Airlines ordered to end holiday flight chaos

Airlines have been told by the government's aviator regulator to "de-risk" their summer flights schedule by cancelling flights they cannot guarantee will be available.

It follows May's half-term holiday chaos which saw many services cancelled at the last minute.

Travel expert Simon Calder said passengers should not accept refunds from airlines - but demand an alternative flight.

[htspott]

This was all ENTIRELY predictable. After working as a manager at a major London airport for 20 years this was all guaranteed after airlines and airports sacked too many staff at the start of the pandemic. Orwellian Employers like BA jumped for joy as Covid started and within days got rid of huge numbers of their workforce hoping one day to hire back cheaper. Furlough was often not used so sacked employees got nothing. Now they are desperate for staff to go back? Unlikely. They are all reaping what they sowed now and decades of experience from the aviation sector has walked and has either found new jobs and are being treated better, or, have no intention of going back after being so let down in our hour of need. No matter what the government does now this summer will be a disaster as training and vetting periods now exceed the summer peak so the perfect storm is already brewing. Caused by profiteering not a pandemic!

[westonboi]

So they sacked everyone and then took everyone’s money for flights they must have known they couldn’t cover!

[uktravel]

Airlines should be put into public ownership and made to benefit the public, not the shareholders who take around 60% of their profits every year.

[parametr]

Airlines took advantage of the citizen-paid furlough scheme, and now massively overbooked.
No excuse. They should get exemplary fines

[mattstevenson]

Funny how airlines are being ordered to sort themselves out - but politicians, oil, gas and energy companies can please themselves.

[shafishafique]

Cruise ship, lorry Drivers, Airline, railway next week, road transport... This government is a big mess...

[AlfieDoug]

I hear Rwanda is nice this time of year, plenty of seats left 😁

[TurinTuramber]

School holidays are the problem. Too many people trying to do the same thing and getting scalped in the process.

[tomkenyon]

Make no mistake this situation has arisen because Johnson and the Tories were so desperate to take us out of the EU no matter what the cost and we as a nation have to live with the consequences and all they now do is blame the airlines and everybody else for their own monumental errors.

[hanric]

The uk government has cheap seats on their flight to wonderful Rwanda. And plenty of free seat 🤣🤣🤣

[gearoidt]

To be sincerely honest... in my humble opinion, articulating succinctly and without a hidden agenda, visions of grandeur, ulterior motives, sentimentalism, sarcasm, becoming nostalgic or disingenuous and of course, without offending anyone who holds views contrary to my own, and without burying any impure thoughts within my subconscious and without lies or deception, to the actual truth with my clear open mind and loyal loving heart, expressing whatever has been embedded inside me for a long time which I didn't share with others because I was petrified of doing so, is about to be revealed without myself becoming a slave to fear and/or a co-signee of preposterous political correctness. Today, by gathering all the courage and motivation I could muster, I just want to state the fact that I actually feel and think that I have absolutely nothing prophetic, inspirational or even remotely interesting to say...

[Thaiwithsi]

Sorry but isn’t this completely meaningless. The government has zero control of the airlines. Strong worded letter, I’m sure that will have a major impact….. not

[fkkdnbh]

Cancel my flight and I want double back for interest ya bams

[jyvben]

nanny state because optics, will have to tow gliders like in WW2

[bunnystuart]

At least it's stops the airlines clogging up the sky's with their smog and pollution

[Blazegraze]

So why are all these airlines so short staffed?

[LliamMoore]

I AM SUCCESSFUL. I AM FREE. I AM A BILLIONAIRE. I AM POSITIVE. I AM AMAZING.. I AM INSPIRATIONAL. I AM VIBRANT. I AM ENERGETIC. I AM HANDSOME. I AM AT ONE WITH NATURE. I AM LEVELING UP...

[pixi]

Just a money hungry company just like government 😂

[footballislife]

It is entirely their responsibility that this is happening, not the government. I wish they would stop blaming them. The government told them to get ready for the uptake in demand It is the airlines fault and also the airport's fault that they treated their staff so poorly in the pandemic that made them leave due to poor pay and poor working conditions and then they expect those staff to come back. Of course people are not going to come back when they found better employment elsewhere, but still they should be getting the staff in a lot quicker than they are by improving the work environment and paying more. It's no excuse whatsoever and I feel sorry for anybody who's got a holiday in the summer even September. I'm concerned about and I'm going to Barcelona. I will not have the airline screw me out of a holiday when it isn't my fault they can't get the staff in just like it is in the fault of hundreds of thousands of other people. Also they are breaking the law by not holding up their end of the deal In terms of compensation and refunds and alternative flights hopefully the CAA have told them that that is not acceptable and they must be following the rules

[amirmohamed]

Even flight to Rwanda didn't takeoff