Travel disruption – live: Calls for automatic airline refunds grow as Wizz Air adds to advance cancellations

Vueling flight VY6209 from Gatwick to Florence took off empty last night.

The reason? The airline told passengers it was due to delays at the London airport which has seen dozens of flight cancellations daily.

Nisha Gupta, 32, from Windsor, Berkshire, was booked on the flight with her husband Ash.

She told the PA news agency they were forced to queue for more than four hours to check in luggage, but when they arrived at the departure gate they were informed no passengers could board the plane due to a staff shortage.

After being told the plane was flying back empty, she said: “The environmental impact of this is insane and a decision was clearly made to prioritise cost implications over customer experience and environmental impact.”

Vueling passengers at Gatwick have faced severe difficulties in recent days. A group of passengers who missed their flight to Bilbao yesterday due to an hours-long check in queue have said they are still waiting at Gatwick Airport 24 hours later [see 14.29 post].

New data from travel extras company Holiday Extras has revealed that 45 per cent of British holidaymakers have changed their travel plans this year in the face of reduced availability, higher prices, queues and ongoing travel restrictions.

Released after the mass cancellations of flights this week, one in ten (10 per cent) holidaymakers polled said that the queues at airports has led them to tweak their plans, while 18 per cent altered their summer travel intineraries due to their preferred destination still being closed, having Covid-related restrictions or having run out of affordable flights or rooms.

Another 5 per cent couldn’t find the rooms, flights or hire cars they needed for their trip.

Seamus McCauley, head of communications at Holiday Extras, said: “Most people who flew out of the UK since 2019 tell us they want to get away this summer, but after more than two years without a holiday people are changing or even cancelling their plans just to avoid the hassle of queues, travel restrictions and their favourite resorts running out of rooms.”

Garry Graham, deputy general secretary of the Prospect union, has spoken out about the present travel chaos, saying unions had warned both government and travel industry about the knock-on effect of staff cuts during the pandemic.

“Unions warned the government and aviation employers repeatedly that slashing staff through the crisis would lead to problems with the ramp-up post-pandemic,” said Mr Graham.

“The government point to the furlough scheme, but ignore that it ended well before the majority of international restrictions on travel came to an end.

“Now we see staff shortages across the industry, with huge reliance on overtime to get by day to day.

“In many areas, like air traffic control, overtime is only a temporary sticking plaster. So, things could get worse this summer before they get better.”

Tim Jeans, director of Cornwall Airport Newquay has said that the UK’s airlines and airports have been “short of the numbers of people they need”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, Mr Jeans said: “When I used to run Monarch Airlines I always said you must never let the problem get to the airport. You know there’s a problem coming, you know if you can’t crew flights, you know if you don’t have the resources.

“To let people get to an airport and then say ‘I’m sorry, we can’t deal with it’, is... not ideal. So no, we’ve got to plan, we’ve got to plan better, resource better and basically make sure that these kind of things which are putting people off travel do not reoccur throughout the summer.

He added: “Well, it’s going to be a while before they get better, let me say that - there’s no point in being unrealistic. It won’t be I think as bad as this peak weekend - this very, very busy Jubilee weekend - but unfortunately I see things happening through the summer.”

Eurostar passengers say queues are continuing into the afternoon, following this morning’s delays at London St Pancras.

“Absolute chaos at London St Pancras. Q’s all the way up Midland Road for the Eurostar! A lot of cheesed off travellers,” tweeted customer Dazza shortly before 3pm.

“Advise anyone trying to catch @Eurostar at St Pancras to stay home. Absolute chaos, queues round several blocks, and zero information. (Also don’t bother turning up early- we were only allowed to start standing in a stationary queue 45 min before departure),” added author Svenja O’Donnell.

Meanwhile customer Kirsten Jeffs said she was still waiting for the 2.30pm train, “which is now leaving god knows when”.

This morning, Eurostar representatives had said there was a “small backlog” caused by a technical issue, which should have cleared within 30 minutes.

A Eurostar spokesperson said: “Unfortunately delays of 30-60 minutes on departure from St. Pancras are continuing – following on from the technical issue this morning.

