Airlines face pressure from the transport secretary to issue automatic compensation for delayed and cancelled flights as travel disruption continued over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend.
Grant Shapps wants the aviation sector to adopt a scheme like that run by the railways, which provides quick refunds for delayed journeys.
He was speaking after further flight cancellations left some holidaymakers unable to get back to the UK.
Shapps also repeated a call for airlines to stop overbooking.
He rejected a call from London mayor Sadiq Khan for European Union workers be allowed to return to fill critical vacancies in the sector.
Shapps responded on BBC 1’s Sunday Morning programme, saying: “The answers can’t always be to reach for the lever marked more immigration. There is not some pull that is going to relieve this.
“We need the industry to deliver. It is very important that flights aren’t oversold, and I want to make sure there is automatic compensation for passengers.
“It can’t be acceptable that it is so complicated sometimes to get a flight rearranged or to get your money back. I want it to be more like Delay Repay works on trains.
“The train network allows passengers to demand refunds for delayed services simply by producing their tickets.
Khan told the programme that ministers should allow European workers who were employed in aviation before Brexit and the the pandemic to return.
Shapps replied that Brexit had been about moving away from hiring “cheap labour from somewhere else”.
He also rejected calls by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary in The Times on Saturday for troops to be drafted in to airports.
O’Leary had said: “If you really want to eliminate the security queues at airports for the next eight to 12 weeks and ensure that hard-pressed British families can get a well deserved holiday, call in the defence forces because they can solve the problem.
“The British have the best trained military personnel in Europe. They can go in and help out, particularly at weekends, at airport security where the airports are short-staffed. They haven’t opened up all the x-ray machines and you could open up all the machines if you had additional army personnel.”
But Shapps responded by saying: “The army is not a snap solution to every problem. “Secondly, they are being deployed to eastern Europe, to the Baltics, in what is a war situation.”
Gatwick reported that 52 departures and 30 arrivals were cancelled on Sunday, including flights by British Airways and Vueling. Among incoming flights affected were those from Barcelona, Madrid, Nice, Geneva, Corfu and Faro.
Bristol airport apologised for delays after passengers said they waited an hour to disembark, then two hours to reclaim baggage.
Three thousand passengers were diverted from landing at Luton airport by a power failure that affected air traffic control.
Wizz Air announced a raft of cancellations affecting flights to and from Doncaster Sheffield airport from June 10.
The budget carrier made the “difficult but responsible” decision to cancel a “large number” services. Destinations affected include Lanzarote, Malaga, Alicante, Palma, Tenerife, Dalaman, Faro and Larnaca.
“Passengers with bookings affected by this will be contacted via email with advice on all their options, which include: rebooking, a full refund, or 120% of the original fare in airline credit.
“This decision is unfortunately a result of Doncaster Sheffield airport indicating that it is unable to guarantee the terms of its commercial agreement with Wizz Air.
“Our priority is to minimise the overall disruption to our UK customers and protect the employment of our crew.
“As such, Doncaster Sheffield airport-based pilots and cabin crew have today received notification of this news, and have been offered the opportunity to fly out of another base in the UK.”
The decision was made “given the current challenging operational environment in the travel industry, in particular with staff shortages within air traffic control and at airports”.
It “also stabilises our operations at other UK bases to help minimise disruption and delay as much as possible,” Wizz Air added.
“Despite unprecedented difficulties in the travel industry over the past two years, Wizz Air remains committed to long-term growth in the UK, creating hundreds of direct jobs while also stimulating the tourism and hospitality industries. We sincerely apologise to our customers in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire for the inconvenience this has caused.”