Chaos in airports


Mixed reports from people, some getting there 5 hours beforehand and having next to no queues and then other others waiting 2 or 3 hours.
We had a mare there after Easter, made a Greek airport look organised. EasyJet just as bad. Came back via Luton (not through choice!) and was talking to the fella at the car hire place (to get back to Manchester for my car), and he was saying that the entire industry is at 80% staffing… be that baggage, security, duty free, bus drivers, car park people… at every step of the way the staff are spread so thin that any bump in the road becomes a major major issue very quickly. Seemed to think the trouble they were having finding people that this would be the new normal for at least 12-18 months.
 
What sort of jobs would be looking for people with airport security clearance?

Any job which requires staff to be background checked. Anyone who has worked at an airport will already have been through enhanced security clearance which means they are more likely to pass again than someone who has never been checked before.
 
Airports are usually well out of the way,shift work,probably lay offs at the end of the summer.Not really a career that's going to get the individual far in life.May as well be washing dishes/serving coffee at the local Costacoffee/Subway day shift for a few quid a week less.
 
Just came in through Stansted a couple of days ago. It took two hours to get through. The main problem was those automatic passport/face recognition scanners. A lot of them were out of service, and others just plain didn't work. I am always directed (eventually after about 5 attempts) to the manual booths. The automatic machines don't recognise my face as being a face

You don’t have to go to the E-gates. If they try and send you to them you can request to see an Immigration Officer. Queue often looks longer but you’ll get through faster in the long run.
Went through Schipol about 3 weeks ago and a 1h45m connection was tight. Big queues at passport control and, as another Brexit bonus, I can't use the machines any more because I need a stamp when I enter the Schengen zone. Going back tomorrow with a 45m connection. Not optimistic. On the bright side, I can live with a night in a hotel in Amsterdam while the family is still in Durham.

My comment would be that you already know there are delays, so why’ve you booked such a short connection?
 
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My sons just went through Heathrow T5 a couple of weeks ago.
When he arrived, the internals transfer desk had an hours queue.
He asked 3 staff there what he should do and they all said leave the terminal and come back in, which he was a bit nervous about.
With little choice he did that and he was rechecked in and back to where he started with his boarding pass in 5 minutes.

As regards staffing, he had looked into it himself and Newcastle wanted security staff, for minimum wage, for 20 hours a week with shifts ranging from overnight to early mornings and late nights ... for £200 a week! Then it said it would suit former military or police. I thought I can't see many retired police officers going to work at 2am for a 4 hour shift for £40.
 
I’d say Brexit certainly has had a negative impact. Where the pool of qualified people was counted in 100,000s, it’s now significantly less and the workload is larger based on two years of no activity due to Covid. Perfect storm in many ways.

I never thought I’d have to manage resource problems to this extent where companies are falling over themselves to place contracts.
Need any lazy draffies mate?
 
I flew from Manchester on Thursday just gone, flying from Terminal 1 which apparently has had all the issues so was shitting my pants thinking we wouldn't make it to our destination.

Don't know if it was because it was a Thursday flight or the flight time being 11am, but no queues really and was through to the gates/restaurants etc in about 30 mins which included a bag drop.

May have got lucky but was sound.
We flew from Manchester good Friday with no issues.

Flying from there again on Thursday, will go a bit earlier just in case.
 
picked up the wife and daughter last sunday night from manchester t2, landed 7.15pm, i arrived 7.50 pm, left at 9.00pm after waiting for bags and got hit for £20 to park..standard fee apparently, annoying thing is it was a sunday evening and barely anybody about, i figured they are short on baggage handlers and they were probably working all 3 terminals
If that happened in Newcastle that'd be a slight improvement. Getting your bags can take longer than the flight.
 
As regards staffing, he had looked into it himself and Newcastle wanted security staff, for minimum wage, for 20 hours a week with shifts ranging from overnight to early mornings and late nights ... for £200 a week! Then it said it would suit former military or police. I thought I can't see many retired police officers going to work at 2am for a 4 hour shift for £40.
Better off flipping Burgers at Burger King.
 
