Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Gatwick strikes

46 replies

LittleCactus · 14/07/2023 15:33

Ahhhh! Strikes announced for the weekend we go away (6th August)
Never experienced this before.
How have people been affected in the past? What's the likelihood of our flights being cancelled/massively delayed or issues with our luggage etc etc?

Lady in the phone said they mainly affect shirt haul flights. We're flying to Orlando so long haul. Is this true?
Stressed! We've had this planned for 3 years.

OP posts:
Karrpt · 14/07/2023 16:01

I hope it doesn't affect your flight OP. We fly from a different uk airport that weekend

Wolfiefan · 14/07/2023 16:17

Oh shit. We fly from Gatwick to Orlando during the first set of strikes. I can let you know. 😭

TrueNorthStrongAndFree · 14/07/2023 16:33

We already changed our Easyjet flight to Europe when the original flight was cancelled - which cost is $$$ to change our other travel plans. Now it looks like we might not make it at all. Truly pissed off. We are only in the UK for a few days before heading to Europe for a 2 week holiday. No idea what we should do and so pissed off.

Karrpt · 14/07/2023 16:49

The airports seem to be saying they intend to get flights away as scheduled but with 1000 workers on 2 lots of 4 day strikes it seems unlikely.

BarelyLiterate · 14/07/2023 17:01

Yes, that’s correct. The airport & airlines will do everything possible to protect long-haul flights, as the level of disruption caused by cancelling them (not just to passengers but also to the airlines’ operations & crewing) is of a completely different magnitude.
The flights likely to be cancelled first will be on U.K. & Ireland domestic routes on which there are several departures a day, which gives many more options for re-routing passengers. Eg, if EasyJet are scheduled to operate 5 or more flights per day to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin etc etc they will try to cancel 2 or 3 on each route. Next, they will look at short-haul international flights to major airports which will also have plenty of re-routing options, eg Paris, Barcelona, Milan etc etc.

HappiDaze · 14/07/2023 17:06

Luckily our flights are either side of the dates given but that could change

We are travelling by train next week and they've just announced new dates which include one of the days we travel - very annoying

LlynTegid · 14/07/2023 17:07

It's not the first weekend of the school holidays which may help in a sense.

ElizaWinter · 14/07/2023 17:17

Every school holiday almost without fail...

Baggage handlers
Air traffic control
Passport control
Pilots
Security staff
Cabin crew
Ground staff

Have I missed anyone?Angry

cocksstrideintheevening · 14/07/2023 17:28

Yep we fly on the 5th.

I have no sympathy for the strikers at all.

Karrpt · 14/07/2023 17:56

"It's not the first weekend of the school holidays which may help in a sense."

Help who? Not the people who are going on holiday in the second or third weekend of the school holidays, that's for sure

MabelMoo23 · 14/07/2023 19:32

We are affected as flying to Mexico on the 31st July.

spent an hour talking to BA, the lady in the call centre was fantastic talking me through scenarios - but ultimately if we want to change flights or try and re-route it will cost a fortune, because ultimately it’s not BA’s fault. And of course because of that we can’t cancel as would lose money.

so just have to hold our nerve and pray that long haul takes priority and that as we are a single flight in one day (as in not one of several in a day to the same destination) that we will still go

PhoebeMcPeePee · 14/07/2023 21:18

Oh joy we fly out on the first weekend of strikes and back on the next Angry And just last week we lost best part of a day of our holiday after our original morning flights were cancelled and we've been given flights arriving at 10pm if we're lucky. Not done a foreign holiday since pre covid and now really wishing I hadn't bothered.

fruitypancake · 14/07/2023 21:21

You just know the minute you hear that word that the date will be your flight date 🥲 so frustrating. Praying they sort out and stand down .

TyotyaKlava · 14/07/2023 21:51

Our flight to Sardinia is on 5 august from august. I am going to be so devastated if it’s cancelled we have been looking forward to this break 😢

GiddyUpJingleHorse · 14/07/2023 21:56

Same situation here.. flying to Orlando 29th July. 😩

Taylorscat · 14/07/2023 21:56

I’ve already had to rebook a cancelled easyJet flight for the way out - very expensive and I hope to get the cash back but I can’t apply until after I’ve used it which causes me a major cash flow issue .

I fly back on the first day of the strikes. And the dog is in boarding so that’s going to cause an issue if i’m late. It will also cost more .

seriously going to look into trains for next year - flying just isn’t worth it now

Karrpt · 14/07/2023 22:34

"seriously going to look into trains for next year - flying just isn’t worth it now"

Yeah cause they never strike or get delayed 😂

Taylorscat · 15/07/2023 06:30

@Karrpt yes but you have more options (usually ). When easyJet cancelled they didn’t offer me any other options a week either side , luckily I found a flight - but I don’t think you’d be stuck for a week on trains…

ThexFallxIsxSkying · 15/07/2023 16:34

We're short haul both on the dates out and back. How short notice do you think they'll start making cancellations? To be honest I think I'm more worried about huge delays that end up meaning missing 1 or 2 days of an already quite short holiday.

And is it correct that if an entire package holiday doesn't end up happening due either to cancellation or because delays mean it wouldn't be worth going, you can't get any money back at all because this isn't the fault of the airline? Just want to cry.

Taylorscat · 15/07/2023 20:13

I listened to a Simon Calder podcast and he said the airlines had been massively taken by surprise by the strength of feeling amongst ground staff and not to give up hope of a resolution - there’s almost 2 weeks to go.

Taylorscat · 15/07/2023 20:15

It’s also not affecting all airlines. - but it is affecting wizz air easyJet and tui amongst others

Catspyjamas17 · 15/07/2023 20:16

Normally I have sympathy with striking workers but apparently they've already been offered 11%. Surely they can get round the table and sort it out.

ThexFallxIsxSkying · 15/07/2023 20:43

Taylorscat · 15/07/2023 20:15

It’s also not affecting all airlines. - but it is affecting wizz air easyJet and tui amongst others

And British Airways. So lots of the big package holiday companies. And by doing the dates they have they've screwed both outbound and inbound for anyone on a 1 week holiday

voxnihili · 15/07/2023 22:28

We’re due to fly early morning on the 28th. Short haul so worried it’s more likely to be cancelled after reading this. After the last few years of ‘not getting our hopes up’ about holidays we’d had booked, I was really looking forward to this.

Original poster
LittleCactus · 17/07/2023 13:18

voxnihili · 15/07/2023 22:28

We’re due to fly early morning on the 28th. Short haul so worried it’s more likely to be cancelled after reading this. After the last few years of ‘not getting our hopes up’ about holidays we’d had booked, I was really looking forward to this.

Ahhh sorry to hear that!!! Hopefully everything is fine for you. It's so stressful isn't it?

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread