Passengers have been left stranded after dozens of flights were cancelled from two major airports ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends since 2019.
Travellers are facing air, rail and road chaos this weekend, with train strikes, heavy traffic and flight cancellations set to cause disruption across the country over the Bank Holiday.
The lack of resilience in British transport began to be exposed on Thursday, when the main airlines at Heathrow and Gatwick airports cancelled or delayed dozens of flights.
On Friday, British Airways passengers flying on domestic and European routes to and from London Heathrow were worst affected. BA cancelled more than 70 flights to and from its main base, affecting an estimated 10,000 passengers.
Motorists travelling between Dover and Calais also experienced waits of up to an hour for border controls. Since Brexit, French frontier officials must inspect and stamp every British passport.
Meanwhile, train cancellations began on Friday evening as the latest round of rail strikes got underway. The RMT union has called out up to 20,000 members working for 14 English train operators with the walkout set to hit those attending Leeds and Reading festivals, as well as rugby fans watching England take on Fiji at Twickenham.
Drivers have also been warned to expect busy roads on Saturday, with traffic expected to peak between 10am and 3pm each day of the three-day weekend, according to the RAC.
At Heathrow, the first flight of the morning, to Madrid at 6.15am, was cancelled – setting the tone for the day.
On some routes, multiple flights were axed: they included Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey, Marseille, Rome and Stockholm. Key Mediterranean flights from Athens and Olbia in Sardinia were also cancelled.
Pressure on the busiest airport in Europe led to many other flights being delayed. The final BA departure of the night, to Abuja at 10.35pm, was rescheduled to depart in the early hours of Saturday morning.
One passenger on the cancelled British Airways flight to Basel told The Independent: “Woke up at 4.45am for my 8.15am flight and saw an email from 4.20am saying our flight had been cancelled and we were rebooked into another nearby city tomorrow! British Airways are refusing to cover our-non cancellable hotel costs.”
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