Easyjet To Cancel 200 Half Term Flights

[Dominic]

EasyJet is to cancel more than 200 flights over the next 10 days, causing disruption for families heading abroad on half-term holidays.

The airline said about 24 flights a day from London's Gatwick airport would be cancelled between 28 May and 6 June.

Read the article and chat about it below...

[WHL]

I might be a bit thick , but if you know you do not have enough Pilots/ground staff etc etc,
then why take bookings when you have a good idea, the Sh*t will hit the fan at some time?

[PhotoLady]

People book flights many months ahead.... TUI are also struggling trying to keep their schedules in order.
Also, there are many many holidaymakers who have had plans cancelled or had to cancel/change their plans to future dates and destinations since 2020.
We changed ours from October 2019 when Thomas Cook collapsed, booking for 2020 with Jet2Holidays, cancelled several times - as well as the destinations.

Certainly, many staff in the airline and airports industries were let go when UK Government FCO said travel must stop due to the pandemic in 2020.

As the reduction in travel continued for months on end with destinations being opened up in dribs and drabs only small amounts of crew and ground staff were able to return to work. The rest have gone past the time threshold to be able to keep their "wings" including flight crew and pilots too.

It takes weeks to go through the checks to take on new airport staff, especially with the security clearances needed.

New flight staff training and testing etc as a good number of those who were no longer flying turned to different careers.

[Kili01]

Very good answer, Photo Lady. My husband was a commercial pilot and I remember that aircrew were checked at 6 month intervals. As they get older they also need very regular medical assessments. During the pandemic, both pilots and many airlines stopped this then un neccessary and expensive routine.
My nephew who flies with BA on long haul, was fortunate as they did keep a number of their pilots in at state of landing recency, with flt sim checks, occasional freighter flights, so when flying resumed they did have both some aircraft and aircrew who were ready to fly. But most budget airlines had to stop flying.
Dee

[PhotoLady]

Hi Dee,
I worked for 10yrs for the third largest UK tour operator until we moved to Cyprus and am still in contact with a good number of my ex-colleagues.

We've holidayed booking through easyJet Holidays several times since November last year during the pandemic and their service was excellent, but that was before the majority of destinations opened up and lessened their individual restrictions.

Holidays went from just a handful of available destinations to lots in the space of just a few weeks, causing a major stumbling block as has been well documented in the tabloids.

We're currently in mainland Spain with Jet2Holidays and have been here a week...

[Kili01]

Hi Photo Lady,
Gladthat your holiday plans seem to have gone well for you. I was in Cyprus through most of lock down where we were badly affected by flight cancelations. What annoyed people here was that EJ in particular were only too eager to accept money for flight bookings, but then 14 days before an intended,paid for flight one received an email to inform you the flight was cancelled. In fact many flights Paphos-Bristol return were scrapped. After 3 attempts to book flights ended with The same result, I kept the emails, but just stopped booking flights for about a year...in common with many others.
Hopefully, things are now returning to normal, but traveling by air has lost its shine. What with queues and delays at airports.
Lets hope that things will get better!
Dee

[WHL]

Nightmare.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ngers-flig

[johnandjen1]

It’s worth to point out that the article also says they ‘fly’ around 1700 flights per day, just to put the cancellation numbers (200 over 10 day) in context.
It is however imo very poor customer service the way it has been handled and serves as rocket fuel to the tabloids.

[Kili01]

Unfortunately, it seems to be the way this airline handles cancellations.During lockdowns they listed flights Bristol-Paphos-Bristol. They encouraged bookings, then 14days before hand, an email arrived cancelling it.. no credible alternative offered either... This often happened, each time after I had paid..
18 mths later still no definite EJ flights, so eventually, I booked Ryanair, Paphos to Bournemouth. Which went to plan. Ryanair proved to be the most reliable airline.
Dee

[WHL]

If they got Lidls staff to do security in UK airports,
everyone would be out in two minutes.

[PhotoLady]

Whatever you do, don't book with TUI - another company having an extremely bad time over the last few weeks. Cancelled flights/holidays at the very last minute, some whilst checking in have received text messages.

