Thousands of tourists from the “civilized world” – from Britain to Australia – started with delays and nightmares at airports and beyond. The reason is the demand, which has grown sharply since the beginning of the Easter holidays, multiplied by the lack of staff due to the consequences of kovid. In the local media, tourists complain about the nightmare they had to go through and fear that chaos will overtake them at the continent’s airports.
Prolonged delays at UK airports began at 3 am on Friday. “Huge queues of tourists flying to beach resorts, snaked around the reception desks,” – described the British media. At Gatwig Airport, tourists were waiting in line for four hours, in Manchester – “chaos”, tourists were also encouraged to arrive three hours before departure, otherwise they risk being late for the flight because the airport does not have the required number of staff.
“The problems are caused by a lack of staff and problems with his new recruitment. In the coming weeks, there is a risk that the waiting time in the security service will be up to 90 minutes, “said Alex Nash, a spokesman for Manchester Airport. That’s why tourists are asked to arrive at the airport three hours before departure and double-check that their hand luggage complies with safety regulations, as any additional inspection of the bags will increase the waiting time.
Tourists are painting “hell queues” in Manchester, after which some elderly people became ill, and young children “had to urinate in bags where they usually put liquids.” This episode is told by a couple of tourists – 32-year-old Jack McKinney and his 32-year-old wife Laura Story-Makin, who arrived at the airport three and a half hours before departure for Malta. It took them five busy hours to reach the landing exit. The fact is that the two terminals had one security zone with a minimum of employees. “Everyone went through one security zone. It was chaos. About five people served all this and handed out trays for luggage. In the family before us was a child who became ill due to dehydration and heat stroke. The children had to pee in plastic bags, in which they usually put liquids. It was awful, “they said. The tourists themselves, arriving at the airport at 16:30, were still standing in line to pass the security check at 20:15, and their flight was scheduled to depart at 20:05. Fortunately, after the “hell test”, their flight took off three hours later, at 23:15. Not everyone survived the test – a couple of elderly tourists, already on board, fainted due to stress and pressure problems.
Problems were also recorded in Heathrow and Birmingham, as tens of thousands of Britons tried to fly south. In addition, British Airways and easyJet have canceled 110 flights, exacerbating all difficulties.
It was not easier “on the ground”: in Dover, where the Eurotunnel begins, tourists encountered terrible traffic jams. “The situation has been the worst since Christmas 2020, when France closed its borders,” travel experts say, adding that “anyone who hopes to travel to France by car this weekend should come earlier and bring food and drinks”. .
There are also problems with ferries: chaos in the P&O ferry service after mass layoffs, storms at sea, snow and technical problems – all united against tourists. And at least 40,000 of them are expected over the weekend. In total, more than 21 million.
Not only in the UK, tourists have to suffer – in Australia, in Sydney, tourists who rushed to rest after kovid, complain of mass delays. The head of Sydney Airport said that “inexperienced” travelers contributed to the “perfect storm”, which caused serious delays. Tourists describe the situation as “hell”, footage from the airport showed queues winding, stretching through the terminals and beyond, many flights again had to be delayed. The problem is the same: lack of staff. “When only two people manage all the cattle, of course, there will be problems,” Australians say on social media. Officials also cite staffing problems due to the rules of close contact with Covid-19. “The amount of traffic is growing, travelers are inexperienced after two years without travel, and the rules of close contact make it difficult to fill changes and airport staff,” – they say.
At the same time, the storm is expected when the British return from the resorts – for example, airports in Spain do not report the level of delays, but already warn tourists about the time when they need to depart at the airport. Madrid’s Barajas Airport says, for example, that it is at least two to three hours before departure, “to check in luggage and pass security checks.” “Keep in mind that there can be a lot of people on holidays or special days. You should always keep an eye on the monitors or information panels on check-in and check-out counters that correspond to your flight, as in exceptional cases last-minute changes may occur,” tourists are warned.
In Barcelona, the message is: “The passenger must be at the reception at least 3 hours before the scheduled departure for non-Schengen flights, and for Schengen and domestic flights: 2 hours before the scheduled departure. Note that there may be many people during peak periods or on special events.” The airports of Palma de Mallorca, Malaga and Alicante are also recommended to arrive in at least two hours.