Long security queues due to widespread staff shortages are putting clients off travel from certain airports and are “worrying” ahead of the summer peak, say agents.
Macclesfield-based Henbury Travel owner Richard Slater, whose agency is near Manchester Airport, said some customers were now opting for other airports in the region at the start of the booking process.
He said: “We had clients last week who said they didn’t particularly want to fly from Manchester Airport but would consider Liverpool or East Midlands instead.”
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But he said it was also the case that holidaymakers had not flown for a long time and said some had forgotten the rules, such as not wearing a metal belt through security, which was adding to the delays getting through security.
“Customers are out of practice,” he said, adding the airport was now employing more “floor walkers” to ensure airport passengers were prepared to travel and understood the security rules.
He added: “It’s not all Manchester Airport’s fault but they are not doing themselves any favours to say they didn’t know how much passenger numbers would be increasing by.”
Other agents said reports of chaotic scenes at airports across the country were bad news given it was only Easter, and blamed the fallout from Brexit as well as the pandemic for the resulting staff shortages.
Miles Morgan Travel chairman Miles Morgan said: “It’s worrying we are having these conversations and it’s only April. We have not yet hit the volumes of summer and the airports are already creaking. Everyone knew Easter was coming up, clearly some have handled the situation better than others.”
He added: “As a business we started recruiting in November and then we hit Omicron but we decided to continue with recruitment; perhaps some firms stopped recruiting and are now behind the game.”
Holiday Inspirations co-owner Neil Basnett said he was now advising all clients to get to the airport three hours prior to departure after he himself nearly missed a flight to Lisbon due to long queues at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, despite having checked in online ahead of arrival at the airport.
“Even for people who have checked in in advance, they still have to queue to drop their bag off and it can take forever. I’ve never seen so many people at Terminal 5,” he said. “It’s horrendous. I’m telling all my clients to arrive at the airport three hours before departure.”
Agents also called on Manchester Airport to improve its relationships with agents and promote the trade more widely.
They pointed out that agents’ clients tended to be ones that were ‘airport ready’ and less likely to cause hold-ups.
Pole Travel director Jill Waite said: “We used to have a really good relationship with Manchester Airport but we have been completely ignored us in the last few years. They are letting us down. We used to have meetings with them once a year to tell them the improvements we felt needed to be made.”
She added: “Our clients are arriving ready to travel and yet they continue to push direct sales in their advertising and not recommend agents.”
Slater agreed: “We [agents] don’t appear to exist. They’ve forgotten who built up the airport (numbers) before the internet. They should be promoting bookings via agents; the northwest has the second largest concentration of Abta agents in the country.”