, things will improve.