Important advice has been given to travellers as they face delays due to staffing issues at UK airports. A top travel expert has been speaking on Good Morning Britain about the problems airports have been facing in recent weeks due to staff shortages.
Delays have been reported at airports in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, with passengers describing the delays as a 'shambles,' BristolLive reports. Travel expert Simon Calder has given some helpful tips to ease the stress for passengers due to jet off on holiday.
On what travellers should take with them, Simon said: "Do not check in any baggage. If you want to go with British Airways for instance, they will allow you to take 46kg of hand luggage. Then, first of all, you're not queuing up there. You're not risking your luggage turning up in Athens when you've flown to Rome."
Bristol Airport told Bristol Live yesterday that it advises all customers to "arrive in the terminal a minimum of two hours before scheduled flight departure time to allow sufficient time to complete all the necessary check-in, bag drop, security, and boarding processes ahead of their flight". And Simon has said it is wise not to arrive too early for your flight.
He explained: "It sounds absolutely mad, but an awful lot of these queues are people who have got a flight at 10am turning up at 5am. Quite rationally for them because they think we're got to guarantee we make this flight, but that means the people with flights at 7am are stuck behind people who have got flights much later so it's very messy. All that will happen is money will get thrown at it. Most people will get to where they want to be, but wherever you're going, hope for the best, but be prepared for delay and disruption."
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally deemed to be an "awful lot quieter" than the rest of the week at airports, according to Simon. And he said airports could be using extra security staff to ease queues.
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