Travel’s ‘great comeback’ has a price: Chaos
Over the last two weeks, travelers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean have endured long lines at airports, flight delays or cancellations, and plenty of frustration. Thousands of Britons have flocked to airports for the start of the Easter vacation season, which coincided with governments across Europe dropping coronavirus restrictions. But in the last two weeks, more than a thousand flights have been canceled across Britain, upending vacation plans for tens of thousands of passengers. Last Saturday alone, British Airways and easyJet canceled more than 100 flights. In the United States, low-cost carriers like Southwest and Spirit were also forced to cancel flights earlier this month following technical glitches and bad weather. Additionally, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines announced reductions to spring and summer flight schedules, with JetBlue reducing its May flight capacity between 8% and 10% and saying it plans to make similar cuts to its summer schedule, while Alaska cut 2% of its flight schedule through June. The cuts came at a time when travel demand has come roaring back, with some airlines and airports reporting the highest passenger numbers since the start of the pandemic. Heathrow received 4.2m passengers in March, a more than sevenfold jump from a year ago. In the US, passenger traffic in recent months has reached nearly 90% of prepandemic levels, according to the TSA. “When Europe lifted its restrictions, that was an invitation to come back,” said Janice Riley, 54, an American basking in the sunshine in the old town of Geneva earlier this week. Riley’s trip to France and Switzerland had been smooth so far — but she said she was willing to get stuck or face disruptions for the sake of going somewhere. “I just had an itch to travel and see friends and family, and taking that risk has been worth it,” she said. It is the moment the travel industry had been waiting for — “the great comeback,” despite rising prices and the uncertainty over the war in Ukraine. But it seems like the new normal for travelers may be chaos driven by the continued spread of variants and subvariants of the coronavirus and travel operators who are still unable to cope with the volume of demand. “We’re in for a very bumpy and turbulent two months ahead,” said Paul Charles, the CEO of The PC Agency, a London-based travel consultancy firm.<br/>
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Travel’s ‘great comeback’ has a price: Chaos
Over the last two weeks, travelers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean have endured long lines at airports, flight delays or cancellations, and plenty of frustration. Thousands of Britons have flocked to airports for the start of the Easter vacation season, which coincided with governments across Europe dropping coronavirus restrictions. But in the last two weeks, more than a thousand flights have been canceled across Britain, upending vacation plans for tens of thousands of passengers. Last Saturday alone, British Airways and easyJet canceled more than 100 flights. In the United States, low-cost carriers like Southwest and Spirit were also forced to cancel flights earlier this month following technical glitches and bad weather. Additionally, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines announced reductions to spring and summer flight schedules, with JetBlue reducing its May flight capacity between 8% and 10% and saying it plans to make similar cuts to its summer schedule, while Alaska cut 2% of its flight schedule through June. The cuts came at a time when travel demand has come roaring back, with some airlines and airports reporting the highest passenger numbers since the start of the pandemic. Heathrow received 4.2m passengers in March, a more than sevenfold jump from a year ago. In the US, passenger traffic in recent months has reached nearly 90% of prepandemic levels, according to the TSA. “When Europe lifted its restrictions, that was an invitation to come back,” said Janice Riley, 54, an American basking in the sunshine in the old town of Geneva earlier this week. Riley’s trip to France and Switzerland had been smooth so far — but she said she was willing to get stuck or face disruptions for the sake of going somewhere. “I just had an itch to travel and see friends and family, and taking that risk has been worth it,” she said. It is the moment the travel industry had been waiting for — “the great comeback,” despite rising prices and the uncertainty over the war in Ukraine. But it seems like the new normal for travelers may be chaos driven by the continued spread of variants and subvariants of the coronavirus and travel operators who are still unable to cope with the volume of demand. “We’re in for a very bumpy and turbulent two months ahead,” said Paul Charles, the CEO of The PC Agency, a London-based travel consultancy firm.<br/>
