Astonishing moment POLICE OFFICER reads TUI statement to furious passengers after flight cancelled 

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Britain’s airports crisis will continue through the Platinum Jubilee and was laid bare today in an extraordinary video where two police officers were drafted in to tell irate TUI customers queuing to board their flight that their holiday was cancelled and they had to go home.

Tens of thousands of Britons fear their plans to jet abroad for the long weekend could be in jeopardy after hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled, in some cases just as they were about to board.

There has been chaos, confusion and cancellations at the majority of the UK’s airports over the past four days as families try to get away for half term and the jubilee.

People have queued through the night to check-in while some brought pillows and duvets knowing they would be forced to sleep on terminal floors. Others passed out on baggage carousels while waiting hours for their suitcases.

Those caught up in the carnage have described shops selling out of food and water and people being too frightened to go to the toilet in case they lose their place in the queues snaking around terminals at Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick and Heathrow.

Student Isabelle Gray, 27, told the Evening Standard that checking in at Gatwick today was ‘hell on wheels’.

She said: ‘I arrived here just after 5am and queued for almost 2 hours to check my bag in, the queue was about 500 deep and there was one person at the check in desk. Some people next to me were thinking of putting their suitcase in a locker and running to the gate with just hand luggage.’ 

Airlines and airports have been blamed for the carnage having slashed staff during the pandemic while hoovering up furlough payments and state aid.  Now they do not have enough workers to cope  – and cannot find people to fill often low-paid vacancies – as the numbers booking foreign post-pandemic holidays over the Platinum Jubilee week and through the summer months.

Jayesh Patel, his wife and family were among the hundreds of people at Manchester Airport for eight hours until their holiday to Greece was axed while they sat at the gate with newlyweds going on their honeymoon or children ready for their first ever holiday.

Mr Patel, whose half term break to Kos had been two years in the planning, said there was anger and tears as two policemen arrived to read a statement from TUI, moments after they began receiving texts telling them their flight and package breaks would not go ahead. But incredibly it was two police officers who confirmed the news – not TUI workers.

Jayesh Patel was due to travel to Kos from Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 with his wife and their three children, aged nine, 12 and 13 – and after eight hours waiting, he filmed the moment that police – not TUI staff – told holidaymakers that they would not be going away and would have to go home.

He told the BBC today: ‘The airport was understaffed, a lot of the outlets had ran out of food or closed at 6pm. We got called to the gate for the 7pm take off – four hours late. There was no staff. 

‘People were very upset – some were going on their honeymoon. And then we all started getting texts that the flight was now cancelled and because it was a package booking the whole holiday was cancelled’.

He added: ‘The worst part that there was no Tui staff to help. And then two police officers arrived and read a statement telling us how we would exit the airport. Because the airplane hadn’t arrived from anywhere, our flight wasn’t listed at any of the baggage carousels so we didn’t know where to wait – people were visibly upset and children were crying. We then had to wait another couple of hours and at this point, we’d spent the whole day at the airport and just wanted to leave. ‘ 

Steven Hession, 45, was also supposed to be flying to Kos on Saturday with his wife, Kerrie, and their two children for a fortnight and an upcoming family wedding. 

But after hours of delays and chaos, the family got to the departure gate only to get a text message from airline TUI informing them that their flight and holiday had been cancelled due to ‘significant operational disruption’ – believed to be a missing pilot.

He said: ‘After many hours of delays, we were at the boarding gate just after 7pm and there was no staff one there, but then we saw the cabin crew walking through to the plane, which made us feel reassured. But then we heard people crying… and everyone got this text at the same time saying unfortunately, your holiday has been cancelled, click this link to get a refund within 14 days.’

Britain’s travel crisis will peak next week and is predicted to continue for the entire summer.

A Government source told The Times: ‘The simple fact is that airlines and airports overcut staff during the pandemic, ignoring the fact that the billions of pounds of aid — including furlough — handed out by the government was meant to protect those very jobs.

‘Operators are now struggling to meet increasingly busy schedules as we move towards the first Covid-free summer since 2019 — a wholly foreseeable surge in bookings that should have been adequately prepared for.

‘The responsibility for maintaining adequate staffing levels lies with the airlines and airports themselves. Not only are they causing huge frustration to their customers, they are missing out on the benefits of the strong recovery in foreign travel.’

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told MailOnline that the issue is not for the government to step in on: ‘It’s for travel firms themselves to get themselves in order.

‘It might mean sadly diverting money due to go into investment, or earmarked for new aircraft or into better check-in facilities to instead go towards hiring more staff. They’ve got some tough decisions to make.’

‘Sadly, I think it will get worse because were reaching its peak in a few days,’ Mr Charles said. ‘Monday 6 June scheduled to be the busiest day since 2019, with 2,864 departures from the UK, and the same number of inbound flights – it will be the busiest day since before the pandemic.’

