Holidaymakers who have struggled with long queues and delays in leaving the UK may face additional problems on their return, as centers in Europe and the US are struggling with their own travel interruptions.
Tourists faced severe delays at UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, as they took advantage of Covid’s relaxed travel restrictions to enjoy a half-semester break.
Those who have been lucky enough to avoid mass cancellations by airlines such as easyJet and Tui may face problems returning to the UK by both air and rail, as other transport hubs in popular locations for a break report an interruption.
In Ireland, passengers at Dublin Airport faced long queues that stretched from the terminal doors. Pauline Moore, who missed her Ryanair flight from Dublin to Stansted on Sunday morning, said in a Facebook post that the situation at the airport was “completely ugly”.
A press release from the airport acknowledged the problem with so many passengers and said it intended to implement a new plan to “improve queue management, increase staff availability and increase the number of security lanes.” , open at peak hours’.
Last week, the Dutch airline KLM largely stopped selling tickets for flights departing from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam – the third busiest in Europe – after queues formed on the streets.
An easyJet customer told the Independent that the situation at the airport was “complete chaos” and that people were behaving “like animals”.
Schiphol’s chief executive, Dick Benshop, has promised that the airport’s problems “will disappear by summer”.
The Paris administration, which manages the Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, also warned of major disruptions. A tweet from his account said that there were problems with the software that affected the border control checks and this would lead to delays.
In a statement on its Twitter account on Wednesday, Eurostar said it was experiencing problems for similar reasons: “Our stations are very busy today. Passport and security checks take longer than usual due to problems with the French authorities’ control systems.
In Sweden, Swedavia airport chief executive Jonas Abrahamson was summoned to parliament to answer questions about the long queues at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Travel blogger Rakhee said on Twitter that the queues in Arlanda were “horrifying” and took “several hours” to go through security and passport control.
In the United States, more than 2,500 flights were canceled during the four-day Memorial Day weekend. The industry struggled to cope with the increase in passengers, which led to delays at Los Angeles International Airport and Denver International Airport.
Airports and airlines have been forced to cut significantly after a series of Covid blockades in Europe crippled the tourism industry. But travel restrictions have largely been lifted and demand has risen as people try to go abroad.
Despite significant recruitment, airlines and airports have failed to hire enough key workers, such as baggage handlers, to ensure that travel abroad runs smoothly.
Earlier this week, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Transport Association (IATA), downplayed the prospect of travel chaos spreading to other airports. He said: “There are problems at some airports – not all over the world.”
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