My sons just went through Heathrow T5 a couple of weeks ago.
When he arrived, the internals transfer desk had an hours queue.
He asked 3 staff there what he should do and they all said leave the terminal and come back in, which he was a bit nervous about.
With little choice he did that and he was rechecked in and back to where he started with his boarding pass in 5 minutes.

As regards staffing, he had looked into it himself and Newcastle wanted security staff, for minimum wage, for 20 hours a week with shifts ranging from overnight to early mornings and late nights ... for £200 a week! Then it said it would suit former military or police. I thought I can't see many retired police officers going to work at 2am for a 4 hour shift for £40.

And yet people still want £10 Ryanair flights.
 
I flew from Manchester on Thursday just gone, flying from Terminal 1 which apparently has had all the issues so was shitting my pants thinking we wouldn't make it to our destination.

Don't know if it was because it was a Thursday flight or the flight time being 11am, but no queues really and was through to the gates/restaurants etc in about 30 mins which included a bag drop.

May have got lucky but was sound.
we had a 6am flight from T1 Manchester at easter, easyjet said instead of 2 hours please arrive 3 hours before departure as the airport is having some difficulties. at 3am the queue went up & down the hall 8 times and then out into the car park\drop zone - for us it was carnage and we had to be hooked from the queue and expressed through to get to the gate just before push back...

what i picked up on though, listening to a fairly loud scouser was that people for flights after 10am had turned up at 3am (i heard him saying to his wife that their flight wasnt on the departure board yet - which went all the way down to the 10am flights).

suspect that if you time it right and arent on the first flight of the day, it works out ok - and with people panicking and arriving far too early the flow of people is disrupted some what.
 
Went through Schipol about 3 weeks ago and a 1h45m connection was tight. Big queues at passport control and, as another Brexit bonus, I can't use the machines any more because I need a stamp when I enter the Schengen zone. Going back tomorrow with a 45m connection. Not optimistic. On the bright side, I can live with a night in a hotel in Amsterdam while the family is still in Durham.
let me know how get on, off there late summer and tempted to try change the flights if doesnt improve
 
Haven’t heard of problems Newcastle and was fine for us last month , but been well documented about Gatwick and Manchester and saw on news loads at Dublin airport missed flights , all down to a lack of staff . I know staff have to be recruited and trained but surely this should have been started few month back ?
Sky News was on in a bar I was in this morning, I don’t normally watch it, they just love misery, stop watching the news is my advice to everyone, ignorance is bliss.

It also keeps you away from the idiots in here, two birds and all that.

A bit late leaving Newcastle yesterday, would’ve only landed 15 minutes late if we hadn’t had to circle for a landing spot.
 
Birmingham was shocking the other week if you were with tui or jet2.. queue was almost out of the terminal at 4am.... Luckily I was off to Poland and no queue at all
 
Had a 7am flight from Edinburgh last Thursday, arrived 2.5 hours before and it took 60 mins to get through security, Had another flight from Cork later the same day where it only took about 60 seconds to pass.
 
Had another flight from Cork later the same day where it only took about 60 seconds to pass
that was my experience of both getting in & out at barcelona - even the brexit bonus passport queue was relatively quick compared to the automated barriers at luton.
 
flying out of madchester Friday morning - i hate waiting around for flights and normally rock up 90 mins or so before the flight. We are thinking of getting there 3-4 hrs before just in case and booking into a lounge if we get through in normal time.
 
let me know how get on, off there late summer and tempted to try change the flights if doesnt improve

Mixed results. Inbound flight on time, breezed through passport control ... then discovered my connection was delayed by 75 minutes. Not going to miss it, but sitting around twiddling thumbs now.
You don’t have to go to the E-gates. If they try and send you to them you can request to see an Immigration Officer. Queue often looks longer but you’ll get through faster in the long run.


My comment would be that you already know there are delays, so why’ve you booked such a short connection?
Was booked for me by work, didn't have much of a say. Also, I knew I'd be finishing at about 1am last night then would need a two-hour drive to Helsinki to start my journey, so had zero interest in a 0630 departure from Finland. Like most air travel, though, it's a question of choosing your preferred flavour of shite.
 
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