Passengers have been ‘passing out’ at Gatwick Airport after flight delays left them stuck waiting ‘without air conditioning’ at some gates, it is claimed.
Meanwhile, some easyJet passengers complained that their flights at the airport have been left stranded on the Tarmac for hours due to baggage issues.
Frustrated flyers took to social media to voice their anger, with one reporting they had been stuck on a plane going nowhere for six hours.
And in a repeat of scenes earlier this week, some waiting passengers complained the heat inside the airport was causing them to feel nauseous as the UK remains firmly in the grip of a sweltering heatwave.
It comes after months of chaos at British Airports as a shortage of workers combined with higher than anticipated demand for flights has caused travel misery.
Earlier this month Heathrow Airport told some operators to cancel dozens of flights at short notice as it could not accommodate the number of passengers, and hundreds of other flights have been cancelled throughout the summer.
The latest chaos at the UK’s second busiest airport came as the country saw some of the highest temperatures so far this year, with the mercury topping 80F (28.7C) in London today.
There was more travel chaos at Gatwick Airport today. Pictured are passengers queuing at Gatwick’s North Terminal on Friday morning.
EasyJet was among the airlines affected by delays, with some of its passengers complaining about being stuck on the Tarmac for hours. Pictured is an easyJet plane landing in Prague
Passengers inside the airport were left complaining about the temperature, with some saying there didn’t appear to be any air conditioning at some gates.
One person wrote: ‘@Gatwick_Airport pleeeease get some aircon on at the gates, gate 52 is unbearably hot and we’re stuck here.’
Another said: ‘@Gatwick_Airport please can you turn the air-con on at gate 53 north terminal. Been sat here for 40 long minutes and feeling very unwell.’
Another passenger wrote: ‘Dear @easyJet anyone seen the Gran Canaria cabin crew?! We’re waiting in a BOILING @Gatwick_Airport people are passing out, please hurry up. Many thanks.’
Things got even worse for some passengers as they complained about their flights being delayed for hours, with one easyJet flight from Gatwick to Innsbruck in Austria still on the Tarmac in Sussex more than six hours after it was due to take off.
Passengers on the 11.15am flight were left complaining about the delay, with aircraft tracker FlightRader24 showing it still at the airport as of 8.15pm tonight.
One frustrated flyer wrote: ‘Dear @Gatwick_Airport we have now been sitting on the runway for 1.5 hours. Why haven’t you updated @easyJet on an ETA to move the plane off the tarmac. I understand you have staff shortages but after air con-gate earlier in the terminal the passengers on this flight are furious!’
Another added: ‘@Gatwick_Airport spent five hours so far on our plane on the tarmac on our way to Innsbruck. Fabulous pilot and crew really helped.’
Meanwhile, one person waiting for the flight to arrive in Austria said they were being delayed coming back to the UK.
They wrote: ‘Have been stuck for hours in Austria at Innsbruck airport waiting for flight U28294 – which is yet to depart from @Gatwick_Airport (U28293). Little information available and we’re exhausted! It’s looking like a 6-7 hours delay.’
Meanwhile passengers on another easyJet flight say they were left stranded on the Tarmac as they waited for their bags to be loaded onto the plane.
One passenger on the flight destined for Bari in Italy, even tweeted an image of fellow flyers looking from the stairs at the plane at the bags as they waited for ground crew to help them.
One passenger posted this picture of people waiting on the stairs of their plane looking forlornly at bags that were supposed to be being loaded onto the flight
A spokesperson for easyJet said: ‘EasyJet experienced some disruption to its Gatwick flying programme today due to a combination of issues impacting the operation, including ground handling and airport coaching delays due to airport staff shortages which resulted in the delayed departure of some flights.
‘While this is outside of our control we would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience experienced.’
They added that the Innsbruck flight had been delayed overnight due to a ‘technical issue’.
‘EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY8293 from London Gatwick to Innsbruck was delayed overnight due to a technical issue that required further investigation,’ they said.
