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The travel expert insisted most Brits will be able to jet off without an itch, but shared further travel advice on how to increase chances of departing without ongoing airport and airlines issues affecting them. Simon Calder warned holidaymakers this weekend to beware if they booked flights scheduled to take off from Gatwick Airport as he warned the “most significant issue” is likely to develop at the London Airport. Hundreds have been left stranded or waiting hours for their planes to take off in recent weeks as companies and airports struggle with staff shortages and coping with the pressure of pre-Covid travel patterns resuming.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Calder said: “If you are traveling this weekend, well, good luck.
“Gatwick Airport is where I’m looking for the most significant issue.
“But, bear in mind, the vast majority of people are going to get where they need to be.
“They might have a few delays, poor old people coming in from Rhodes, from Antalya overnight into Manchester Airport, where they’re watching this fairly blearily – they were two or three hours late.”
READ MORE: easyJet, Ryanair strikes: UK and Spain flights cancelled as strikes kick off
He continued: “If you were to say, ‘how am I going to maximise the chance of your flight taking off?’ I would say I probably wouldn’t be going out of Gatwick on EasyJet or, indeed, from Gatwick on British Airways, where they cancelled three or four flights already.”
EasyJet, RyanAir, and British Airways staff have all voted in favour of striking over the summer months to put pressure on airlines over pay raise demands.
The Swiss and Irish airlines have already been forced to cancel hundreds of flights in recent weeks, with staff launching their strikes across France, Spain, and Belgium on Friday.
BA staff is expected to go off-line in July after backing calls for a strike two weeks ago.
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The year has so far been marked by widespread disruption including long queues and cancelled flights caused by staff shortages, leaving airlines and airports struggling to keep up with pent-up demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government last week relaxed rules around airport slots to allow airlines to devise realistic flight schedules and avoid last-minute cancellations.
Sky News earlier this week reported Britain’s busiest airport Heathrow has had to request airlines to cancel 30 scheduled flights due to passenger numbers exceeding the airport’s capacity.
On Saturday, British Airways responded to reports its Heathrow services are expected to bear the brunt of new cancellations by saying it “welcomes these new measures”.
A spokesperson from the airline told the PA news agency that the cancellations, triggered by an amnesty on take-off and landing slots, will “help us to provide the certainty our customers deserve by making it easier to consolidate some of our quieter daily flights to multi-frequency destinations well in advance”.
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