All very well for Simon Calder telling people if your flight is cancelled you should demand your operator books you with another airline, but it doesn't help holidaymakers on package holidays.

If you get told your flight is cancelled on a particular route until the end of June as is happening now, your accommodation is cancelled as well.

Slightly different scenarios with flight only and Ryanair were the worst for refunding when the FCO said travel was cancelled in the pandemic.

Passengers claiming were informed that as the flight was still operating to that destination, they weren't entitled to a refund if they chose not to travel.

With easyJet, I believe some routes were cancelled completely as they weren't viable to operate to certain destinations because those booked with package holidays were cancelling and switching to alternative destinations because of the restrictions in their original choice.

easyJet Holidays offer a free cancellation policy up to 28 days before departure date and that's also when the final balance is due. We cancelled 3 times without costs or loss of funds before we eventually felt happy with the travel rules and restrictions.

Jet2Holidays have their own ground staff and handling agents in UK (also in some overseas destinations) and this has allowed them to continue operating without cancelling flights albeit with a few delays.

We were hoping to tie in another holiday overseas at the end of our forthcoming trip to Liverpool next month, but in the light of the announcement that holidays will be affected right through this summer, we've sacked that idea - unless I can find a cruise leaving the port on the same day

[PhotoLady]

These are the flight numbers with Tui, these flights have been pulled and cancelled for the remainder of June 2022, it’s the same flight number each day they fly.

TUI cancellations through June 2022

FB_IMG_16542463463992661.jpg (43.77 KiB) Viewed 5292 times

[WHL]

authorities should legally force airlines to announce flight cancellations at least 24 hours before, so stopping passengers from arriving at airports and avoiding all the Sh*t that goes with it?

[Firefly]

As I see it the law needs to change, it is totally unacceptable to treat customers so badly.

I was lucky when I flew out with EJ in April when flights were being cancelled, mine took off, on time too.

[J B]

These are the flight numbers with Tui, these flights have been pulled and cancelled for the remainder of June 2022, it’s the same flight number each day they fly.

Does your crystal ball go as far as November?

We've booked TUI TOM2337 from PFO to MAN for then!

[71 Trans Am]

El tel

So you drove 90 mile to fly with an airline that has a decades long reputation for being S**T and leave your car with clowns that are likely to put it anywhere even on someone’s house drive as has been proved to happen with this type of parking company --- When you have an Airport 20 minutes away that you could have taken a taxi to for minimal cost and flown from there with a reputable airline – And then you have to drive 90 mile back if your car is still in one piece when you return and to save what? A couple of quid? It’s just greed – I personally would never use your chosen airline on principle alone their reputation over the years say’s it all - But to have all this hassle to save a few quid – I would sooner pay more just to have a smooth trip, Pure Greed no other explanation and you ask for all you get.

[71 Trans Am]

According to TUI Website they have been operating out of Exeter since at least 2020 so you could have easily booked a flight with them this year and certainly within the last couple of weeks – And no Charisma bypass I just can’t stand people who whinge about airlines when they chose to use third grade operators and then complain about rubbish service – Your car fuel cost alone would wipe out any saving you think that you made by booking with amateurs – I stick to my original comments – And if you use cheap nasty airlines then don’t complain about them when things go wrong

[Beechwood]

El tel. Sorry to read about the problems you have had. Hopefully you’ll soon be in Paphos

[Kili01]

Trans Am, were you talking about EasyJet? Before the pandemic started, their flights from PFO to Bristol were very reliable.Many expats who live in Cyprus used them regularly to commute to Bristol. Its during the Pandemic that their previous good reputation was wrecked.. when flights re started fairly recently. It seems they may have made another error of judgement in trying to restart their former flight schedule again, with insufficient pilots and cabin crew. But apart from that it seems that many British airports were forced to lay off some of their air terminal staff, with the result that some are forced to try to recruit new ones. But even if they find suitable replacements it will still take time to train and security clear them to work at an airport.


Dee

[J B]

So you drove 90 mile to fly with an airline that has a decades long reputation for being S**T ..................

Easyjet has always been our airline of choice - never let us down yet - just wish they did the MAN-PFO journey a little earlier in the day