‘A replacement aircraft has been arranged and the flight is due to operate tomorrow, 17 July. Passengers have been provided with meals and hotel accommodation where required.
‘We would like to thank passengers for their understanding and apologise for the inconvenience caused. The safety and well being of our passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority.’
Gatwick Airport has been approached for comment.
The chaos comes days after the airport was hit with a water outage following a burst water main in nearby Crawley that left malfunctioning toilets on Thursday.
Gatwick staff handed out bottles of water and brought water tankers on site, with only a limited number of toilets working. While some restaurants had to close earlier, the airport said all had reopened by 5pm.
Proposals to reduce compensation for air travellers come ‘at the worst possible time’
Proposals to reduce compensation for air travellers when their flights are delayed or cancelled come ‘at the worst possible time’, ministers have been told.
SNP MP Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) said: ‘UK Government proposals to reduce compensation levels for delayed, cancelled, or overbooked domestic flights are in place, at a time when passengers across the UK face unprecedented disruption, and this cutting of compensation can only be bad news for consumers.
‘Compensation levels have been set to deter airlines from running late services. Reducing this opens the door to poorer standards which will adversely impact travellers.
‘Will the Leader of the House make a statement setting out his concerns at this wrong policy at the worst possible time?’
Commons Leader Mark Spencer replied that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had ‘done a lot of work’ with airlines to try and resolve the challenges the industry faces.
He added: ‘I think we are making progress and I hope by the time we get to the summer that those people who have booked holidays will be able to get on those planes and enjoy the summer.’
The airport apologised and said it was working closely with SES Water, who insisted just before 7pm that ‘the problem has been resolved’.
This came as British Airways on Tuesday started contacting passengers asking them to reschedule their flights amid a row between Heathrow and airlines over the airport’s passenger cap.
Bosses at the west London travel hub sparked fury from travel chiefs on Tuesday after announcing an immediate 100,000 daily passenger limit – a move which will impact tens of thousands of travellers in the coming weeks.
Airport chiefs ordered UK airlines to, ‘stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers’ because Heathrow is already expecting an average of 104,000 daily outbound passengers in the coming months.
Following Heathrow’s announcement, carriers have reportedly been in intense discussions with the airport and flight schedulers in an attempt to cut capacity by up to 15 per cent at Terminals 3 and 5.
And BA has now started to contact passengers due to fly before July 25 if they are able to reschedule their flight. Industry insiders have suggested the company is filleting out flights in order to more easily make short-notice cancellations.
However MailOnline understands the UK flag carrier has made a ‘small number’ of short-haul and domestic cancellations over the next two weeks to fit in with Heathrow’s passenger cap. BA says it has moved passengers either onto trains or similar flights from Heathrow or City airports.
Travel expert Paul Charles, who runs travel consultancy the PC Agency, shared an email from BA to customers asking passengers travelling in the next fortnight if they would like to reschedule their flights for free.
BA said passengers could change their flights to another BA operated flight to any date within the next 12 months, subject to availability.
Commenting on the email, in a post on Twitter, Mr Charles wrote: ‘I said it would be a summer of stress. BA among airlines operating from Heathrow now asking those travelling before 25th July to consider changing flights, so enabling them to more easily choose which flights to cancel at short notice.’
Meanwhile Emirates announced on Tuesday that it will ignore an order from Heathrow Airport for it to cancel flights to comply with a cap on passenger numbers, describing it as ‘entirely unreasonable’.
Virgin Atlantic also criticised Heathrow’s actions and claimed it was responsible for failures which are contributing to the chaos.
But responding to Emirates’ refusal to cancel flights, a Heathrow spokeswoman said it had ‘no choice’ but to make the ‘difficult’ decision to implement a passenger cap and said it would be ‘disappointing’ if any company was to put ‘profit ahead of a safe and reliable passenger journey’.
The new measures, which are due to remain in place until September 11, are part of Heathrow’s latest attempts to prevent a school summer holiday repeat of the chaotic scenes witnessed at airports up and down the UK over the Easter weekend.
