When will airports / flying get back to normal?

[Helpyou]

I love travel, I really do. I used to fly about twice a year short haul.

But the stress of my most recent trip is enough to put me off for a lifetime. I feel for everyone with cancelled trips, cancelled visits to family / weddings / hens / stags etc... delays with children, delays hungover, not knowing if you'll make it home in time for work. It's a shambles. The staff on board are feeling the pressure too. When is it going to get back to normal?

(Before anyone says, I know there are bigger worries in the world but the 2 aren't mutually exclusive and right now I'm just wondering about the travel industry and whether these big airlines will even survive!)

Normal outside school holidays I think by the autumn. Normal in school holidays no idea, even before the pandemic the Borders Agency could not adequately staff at Heathrow.

How on earth are we supposed to know?

Thanks. I flew out of the school holidays and it was crazy. Flights cancelled/ delayed. Shortage of crew. Etc... it's utter madness.

Thanks for your helpful input.

Brexit was impacting on staffing levels pre covid anyway.

Sorry, I'm flying tomorrow and it's an utter shit show.

We are flying in 2 weeks 😱

I've been on lots of flights this year with no probleMs, short and long haul

It's only some airlines at some airports.
I've done jet 2 and virgin with ease

My DD starts cabin crew training with easyJet next week and the background checking has taken ages. Also the uniform supplier is struggling to get everything to her in time. The volume of recruitment is putting all the background companies under pressure.

EasyJet are running 2 training courses at the same time, one 5am til 2pm and the other 4pm to 11pm to onboard as many new crew as they can ahead of the summer holidays!

Next week.

The current disruption at airports is mostly a consequence of a massive demand peak at half term which was not expected or planned for by either airlines or airports. Anyone flying on a weekday in term time is unlikely to experience any issues.

Nothing to do with high demand, all to do with staffing levels because why work a shit job for £10 ph when you can go Asda for £12ph? The pay cuts haven’t been restored and the companies are not paying staff enough money so they are leaving. Simple as that.

Three years after we rejoin the EU (assumes that we MASSIVELY apologies to the people we told weren;t welcome here)?

Iamanunsafebuilding · Today 13:06

My DD starts cabin crew training with easyJet next week and the background checking has taken ages. Also the uniform supplier is struggling to get everything to her in time. The volume of recruitment is putting all the background companies under pressure.

EasyJet are running 2 training courses at the same time, one 5am til 2pm and the other 4pm to 11pm to onboard as many new crew as they can ahead of the summer holidays!

Presumably the uniform supplier and the background check are also in part slow due to staff shortages everywhere?

Part of me is thinking that maybe Brexit was a good idea (from a Tory rich person point of view.) The whole house of cards fuelled by debt has to come crashing down unless we can inflate it away. The only sure fire way to have massive inflation is to cause massive staff shortages and force companies to give huge wage rises. Has added benefit that rich tories can buy up failing companies dirt cheap if they can;t afford to pay the wages they need to pay.

It's not demand at all..it's because they laid off tonnes of staff so haven't got enough crew for their flights. Same at airports. No loo roll in one airport toilets due to no cleaners..its bonkers. I've flow a lot pre covid and never had this, even half terms!

Vicious circle though. There's only high demand because flights are too cheap, so travel firms have had to cut costs to the bone, so pay low wages and contract out as much as possible. It's just the race to the bottom.

If prices were set at realistic levels (higher), then there'd be more money to employ more staff and pay better wages.

At the end of the day, "we" travel too much and won't pay a realistic price. We want £49 flights for weekend stag/hen parties, or to go shopping for a day, or to have multiple foreign holidays per year. If prices were set at a level to pay adequate wages, then fewer people would fly, airports wouldn't be ridiculously busy/congested and we may even get an extra inch or two legroom.

When workers start being paid a better wage? Like a PP said, you can get more money and better conditions working at your local supermarket.

I’m in Germany and we had 3 strike days back in March. Airport staff demanded a raise, or they were walking out and going to easier jobs. The union and operating companies agreed one, there haven’t been any major problems ever since. Airports are functioning just fine.

Thanks, this is the kind of info I was hoping for! I hope your DD enjoys it :)

It's vary variable. I've had no problems at all this year with 2 holidays and DD's no problems with flights to Holland on 2 separate occasions from different airports

Exactly this. My uncle works airport security - has done for years, so his terms and conditions are favourable - but other staff are leaving in their droves.

Abased in what exactly!?? Rui & Easy Jet have already said there will be x number if cancelled flights for the foreseeable. Airports struggling to get staff...

Based & Tui. Bloody phone driving me insane.

I have flown an average of twice a month since Christmas and, with the exception of masks and Covid passes, it’s pretty much exactly as it was pre pandemic. Except security is easier as they don’t always make you take your liquids out of the bag anymore.

My last trip was this week and it was completely mundane, with airports operating as normal and no cancelled flights to be seen.

Agree that Brexit has exposed how much this country relies on cheap imported labour to suppress wages though! Stansted and Gatwick were well staffed this month.

It is demand though. They don’t have enough staff to meet passenger demand. Eventually that will right itself either because everyone will be skint and demand will drop or they’ll have a full staffing quota again to meet that demand. In the mean time there are no problems at some of the smaller regional airports e.g. Newcastle, either in this half term holiday or the Easter holidays. Avoid the big European/US hubs like Schipol and LAX. Avoid Manchester and Gatwick. My last few flights have been absolutely nothing like what you’ve described.

When we stop pretending that £69 return Manchester - Barcelona is sustainable and increase salaries across the board.

I’ve not found it to be that bad, although I’ve only been going twice a year & doing short haul since the virus. There are queues, but luckily they moved pretty fast. My last flight was delayed 1 hour on the way there, & 2 on the return journey. I checked my bag in the night before, & downloaded my boarding pass on to my phone. This will save you having to stand in one queue as you’ll be able to go straight through to security. I do think that people not knowing or forgetting what to do like remove belt, shoes, coat … Or more than 100ml toiletries, make-up, can cause queues to build up too. Hand luggage only I thought was a good idea, but again they will insist on rummaging through it all, so perhaps not so good after all. Soz, went off on one there. Hopefully things will improve by the end of year.