Havoc at Heathrow airport, as flights are being cancelled and baggage has been lost, many prospective travellers are in despair over cancelled holiday plans.
Facing a baggage backlog, Heathrow asks airlines to cancel 10, as havoc, dismay and disruptions erupt at the London airport, furious holidaymakers are left in limbo.
A total of 30 flights have been removed from the morning schedule as the travel chaos across UK airports continues.
What is set to cause more travel chaos is the Heathrow ground staff and British Airways workers at Heathrow, voting to strike over the summer holidays, as the industry struggles to recover from the pandemic.
Reports have suggested that Heathrow’s chief executive received an annual salary increase of 85% to almost £1.5m a year in 2021, and the boss at Manchester Airport Group had a pay rise of 25% to £2.5m.
The Department for Transport said: “The aviation industry is responsible for making sure they have enough staff to meet demand, and we have been clear that they must step up recruitment to make sure disruption is kept to a minimum.”
The UK ministers have devised a 22-point plan to tackle aviation disruption ahead of the summer season, as the government aims to support the aviation industry and give holidaymakers certainty ahead of the first summer free of travel restrictions.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said “While it’s never going to be possible to avoid every single delay or cancellation, we’ve been working closely with airports and airlines to make sure they are running realistic schedules.
The British government claims on their part they have done everything to ensure the smooth running of the industry:
“The 22 measures we’ve published today set out what we’re doing to support the industry.
“It’s now on airports and airlines to commit to running the flights they’ve promised or cancel them with plenty of time to spare so we can avoid the kind of scenes we saw at Easter and the half-term”.
The Transport Secretary also said, “With 100 days having passed since we set out that restrictions would be eased, there’s simply no excuse for widespread disruption”.
Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, also added:
“We share the government’s ambitions for resolving the travel issues that we’ve seen in previous months. These actions will help the sector to be more resilient in dealing with strong consumer demand.
“We will work alongside government and the wider industry to help deliver a better experience for passengers. I’m looking forward to the Civil Aviation Authority being part of that collective effort”.
Affected by the disruptions, angry travellers have written to British Airways to express their annoyance on the matter:
“There were no people guiding. Security lines were a bottleneck jam and some security lines were not open. If there was an emergency people would have died of a stampede. Some old people were peeing as they could not go anywhere,” Dr Vinod K. Jona, a pulmonologist from California, told Asian Sunday.
The Indian musician and composer, Amjad Ali Khan was amongst those who got caught in the havoc at Heathrow airport.
Calling it a “sad state of affairs” Khan wrote to British Airways saying “All instruments and baggage went missing for over 24 hours. No update or help from British Airways is extremely disappointing”.
He further added, “This will need more of an effort than just tracking numbers, as all my musical instruments are missing, and I am on tour in the US. Kindly look into this asap”.
Farhad Ehtesham, 32, from Guildford, Surrey, faces a race against time to be reunited with his baggage before tying the knot in Tuscany on Saturday.
The business development manager told the PA news agency the airline has failed to respond to his messages.
The groom to be said “The moment we landed, we got an email saying ‘Your luggage is not there, please contact us’, that’s when panic starts setting in.
“You might think for clothes you can just buy others and try to claim through insurance, but it’s not that simple.
“I can’t replace a wedding outfit that was planned nine months ahead. It’s just unbelievable”.
The couple were told by airport staff in Rome that the suitcase would be put on the next British Airways flight from Heathrow on Thursday morning, but that was cancelled, and they have been unable to get further updates.
Ehtesham, adds “BA’s website is really terrible because they don’t respond to any messages,” he said. Any phone lines just go dead. I tried to message them on Instagram, Facebook and so on but got no response. We don’t know what to do.”
British Airways said in a statement: “We’re doing everything we can to reunite the customer with their luggage in time for their special day.
“We apologise for the delay and inconvenience caused.”
When asked how he felt about the situation, Mr Ehtesham replied: “I’m stressed, I’m furious
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We are expecting higher passenger numbers in today’s morning peak than the airport currently has the capacity to serve, and so to keep everyone safe we have asked airlines to remove 30 flights from the morning peak for today only.
“We apologise for the impact this has on travel plans.
“We are working hard to ensure everyone has a smooth journey through Heathrow this summer, and the most important thing is to make sure that all service providers at the airport have enough resources to meet demand.”
Customers who have been impacted by the cancellations have been told to contact their airline to be given advice on the possible alternatives.
It is expected that 98% of flights out of the airport will operate as planned.
However, the chaos is set to continue, as around 700 British Airways staff at Heathrow have voted to strike during the school holidays which could affect many hoping to get away for the school holidays.
Unions say British Airways cut pay by 10% during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite receiving funds from the Government.
Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways.
“BA has tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard.
“Our members need to be reinstated the 10 per cent they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10 per cent bonus which other colleagues have been paid”.