Passengers hoping to jet off on holiday this Easter have come up against chaos at numerous UK airports this week. Manchester Airport has seen huge queues of people attempting to get through security checks due to unexpected staff shortages and high demand following the pandemic.
The disruption is expected to continue during the coming weeks and passengers are being urged to arrive as early as possible for their flights. A similar situation has been seen at London's Heathrow.
The travel disruption is affecting families heading abroad for the Easter school holiday, which is the first since the UK’s coronavirus restrictions for international travellers were dropped.
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Meanwhile, airlines are also struggling now that Covid travel restrictions are lifting and the tourism industry is beginning to pick up. Both easyJet and British Airways have had to cancel flights due to staff shortages.
EasyJet cancelled 62 flights scheduled for Monday, after axing at least 222 flights across Saturday and Sunday. The airline said it had attempted to limit the impact on passengers by focusing cancellations on routes with multiple daily flights.
A spokesman for the airline said: “As a result of the current high rates of Covid infections across Europe, like all businesses easyJet is experiencing higher than usual levels of employee sickness.” The spokesman added that the number of cancellations “represents a small proportion” of the total of 1,645 planned for Monday.
British Airways cancelled at least 115 flights to or from Heathrow Airport on Monday. It is understood that only a handful were last-minute cancellations caused by coronavirus-related staff shortages, and many flights were axed due to the airline’s recent decision to reduce its schedule until the end of May due to rising coronavirus cases.
The airline said: “Aviation has been one of the industries worst hit by the pandemic, and airlines and airports are experiencing the same issues rebuilding their operations while managing the continuing impact of Covid.”
If you are heading off on holiday this month it is important to check your flight information before departure to check for any cancellations or delays. Here's how you can check the latest updates for flights from easyJet, Ryanair, Jet2 and others.
easyJet
Updated information on all easyJet flights can be found on the airline's flight tracker. To access it, use this link and enter your flight number, or the names of the airports you are flying to and from.
The flight tracker will tell you what time the flight is expected to depart from the airport, and what time it is expected to arrive at your destination, so you can see if there are any delays. Flights that have been axed will show up with the word 'cancelled' in yellow and you can click through for more information to find out what to do next.
If your flight has been cancelled you may be able to switch to another flight for free, get a voucher for the full value of your ticket or request a refund.
For delayed flights, check in times and boarding gate opening and closing times will remain the same, unless otherwise stated.
British Airways
The flight tracker for British Airways can be found here. You can enter your flight details to find out whether your upcoming flight is on time, delayed or cancelled.
You can either search for a specific flight or see a list of all the flights departing or arriving from a chosen airport. Delayed and cancelled flights will show up in red and you can click through to 'flight details' for more information on the next steps.
Ryanair
Live flight information for Ryanair can be found here. You can search for your flight using the flight number of the airports you are flying to and from.
The flight tracker will tell you what time your flight is expected to depart and arrive. You can also check baggage allowances and rules around travel documentation.
Ryanair also allows you to sign up to live notifications on your upcoming flight. If you press the 'subscribe' button, the website will send you a notification if your flight status changes.
Jet2
For Jet2 flights, you can check the times and statuses of departing and arriving flights here. The flight tracker shows both upcoming departures, along with any delays or cancellations, as well as previous departures and what time they are expected to arrive at the destination airport.
TUI
TUI's flight tracker can be found on the airline's website here. Flight information can be found by entering your flight number of the airports you are flying to and from.
Passengers who can't find their flight information online can call the Contact Centre on 02034512695 for updates on their flight.
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