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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Bradley Jolly

Airport hell as travellers face big queues and baggage claim looks like 'disaster movie'

Thousands of Brits have arrived at airports - including Heathrow and Stansted - to massive queues and cancelled flights today.

Photographs taken today show queues snake through - and sometimes outside - terminals as tourists waited hours for flights out of and into the UK.

One pictures shows tourists lining up outside a terminal at Stansted Airport near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, and another shows those inside the terminal slumped on the floor and jaded.

There are reportedly triple the number of passengers flying in and out of Britian’s airports this summer compared to last year.

But, with Ryanair and easyJet crew members set to strike and school holidays looming, disruption is only feared to get worse.

And flights have been cancelled recently at Heathrow Airport, typically one of the busiest in Europe by passenger numbers.

Photographs taken at the west London hub show rows and rows of suitcases seemingly abandoned in baggage reclaim, and snaps taken at Manchester Airport also capture lengthy queues.

Children at a primary school in Exeter, Devon, were left in tears this week when they heard their trip to The Netherlands was off after EasyJet cancelled their flights at the last minute.

The return flights to Bristol Airport were scrapped, leaving the school desperately trying to find alternative last minute travel for the entire Year 6 class.

Broadclyst Primary School, which was due to take the children on an end-of-school residential between July 11 and July 15, says everything was booked and paid for months ago.

EasyJet cabin crew has begun nine days' worth of strike action today, with more walkouts planned in Spain throughout July.

It means hundreds of crew members will stop work at easyJet’s bases in Barcelona, Málaga and Palma.

The strikes will consist of three 72-hour stoppages at fortnightly intervals starting from today.

The first of the three strikes will start today and continue until Sunday, July 3.

Following this weekend's action, further strikes will then take place between the 15th and 17th, and finally between the 29th and 31st.

Meanwhile, Ryanair staff in Spain are walking out in a row over pay and working conditions.

Left luggage is pictured at baggage reclaim at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 3 (PA)

Its strikes began yesterday and will last until tomorrow.

This will affect flights at ten bases across Spain - Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona, Alicante, Sevilla, Palma, Valencia, Girona, Santiago de Compostela and Ibiza.

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