More 'carnage' has been reported at Manchester Airport with passengers facing 'three-hour waits' for luggage and long queues, while other devastated holidaymakers have been waking up to texts about their cancelled TUI trips.
Frustrated passengers hoping to get away for the half-term and Bank Holiday weekend have been tweeting about their experience at the troubled travel hub this morning. This comes amid ongoing tales from travellers of missing luggage, holiday cancellations and mammoth flight delays.
Jaymeleigh McCarroll shared a video of a crowded baggage reclaim hall at around 4.45am. She described the scenes as an 'absolute mess' with luggage left abandoned on the floor.
At around 2.30am, @RuinousHugh said he had been waiting for two hours to collect his bags from Terminal 1. "Why the hell can't you sort this out?", he tweeted Manchester Airport.
Philip Bennett also tweeted a picture from a crowded baggage reclaim hall in Terminal 3. He said: "Manchester airport Terminal 3 baggage reclaim. 3:15am. People waiting over 3 hours for bags. Shocking. Not an employee in sight. Welcome to Britain."
More long queues for check-in desks have also been reported this morning. At around 4am, Simon Stones shared a picture of a huge queue stretching into the car park of Terminal 1.
He said it took him around two hours and 40 minutes to check in his bag with EasyJet and then get through security. "Carnage once again this morning (4am) at @manairport T1… I haven’t even made it in the building this time around!", he said in a tweet.
Greg McCaw also reported long queues in Terminal 3. He said: "Terminal 3 at @manairport Endless queues, no where to sit, over crowded. How could this terminal function in an emergency?"
Other holidaymakers have been tweeting about their cancelled TUI holidays, after the airline announced that they were axing nearly 200 flights from Manchester Airport over the next month - but declined to say which ones.
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One woman said she felt like 'crying her eyes out' after waking up to a message from TUI. Jodie Frankland said this morning: "Waking up to an email that our holiday has been cancelled!! Literally could cry my eyes out @manairport @TUIUK."
Jules Kendrick was also sent a message in the early hours about her cancelled trip. "@manairport @TUIUK We’re flying Sunday and had email 4am this morning cancelling", she said.
Councillor Pat Karney described the situations as a 'shambles' as he too fell victim of the cancellations. He tweeted a picture of an email he was sent at 2.50am.
It read: "Dear customer, we are contacting you to let you know that due to unprecedented challenges in our operation at Manchester Airport we have taken the incredibly difficult decision to cancel your flight. We deeply regret having to make this decision as we know how much you would have been looking forward to your holiday."
TUI said they have taken the 'drastic step' to cancel six flights a day, or 43 a week, from May 31 until June 30, from Manchester Airport in a bid to help resolve the ‘issues’ which have caused flight delays, cancellations and baggage problems in recent days.
On Saturday, police were drafted in to tell ‘hundreds’ of people waiting at the boarding gate, following an eight-hour delay, that their flight to Kos in Greece had been cancelled. TUI said in an earlier statement that the ‘sudden increase’ in people going on holiday combined with ‘various operational and supply chain issues’ had impacted a ‘small number of flights’.
Manchester Airport, meanwhile, have blamed staff shortages in both the TUI and Swissport operations, a problem which they say is blighting the travel industry more widely. Just last month, the airport issued a candid apology over its staffing crisis.