“Our staff are working hard to get passengers checked in and on to their trains.”

The small Canadian budget airline OWG (short for Off We Go) has raised the entry-level salary of all its cabin crew.

In a press release headed “More Love!”, OWG says: “In order to thank its flight attendants for their continued high-calibre in-flight service despite the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic, and to celebrate International Flight Attendant Day, OWG is announcing today that it will offer a new, extremely competitive salary scale which will undoubtedly stand out in the market.

“From their first year of service, flight attendants will be able to earn an annual salary of $45,000 (£28,250), in addition to all the other benefits which include, among others, insurance plan benefits, a group pension plan and access to a profit-sharing programme.

“It should be noted that another training [session] is planned over the next few weeks and there are still a few flight attendant positions to be filled…”

A group of passengers who missed their flight to Bilbao yesterday due to an hours-long check in queue have said they are still waiting at Gatwick Airport 24 hours later.

Valentina Montoya Vivas and four family members, including children aged two and 11, say they were were set to fly out on Vueling’s flight VY6306 yesterday at 3.25pm, but found themselves in a three-hour-long check-in queue for the airline.

When the group flagged to airline staff that they would likely miss their flight, they were advised it was being held.

However, the flight took off without the family one hour and 25 minutes late, and the group say there was hardly any customer service reps available to help them rebook a flight. In the end she booked her own hotel room overnight.

Now Ms Montoya-Vivas says she is back waiting at Gatwick where queues are “worse than yesterday”. She has been offered a flight tomorrow but is hoping to get on an earlier one today.

The Independent has contacted Vueling for comment.

With travel disruption across the UK at the moment, many readers are struggling to rebook flights and get compensation from airlines.

So what are your rights if your flight is cancelled?

The Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder writer: “You are entitled to travel on the original day of departure, if there is any commercial way of getting you to your destination.

“You should give the cancelling airline the opportunity to arrange a new flight (or, for domestic links in Great Britain, or trips to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, a train).”

He continues: “In addition to buying you a ticket to the country/region, the cancelling airline must also provide or pay for any additional ground transportation to get you to your original destination.

“For example, if your easyJet flight to Naples is cancelled from Gatwick and the only alternative departure that day is on British Airways or ITA from Heathrow, then the airline should provide transport for your from Gatwick to Heathrow (likely a National Express bus).

“If you are not given help, again you can pay and reclaim – but do all you can to keep the cost down. A taxi would not be reasonable and appropriate unless, say, you are in a group of four.”

Read Simon’s full breakdown of your consumer rights when travelling from the UK and Europe here:

Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel has slammed the “blame game” between the travel industry and the UK government over the current travel chaos, saying that all “must take their share of responsibility” and help holidaymakers.

“The blame game over staff shortages and flight cancellations is no help at all to passengers, who need instant action to bring an end to the airport chaos that is causing so much misery and leaving many people out of pocket, with little hope of getting all their money back,” said Mr Boland.

“The government and regulators must take their share of responsibility for creating a situation where airlines feel empowered to treat passengers poorly and ignore their legal obligations to put passengers on alternative flights to their destinations, with other carriers if necessary - enforcing this rule would help thousands of passengers immediately.

“Ministers should drop plans to cut passenger compensation when UK domestic flights are delayed or cancelled, and give the Civil Aviation Authority the powers it needs to hold airlines to account when they flout the law - including the ability to fine operators directly.

“It is obvious to anyone witnessing the shameful scenes at UK airports that passenger rights desperately need to be strengthened, rather than weakened further.”

It’s already been quite the week for travellers attempting to get away on half-term holidays.

Over the last few days, chaotic scenes have been reported at airports across the UK and Ireland, plus Amsterdam, where Schiphol airport saw numerous passengers miss flights while waiting in line for security.

Airlines have also been struggling under the pressure of increased demand, with easyJet and Tui forced to preemptively axe hundreds of flights this week.

But why is the aviation industry finding it so challenging to scale back up as travellers return en masse? And what should you do if your flight’s been cancelled?

Our expert Simon Calder will be on hand later today, Tuesday 31 May, to answer all your questions in an ‘Ask me anything’ event, between 4-5pm.

Click below to submit your question: