Holidaymakers hit by weekend of travel chaos after airports see hundreds of cancellations and delays

Holidaymakers eager to head off on a half-term break have experienced travel chaos over the weekend with cancellations and delays hitting airports and ferries.

Hundreds of travellers at Manchester Airport were faced with gruelling waits, with many complaining it took up to four hours to check in and pass security.

Those on a scheduled TUI flight to Kos were left hanging for a further four hours due to a delayed pilot, only to be sent a text informing them their journeys were not going ahead, according to Manchester Evening News.

The mayhem comes as the German airline cancelled a handful of its flights amid “various operation and supply issue chains” at the beginning of the half term break.

This included three flights from Birmingham Airport, two flights from Gatwick Airport, and one from Manchester Airport.

open image in gallery

"Where we have made the difficult decision to cancel a small number of flights, customers will receive a full refund within 14 days and we will contact them directly to help them try and find another holiday,” a Tui spokesperson said.

Just hours before, EasyJet announced it was cancelling more than 200 flights, around 24 per day, from Gatwick Airport between 28 May and 6 June.

With many of the heavily booked, The Independent calculated that even with a conservative estimate of 150 people on each of the grounded flights, at least 36,000 passengers will be affected.

The airline said the cancellations were necessary to enable it to “provide reliable services” over the busy period.

EasyJet on Thursday cancelled some 200 flights due to a software failure.

A spokeswoman said: "Customers are being informed from Friday and provided with the option to rebook their flight or receive a refund and can apply for compensation in line with regulations.”

Dublin Airport on Sunday warned its passengers of significant queues and delays, as it expected many of the 50,000 people to fly out to miss their flights.

Its officials said fliers who had been disrupted, or incurred additional costs, would be compensated.

An urgent meeting will take place on Monday between the airport’s heads and junior minister Hildegarde Naughton to discuss the issue.

It wasn’t just airports that were struck down, passengers at Dover claim to have been stuck at the port for hours due to a lack of border control booths open in France.

This included thousands of Liverpool fans who were travelling to the French capital to watch the team play Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

P&O Ferries said the delays were “out of its control” while the Port of Dover advised that delays were likely for a “number of hours” yet.

"The Port is working with its French counterparts to move tourist traffic through the Border Controls as quickly as possible,” a statement read.

"The Port is very busy working with all the Ferry Operators to minimise delays once through the Border Controls."

Drivers have since been warned to expect long delays over popular routes - including the M25 anticlockwise and A303 past Wiltshire - as some 20 million journeys have been planned over the bank holiday weekend.