General Chat

There has been a lot of news re cancellation of flights etc and people getting stranded abroad unable to fly home.

I heard of some friends who went to Marjorca 2 weeks ago with their 6 yr old,Last Saturday, they were due to fly home to Gatwick only to be told their flight had been cancelled and no other available until the following Thursday(ie today)

They had to get back as the child had to return to school and the husband who was self employed had jobs for customers booked in all week. They spent hours at the airport and eventually got a night flight from Majorca to Dublin. There they had a lengthy wait until midday on Sunday where they got a flight to Gatwick. They eventually got home late afternoon. This trip home cost them £1800!!!

So with this is mind and the current situation is it worth the risk of going abroad and getting stuck?

Personally, if I had the finances and was mobile, I think I would be staying in the uk until they have enough staff trained up.

It will take longer than a few months to train new staff and recover from the pandemic.

And with the situation with the trains, I think the car is probably your safest option even with the increased petrol prices.

On the other hand, save your pennies for 2 years and then when things have recovered and settled down, you can then have a quality holiday somewhere with hopefully no hassles.

Florence in the hebrides

I would be very concerned if I was flying off to an island. At least if you are on mainland Europe you can find various options.

It does amuse me when people complain about being stranded in areas close to channel ports. Have they never heard of ferries?

Grandson flew out to Cyprus on Monday from Manchester.
Absolutely no problems.

Will he get back as planned.?... We wait to see.

Holidays in UK have become so expensive that you can understand people wanting to chase the sunshine and hopefully guarantee better weather abroad.

We wont be joining them though.
Just odd days out to places of interest in England and visiting family is on the cards for us.

Trouble is:

Flying - don’t know if you’ll get there or back.

Train - might be on strike

Car - petrol is too ****** expensive.

Yes names, its a problem isn't it. Like Gwyn I would if i could have a few days out locally or have family over for a meal or bbq.

If I was mobile, the last 7 days have been so sunny, I could have walked to our beach every day and clocked quite a tan...who needs to go abroad!

But i agree, if you are near a port, then there are plenty of ferry options to get you back.

Florence in the hebrides

Florence ...........

Add into your equation the possibility that the pandemic is NOT over, and that there might be an outbreak of another variant.

Personally, watching from a distance .............. I really cannot understand why people are still booking trips abroad when they KNOW there is a problem. And it is made worse IMHO by them still using cut-rate airlines and travel companies.

This has been happening for a couple of months now, and yet they are still booking, then complaining like mad when they stuck.


Other countries, including Canada, have the same problems with staff shortages causing chaos at airports when travellers return OR for tourists, but I'm just not hearing the stories of flights cancelled time and time again, often at very short notice.

Have Brits become a nation of entitled people who must go abroad when it is a ridiculous experience just to prove THEY can afford it??

Sylvia, I agree with you. My friends have 4-5 holidays abroad every year and they have done nothing but complain when they couldnt get away.

I said better to wait another year as the pandemic isnt over yet and will take longer than a year to return to normal. I have no idea why they keep booking even now.

My father went to Corfu in April and is hell bent on going again in October even though i advised him not to. He will be the first to complain if he gets stuck there and i wont hear the last of it. Just because he can afford it, he also thinks its his right!!

As for Covid, well here its absolutely rife, worse than ever before and I dont see it improving anytime soon.

There is a story on the Mailon line. A stag party got stranded In Amsterdam.
They planned to get a ferry from Calais but found foot passengers not allowed so on the journey via Brussels and Lille they bought bicycles so they could travel on the Ferry.
Resourceful :-D

Yes I read this, very resourceful

I haven't been abroad since mother died, in Portugal in 2012, and certainly wouldn't go abroad, the way things are the moment!

Personally, I've a yearning to go to Newcastle!
Coming back from Skye in 2017, the train stopped at Newcastle, and from the station, i could just see bits of amazing buildings. I want to explore! :-D

Why not? Johnny Depp did. :-D

:-D :-D :-D

Just heard tonight the Covid cases are on the rise again up from last week in Scotland.

Im quite happy staying at home just now!

It's not entirely a new problem.

Even before the pandemic and the current travel problems, there have always been long queues and traffic jams on the roads leading to southern English ports /airports/ holiday destinations at bank holidays and other holiday times.

Surely people KNOW that's going to be the case - and yet they still choose to join the queue!

Yes they do ArgyllGran and I do not understand them!

I don't think people wanting to get away for a break feel that they are entitled. I think most people trying to go abroad have probably done so all their lives, it is possibly my generation and a few a bit younger than me who don't automatically think of holidays abroad as a necessity. and, I must say, I did enjoy going abroad for some sun. I think with most people now it is the effect of the pandemic, they were restricted for so long that they feel a need to get away. We live in a small country, we want to see the world. there is no harm in that. If we lived in the States or Canada etc there would be more opportunity not to fly but to go by road or train for a holiday.

the harm is that they are impatient, even though it is obvious that the airlines are in trouble (some more than others) they still want to get away and are not prepared to wait. they think it won't happen to them. And maybe some of those stuck booked their holidays before we all became aware that there was a problem with staffing.

daughter and son in law actually went to Germany for a River cruise booked from a cruise that was cancellled due to the pandemic. they had not problems at all with flights from Manchester and back.

I went with daughter and SiL for a holiday to Dorset we drove down on 3 June Jubilee weekend. We left at a reasonable time. We had no problems on the M5, we travelled back on the 10th (bear in mind this was one of the half term weeks) we again had no problems although the traffic was heavy. People travelling down to the West Country were in much heavier traffic. So not everyone is going abroad.