British Airways Pilot Explains When You Should Avoid Going On Holiday This Year
As travel chaos continues across the UK a British Airways pilot has revealed when you should avoid going on holiday this year.
It's no secret that the travel sector is facing some pretty huge issues right now.
From understaffed airports to the biggest rail strike of a generation planned at the end of this month, it seems that holidaymakers have no way out of Great Britain.
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Now, an anonymous pilot has spoken out about the ordeal, urging passengers not to fly.
Speaking to the The Mirror, the pilot said: "They cut all the jobs that they wanted to cut and furloughed everyone.
"When demand slowly came back, it was mixed in with the government strategy to restart the aviation industry, which was appalling."
During the height of the pandemic, airlines reportedly laid off more than 60,000 members of staff.
This meant that when holidaymakers came back in full force once Covid restrictions were lifted, the remaining few employees were left struggling to cope.
The pilot added that as an industry they had 'no warning' about the oncoming chaos and the lack of prep time has left airports across the country understaffed, with 'no chance' of things getting better any time soon.
"We might be correctly crewed by winter time. There is no chance this will be sorted this summer. The last month [August] might be okay."
And if you're hoping to head to Spain, the pilot suggests you think again: "If you're looking at going on an EasyJet from Gatwick in the school holidays in Alicante, probably not."
Birmingham Airport exec Nick Barton shared the same view, saying: "The demand for, and the appetite for, aviation was switched on in February and March and came back almost immediately and we then had to race and catch up.
"For that simple reason, the queueing and the service levels that we're used to giving simply couldn't be met."
So, that seems like a summer holiday might be out of the question but who's to blame? According to Lord Parkinson, airlines were warned months in advance.
He told Sky News: "Colleagues in the Department for Transport are working with the industry, we have been for months urging [airlines] to make sure they’ve got enough staff so that thanks to the success of the vaccine rollout, as people are able to travel again, people can take the holidays that they’ve missed and that they’ve deserved.
"Of course, it’s causing a lot of distress for people, particularly in half-term, people with family and children with them."
Well, the chaos doesn't seem to be clearing up anytime soon and with a massive rail strike set for the end of June, people might have to get used to staycations for another year.
Shola Lee