British holidaymakers have been hit with hundreds of cancellations to key destinations. Problems include strike action and air traffic control.
\nIn a blow to those travelling to one of the country\u2019s most popular hotsports easyJet said it has cancelled 232 flights to and from Portugal over the next few days due to a cabin crew strike.
\nIn another issue Jet2 warned that air \u2018congestion\u2019 means people can expect delays to airports across Europe. And Ryanair said more than 100 early flights today were hit by \u2018unacceptable\u2019 delays due to air traffic control issues.
\nAnyone going to Portugal from tomorrow (Aug 15) and Saturday need to check their flight first easyJet said. The airline runs flights to Portugal from a number of airports in the UK, including Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, London Gatwick, and Luton.
\nIts destinations in the country include the capital Lisbon, Porto, and Faro on the southern Algarve coast. A total of 27 return flights between the UK and Portugal have been cancelled in advance for the strike period, an EasyJet spokesperson told the Mirror.
\nPortugal\u2019s National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Staff (SNPVAC) called for three days of strike action for all flights operated by easyJet, as well as for other services involving air cabin crew, if their \u201creporting hours occur on national territory starting at 00:01 on 15 August and ending at 24:00 on 17 August\u201d. The union have urged the airline not to cancel flights, and instead appealed to the \u201ccommon sense of the company, so that it can give in to the fair demands of its workers\u201d.
\nSNPVAC also asked that EasyJet \u201cfinds solutions to avoid\u201d the strike, and accused the company of ignoring earlier proposals to avoid industrial action. Ricardo Penarroias, president of the union, previously told the AFP news agency that \u201cworking conditions never cease to worsen\u201d for members of cabin crew, citing longer working hours and crippling staff shortages. Striking members of staff are also asking for higher bonuses.
\nA total of 1,138 EasyJet flights were originally scheduled over the three day period, according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso. The budget airline said it would continue to operate 62% of its flight programme to and from the country during the August 15 to August 17 strike period. An EasyJet UK spokesperson said: \u201cWe are extremely disappointed with this needless strike action, especially at this important time of the year for our customers.
\n\u201cOur priority has been to try and minimise the impact of this strike action on our customers, which included cancelling some flights in advance in order to allow them to rearrange their travel plans. Customers whose flight has been affected have already been contacted a number of days ago with their options to rebook or receive a refund. We also advise customers travelling to and from Portugal on 15, 16 and 17 August to check the status of their flights on the easyJet Flight Tracker.\u201d \u2013 Express<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
British holidaymakers have been hit with hundreds of cancellations to key destinations. Problems include strike action and air traffic control. In a blow to those travelling to one of the country\u2019s most popular hotsports easyJet said it has cancelled 232 flights to and from Portugal over the next few days due to a cabin crew …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":null,"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[102,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-en","category-flights"],"yoast_head":"\n