Transport workers trade union Unite also blamed the aviation chiefs for their mass-sackings during the Covid-19 pandemic, describing the airport chaos as a ‘crisis of their own making’.

The general secretary at Unite, Sharon Graham, told The Mirror that the chaos is to ‘last the entire summer season’: ‘During the pandemic, when airline operators and others in aviation slashed jobs to boost corporate profits, we warned this corporate greed would cause chaos in the industry.

‘The aftermath of mass sackings is now chronic staff shortages across the board. Aviation chiefs need to come clean with the public. This is a crisis of their making.

‘We are determined that workers will not pay for this crisis. Current pay and conditions in the industry are so poor that workers are voting with their feet. It can only be resolved by offering higher wages and better working conditions for staff. Unite is utterly determined to fight for that.’

Rory Boland, the travel editor of consumer group Which? said that the government must intervene to make sure airlines stop selling flights ‘they can’t actually provide’.

He told The Times: ‘We’re already seeing very long queues, widespread chaos at airports, huge stress for people planning to get away, and we haven’t hit the peak yet.

‘Airports and airlines have known this recovery was coming for a period of time now. We’re continuing to see things get worse, not better.’

Airlines cancelled dozens more flights on Sunday and yesterday, forcing some travellers to lie down on airport floors while resting.

Half-term sun-seekers were pictured laying on floors at Stansted Airport following disruption and lengthy queues.

Snaking queues also formed outside Bristol and Gatwick airports from 4am yesterday.

It comes following chaotic scenes at Manchester Airport over the weekend when hundreds of Tui passengers were told their holidays had been cancelled after an eight-hour wait.

Industry sources say staffing levels are around 80 to 90 per cent of where they need to be for the peak summer season at larger airports and about 70 per cent at smaller ones.

But airport bosses insist queues have also been exacerbated by passengers turning up earlier than normal from the early hours, with most of the carnage cleared by yesterday afternoon.

Ministers are facing calls to slash more red tape to help travel firms recruit staff quicker in a bid to avoid similar scenes throughout the summer after they slashed thousands of jobs during the pandemic.

But British Airways travellers were warned they face a summer of chaos as two unions representing check-in staff – GMB and UNITE – said they have started balloting members on strike action in a row over pay.

Hundreds of staff at Heathrow Airport took a 10 per cent pay cut during the pandemic and are demanding their full salaries are reinstated amid cost-of-living pressures and passenger numbers surging again after the pandemic.

Without any check-in staff, most flights will likely be grounded.

It comes after easyJet announced it was cancelling at least 200 flights over the half-term holidays, which started yesterday (MON), affecting around 30,000 passengers.

EasyJet axed 32 flights yesterday while British Airways cancelled another 140. BA says the cancellations were made weeks ago and that customers were given plenty of notice.

Like queues at airports, the cancellations are fuelled by staff shortages.

Some airlines and airports have also struggled to recruit new staff since all Covid travel restrictions were dropped by the Government in March.

Operators like BA and easyJet slashed thousands of jobs during the pandemic, which critics say was too many.

Bosses at Bristol Airport said its bottlenecks were being caused by people turning up five hours early for their flights.

But passengers hit back and said the ‘morning rush hour’, during which dozens of flights left before 8am, was simply more than staff could cope with.

One Bristol passenger wrote online: ‘Only half the security lanes open and not fast track.

‘Two hours to get through. Queues started 300m on road outside.’ One father, who booked with airline Vueling, claimed his young teenage son was forced to fly ahead of him due to the flight being overbooked.

He posted: ‘Anyone thinking about booking to fly with @vueling think again. They consistently overbook flights so your flight is not guaranteed.

‘Waiting nearly 6 hours at Gatwick airport and counting.’

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last month announced new laws so travel firms can begin training new recruits before they complete security checks.

New rules mean they can also write a letter to HMRC asking them to confirm employment histories, which form part of the checks.

However, industry leaders say they are still taking around four to five weeks to complete.

Boss of Heathrow Airport, John Holland-Kaye, said the Government changes were ‘limited’ and called on ministers to go further by allowing aviation employers to access HMRC records.

He told the Mail: ‘Currently it can take weeks if not months to validate someone’s employment.

‘Quite often we have to do five years of checks for background employment and for some people that might be ten or 15 employers over that time.

‘The HMRC change, accessing their records, would take the amount of time down from about four weeks to four minutes. It’s not too late to make that change.’

Asked about the fiasco yesterday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘We recognise that passengers are understandably frustrated and upset by the delays in some cases and flight cancellations and other disruptions.

‘We want everyone to be able to travel as freely and easily as possible and we want to see the travel and aviation sector bounce back from the pandemic.

‘What we saw what we saw over the weekend is an exceptionally high number of people travelling, which has meant that airports and other ports have been exceptionally busy.

‘We will continue to work with the aviation industry and port sector and be clear with them that we want to see disruption reduced to a minimum that includes working with them in terms of recruitment.’

Separately, a Government spokesman 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.’