Holidaymakers hoping to travel through Manchester airport received texts at 2:30am from TUI cancelling their holidays amid ongoing “carnage” at the terminals.
Travellers have been left devastated after they woke up to messages from the airline informing them of cancelled flights on the day they were due to leave.
Passengers at the airport have been facing massive three-hour waits for luggage and huge queues, Manchester Evening News reported.
Frustrated passengers were hoping to get away for the half-term and bank holiday weekend but were left stuck in queues instead.
A number of furious Brits took to social media to vent about the chaos as TUI announced they were axing nearly 200 flights from Manchester Airport over the next month, but have refused to say which ones.
Since then, TUI say that they have notified all customers impacted by the planned cancellations at Manchester Airport.
One woman said she felt like “crying her eyes out” after waking up to a message from TUI.
Jodie Frankland said this morning: "Waking up to an email that our holiday has been cancelled!! Literally could cry my eyes out @manairport @TUIUK."
Jules Kendrick was also sent a message in the early hours about her cancelled trip. "@manairport @TUIUK We’re flying Sunday and had email 4am this morning cancelling", she said.
Councillor Pat Karney described the situations as a “shambles” as he too fell victim to the cancellations. He tweeted a picture of an email he was sent at 2.50am.
Alongside this, those who didn’t have their holidays cancelled found themselves stuck for hours in queue to try and check their bags in and get through security.
At around 4am this morning, Simon Stones shared a picture of a huge queue stretching into the car park of Terminal 1.
He said it took him around two hours and 40 minutes to check in his bag with EasyJet and then get through security.
"Carnage once again this morning (4am) at @manairport T1… I haven’t even made it in the building this time around!", he said in a tweet.
Greg McCaw also reported long queues in Terminal 3. He said: "Terminal 3 at @manairport Endless queues, no where to sit, over crowded. How could this terminal function in an emergency?"
Jaymeleigh McCarroll shared a video of a crowded baggage reclaim hall at around 4.45am. She described the scenes as an “absolute mess” with luggage left abandoned on the floor.
At around 2.30am, @RuinousHugh said he had been waiting for two hours to collect his bags from Terminal 1. "Why the hell can't you sort this out?", he tweeted Manchester Airport.
Philip Bennett also tweeted a picture from a crowded baggage reclaim hall in Terminal 3. He said: "Manchester airport Terminal 3 baggage reclaim. 3:15am. People waiting over 3 hours for bags. Shocking. Not an employee in sight. Welcome to Britain."
This is sadly an increasingly common picture for Brits trying to fly out of a number of airports in recent weeks and months.
Mammoth queues, cancellations and delays have become an almost frequent occurrence.
A TUI spokesperson said: "We’re incredibly sorry to those customers who have been impacted by the recent disruption to our operations.
"We understand that last minute cancellations are incredibly disappointing and we would like to reassure our customers that we are doing everything we can to get them on holiday as planned.
"Whilst every cancellation is regrettable, the vast majority of our flights are operating as planned, with more than 26,000 customers taking off yesterday on holiday.
"We’d like to apologise again for the inconvenience caused and we thank customers for their understanding."
