Thousands of holidaymakers left ‘stranded’ after easyJet and BA cancelled dozens of flights and blamed air traffic control issues and bad weather

Thousands of holidaymakers have been left “stranded” after airlines cancelled dozens of flights, blaming air traffic control and bad weather for the problems.

British Airways has cancelled 51 flights scheduled to arrive or leave Heathrow on Sunday, and another 31 on Monday.

Several airlines have also cancelled flights to Gatwick. The worst hit was easyJet, with 34 flights grounded on Sunday and at least nine on Monday.

Airlines blamed the cancellations on air traffic control problems and bad weather on the continent, with up to 10,000 holidaymakers stranded in terminal limbo.

Passengers have been hit by a double rail delay after a signalling failure on the Thameslink line affected trains travelling through Gatwick Airport yesterday morning.

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Angry travellers criticised the airlines on social media and questioned why other carriers flying “the same route, same day” had not cancelled their flights.

EasyJet has cancelled flights from Lanzarote, Budapest and Venice, as well as flights to Belfast and Edinburgh.

And BA has cancelled return flights to Rome as well as routes to Naples, Barcelona and Cyprus.

Only one flight was cancelled at Manchester and London Stansted, the country’s third and fourth largest airports.

One person said on X: “@easyJet Why is the @TUIUK flight, same route, same day, not cancelled then? It’s amazing that easyJet alone is experiencing so many of these ‘out of control’ cancellations? Could it actually be a pilot/crew shortage by any chance??”

However, easyJet told the traveller that “there are many factors that can disrupt our flights, and it’s never just one cause. If it’s due to something outside our control or a shortage of pilots or crew, we have to report it as such.”

Others revealed how their flights were cancelled while they were waiting at the gate to board the plane.

Another said: “@easyJet absolutely awful. Flight from Gatwick to Munich on Friday 5th July was cancelled while we were all at the gate. After only 1 hour delay we were told the crew were out of hours, seriously! We were left stranded. Thanks to @premierinn for finding us a room. #easyJet #airlinefailure.”

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A third person, this time directing their anger at BA, said: “@British_Airways you cancelled my flight with just hours notice, causing me to miss a job interview and, more importantly, my brother’s birthday.

“You offered me a 10 hour flight the next day instead of my original 2.5 hour flight to Heathrow. Please reply to my ticket!”

A fourth said: “Making us sit on a plane for 3 hours and then cancelling the flight and giving us no alternative is an absolute disgrace! Family holiday cancelled, now I’m probably going to have to fight tooth and nail for my refund and compensation!”

Affected passengers are unlikely to be able to claim compensation as the disruption is considered to be beyond the airlines’ control.

They added: “While this is beyond our control, we apologize for the inconvenience and are providing affected customers with hotel accommodation and meals as well as a refund or transfer to an alternative flight.”

Two British Airways planes were taken out of service for safety checks on Sunday after being struck by lightning.

Both planes had to be taken out of service while airline personnel carried out safety checks.

A spokesperson said: “Due to air traffic control restrictions and adverse weather conditions, like other airlines we have had to make a small number of changes to our schedule.

“We know this will be frustrating for our customers and our teams are working hard to offer them alternative flights as soon as possible, with the vast majority already booked on services that will fly later today.”

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EasyJet confirmed that “some flights last night and three flights departing London Gatwick this morning were unfortunately disrupted due to the impact of adverse weather conditions and air traffic control delays.”

They added: “While this is beyond our control, we apologize for the inconvenience and are providing affected customers with hotel accommodation and meals as well as a refund or transfer to an alternative flight.”

Budget airline Ryanair has not made any cancellations, but has apologised to customers for some delays caused by “repeated shortages of air traffic control staff”.

It reads: “Ryanair, Europe’s leading airline, apologised to its passengers on Monday 8 July for the excessive flight delays caused by the European ATC staff shortages today, Monday 8 July, which are affecting all European airlines.

“ATC services, which benefited from the absence of disruption from the French air traffic controllers’ strike this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5% below 2019 levels) with repeated “staff shortages”.

“On Monday 8 July, 21% of Ryanair’s first wave flights (134 out of 579 aircraft) were delayed due to a ‘staff shortage’ at air traffic control. These repeated delays due to poor air traffic control management are unacceptable.”

“We apologise to our passengers for these repeated flight delays due to air traffic control, which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control.”

It is another problem after a summer where families trying to go on holiday faced delays at airports.

Heathrow was plunged into chaos in late June after a computer failure in British Airways’ systems left passengers stranded on planes and facing hours of delays in collecting their bags.

The UK’s busiest airport has revealed that passengers travelling from Terminal 5 “may be affected” by the failure of BA’s allocation systems, adding that no other airlines have been affected.

Video from the terminal showed huge queues of stranded travellers forming across the airport as passengers struggled to find their luggage.

Footage taken inside the transport hub showed huge queues forming outside BA’s baggage claim area in the terminal, as well as outside the customer service desk in the arrivals area.

Customers vented their fury as they told horror stories of trying to calm children suffering panic attacks and waiting for hours, with one branding the UK a “third world country”.

Days later, stranded holidaymakers denounced “disgusting” service after Gatwick Airport suspended all their flights.

Passengers faced massive delays, last-minute diversions to other London airports and missed connections after a British Airways Boeing 777 flight had to make an emergency stop on the runway due to “hot brakes”.

It sparked chaos for thousands of Britons hoping to start the summer with a holiday, as all flights due to take off or land at the airport were temporarily suspended.