easyJet is one of the worst airlines for travel chaos – full list of best and worst

Eamonn Holmes praises airport staff amid travel chaos

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British tourists have faced widespread travel chaos this year with a huge number of delays and cancellations. New research from BBC Panorama has found that easyJet and British Airways are the worst offenders when it comes to chaos.

easyJet and British Airways called off about three out of every 100 of their departures within 72 hours of the scheduled flight time.

Budget airlines Jet2 and Ryanair were two of the best choices for British travellers with each airline cancelling just one in a thousand flights.

Cirium found that 17,000 flights were cancelled within 72 hours of departure since the start of the year.

This is equal to around three million seats which is enough people to fill Wembley Stadium three times.

Meanwhile, passengers were most likely to experience disruption at the UK’s big airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester.

Stansted was one of the better options with just 29 flights cancelled compared to Manchester’s 223.

Rory Boland, Which? Travel editor told Panorama: “They’re not going to be ready.

“That’s the truth of the matter. What’s reassuring is that it’s not all airlines, it’s not all airports.

“Before you book, take a look around what’s happening in the airport near you and the airlines you’re considering.”

Airlines UK policy director Rob Griggs told the programme: “I don’t think there were wrong decisions made in terms of planning for the summer.

“Of course, it might be operationally on the day, different things perhaps could be done in different places.”

Heathrow has tried to introduce a passenger cap, restricting the number of people to 100,000 per day this summer.

However, Emirates has fought back and said it will not cancel flights or honour the passenger cap.

Aviation minister, Robert Courts MP, said: “At the end of the day, this is a sector that is privately run, privately owned, privately operated, and it’s for them to get into the sector they need.”

Thousands of flights have already been cancelled ahead of the busy summer period to try to prevent further chaos.

Experts have advised passengers just to bring hand luggage to escape some of the worst chaos at airports.

Meanwhile, strikes by easyJet and Ryanair cabin crew caused some disruption in Spain over the weekend.

Several flights were cancelled or delayed and more industrial action is planned for later this month.

Britons are also facing more train strikes in July with action expected at the end of the month.

BBC Panorama: Airport Chaos: What’s Gone Wrong is on BBC One and iPlayer on Monday at 8pm.

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