Brits flying in and out of the country this bank holiday have been swept up in huge queues as airport chaos rumbles on.
Manchester Airport is once again the worst hit of the country's travel terminals, with lines stretching out of the door today.
In Birmingham three hour waits for security have led to some people missing their flights, while the queue for passport control at Stansted has left many incoming travellers with a case of the bank holiday Monday blues.
Even those who've opted for the greener train option have been frustrated by long waits for the Eurostar at St Pancras in London.
In Manchester the misery began early this morning.
Andy Clarke took to Twitter to share a photo of the huge queues shortly after 3am.
He said: "It’s 3am and the queue for bag drop at @manairport T1 is out of the door! And only one security queue out of twelve is open."
Frustrated travellers said there were just four members of staff on the baggage and security desks each in Terminal one, and hundreds of people queueing out of the building and into the car park.
"The staffing levels aren’t equipped for the volume of passengers you have going through the terminal, please sort it out," one irked passenger tweeted.
Lengthy queues which plagued Birmingham Airport over the weekend continued today.
One passenger said that "30 of us didn’t make our flight and didn’t even make it through security" having missed their Ryanair flight to Dublin at 8.10am."
Workers reportedly put the lengthy delays down to "staff shortages and sickness."
The problems at Stansted were not felt by those travelling out of the airport as was the case for its West Midlands and Mancunian counterparts, but those coming in.
Once again the queue to get through the airport's passport gate is enormous today.
Many people have been waiting close to an hour to use automated gates which have been rejecting some apparently valid travel documents.
Only half of the passport gates were working at any given time, passengers stuck in the queue claimed.
Misery was also felt on the concourses of St Pancras as continentally minded Brits waited in long lines to board highspeed services to France and Belgium.
Planned travel work on domestic train lines combined with a widespread desire to get out and about to render certain lines intolerably busy.
Jay Harris, a football reporter, said that some fans who'd been trying to travel to Manchester for the Brentford FC game this evening had been unable to get onboard trains.
London to Glasgow on the west coast rail line is also hit by multiple works.
Across the UK 550 rail engineering works are hitting this weekend - more than the 530 over the four-day Easter weekend.
Network Rail will spend £70million on projects in three days, with the £23m-a-day average making it a more prolific burst of works than Easter's £83 million spread across four days, averaging £21m-a-day.
Rail expert Ian Baldry, who has run IBPTS travel consultants since 2001, said: "Rail works this weekend are being squeezed into three days, with an even more intense amount of work taking place than over Easter.
"Replacement buses and diversions can add hours to journeys, so there is big disruption for passengers this Bank Holiday weekend.
"Some passengers will just give up and drive, as they'll say it's not worth the hassle of travelling by train."
The roads are also facing huge demand today.
Despite some showers, transport experts say ten million vehicles will snarl roads as they flock to coasts, the countryside and May fairs on traditional May Bank Holiday days out after Covid.
AA spokesman Tony Rich said: "Monday looks the busiest day of the holiday weekend on the roads.
"Although Monday's weather will be mixed, 10 million vehicles are expected across leisure outings, normal trips and work purposes.
"People want to enjoy themselves after Covid, and May Bank Holiday is a traditional day out.
"Coastal routes, beauty spots, shopping areas and local events will have congestion."
Hold-ups are also due on the M25 west between the M3 and M4 junctions, and the A303 at Stonehenge, AA trends showed.
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We are aware some customers faced longer waiting times than we would like at different stages of their journey through Manchester Airport this morning, and apologise for any inconvenience.
“We are still advising passengers there could be longer queues than would normally be the case as we, and our partner airlines and handling agents, continue to recover from the pandemic.
“Those travelling through Manchester should arrive three hours before their flights and ensure they are familiar with the latest security rules to help avoid any unnecessary delays.”
A spokesperson for Birmingham airport said: "We thank everyone for their patience and understanding. We will look into the circumstances of anyone who missed their flight.
“As always, our message to departing customers is: Help us help you keep queues moving by removing any liquids, gels, pastes and electrical items from your bags before our security x-ray scanners."
Stansted Airport was contacted for comment.
