Airport Chaos Undercover | Dispatches | Channel 4 Documentaries

[Music] this is what we've all been dreaming of during the covid lockdowns chance to get away from it all a little bit of sun sea Sands swimming and lots of lovely relaxation But first you have to get here [Music] I have never been to an airport and seen this party we are literally like sardines in the summer of travel chaos dispatches goes undercover to reveal what's behind the delays and cancellations I'm stuck in Greece like seriously stuck in Greece this whole flight cancellation thing I'm right in the middle of it embarrassing that a great industry has been brought to this we hear concerns that in the chaos Pilots feel Under Pressure to fly when fatigued many companies are seeing the limits that are there to protect the flying public from crew that are fatigued they're seeing those limits as targets we hear claims some airlines are breaking the rules to avoid paying compensation they will continue breaking the rules because they never face any action and behind the scenes we see first hand the desperation of passengers and it's 3am we're about to go over to Manchester Airport for a 7 A.M flight call film but I'm packing this early because the MD of the airport has advised passengers to get there three hours before their flight I'm flying EasyJet now they have canceled hundreds of flights left thousands of passengers stranded I'm gonna get myself over there I'm going to check in wish me luck [Music] I'm about to get my first surprise of the morning [Music] it's only 4am but already passengers trying to check in their bags with EasyJet are queuing outside the terminal we've just joined one cue a pre-cue to join the main queue Manchester Airport is the third busiest in the UK before covert it was handling over 27 million passengers a year the airport was all but mothballed during the pandemic when travel restrictions were lifted in March it wasn't prepared for the volume of passengers now but in the car park minutes I haven't even got into the term like yet inching along one step at a time we finally make it inside power in 15 minutes now and finally got to the backdrop I was thinking now I've put my luggage label on I'm home and dry but look this is now another clue to drop off the bags that we've now got luggage labels on the way to get through airport security is worse [Music] can let her queue ahead of me there's probably at least another half hour before we even get through to the scanners it's just I'm exhausted already okay so through security now that was absolutely unbelievably long and we now have 15 minutes before our flight allegedly takes off no idea where the gate is it's probably miles away here we go [Music] with many passengers still stuck in queues EasyJet delay the flight stockings get through security wow what a start to the holiday so only half an hour no not too bad and it's 27 degrees in Corfu lovely Manchester Airport says security queues are now improving but this summer airports have been in chaos [Music] our flight is canceled no flights until Tuesday next week what the hell it's just people after people after people right we just got to Birmingham Airport the flight is delayed by five hours for dispatchers Global Aviation data provider oag found around 1.7 million people flying in or out of the UK since January have suffered cancellations within 48 Hours of Plum departure when you have hundreds of thousands of people finding out that their holiday can't make their wedding can't make a birthday whatever it is minutes before their flight that is chaotic I think it's embarrassing that a great industry has been brought to this [Applause] you really look forward to a holiday it shouldn't be a lottery as to whether your flight is going to go or not at the last minute [Music] to find out what's behind the cancellations and delays we're sending a reporter undercover inside Manchester Airport he's got a job as a baggage handler with Swissport that loads luggage for many airlines 87 an hour just 17 Pence more than the living wage foreign he's working in the handling area where bags from check-in arrive on different belts for each flight it's critical the right bags get to the right aircraft on time or they'll be delayed if you're unable to have baggage handlers in place then you can't get bags loaded onto a plane if your bags aren't on a plane in time then it it creates an issue for even the crew that's on the plane ready for it to depart our reporter is told to help a baggage handler struggling to hit the deadline foreign if they don't speed up the flight to Istanbul will be delayed the other day thank you some passengers have connecting flights if their bags are put in the right container they risk getting lost this one yeah in the UK Swissport cut over half its 6 000 ground handling staff during the pandemic yeah [Music] it's gone sit name if you're on your own yeah the flight eventually leaves almost an hour late he was gay and pretty upset sometimes it just sort of gave up and took the bags into a New York container because there was just far too much for one person to be doing so I helped him with that today and I completely understood what he meant it was a joke perhaps three or four people for one or two people it's just way too overwhelming my pumpkin when did that change they got rid of the experienced experienced stuff that's like the stuff I was talking about Swissport told us it's sorry for its part in the disruption some people have experienced at Manchester Airport it says it's doing everything it can to mitigate delays for passengers including hiring more than 4 100 people since January the travel industry is made up of lots of moving Parts they all need to form a perfect jigsaw to enable it to really operate and what we saw during lockdown we saw those pieces of that puzzle just being pulled away okay yeah I love this if I had chance to talk to Tui now I I'll probably Shout tell them angry I am look at you on that one Melissa Robinson spent two years planning her dream wedding in Cyprus but it almost didn't happen beautiful day I know I wish I could go back I don't not with two way the wedding party booked various Tui flights from Manchester at the end of May Melissa her fiance Michael and their children prepared to fly out first the pilot came to explain there was nobody there to get the luggage on so we had to wait for that on the plane those baggage handling problems delayed takeoff for four hours and when they arrived in Cyprus the luggage containing many of the wedding outfits was missing I just thought that you know what we're going to do what we're going to do I'm back at Manchester Airport a week of chaos was developing well you won't be going today but what was happening with this Melissa's wedding party was in the middle of it this is uh brother-in-law it was on his way to nay canceled his flight we sent him some money we paid for him to come the next day with his sisters and their children and then that all got canceled I booked the next flight with whiz air and the canceled the canceled honors and then my two Bridesmaids their flight got canceled as well they found a booking straight where we object to but they had to loan the money because you don't get a refund straight away from Tui so they had to loan the money just to come out one wedding guest after another had their flights canceled my mother-in-law was in bed she was crying I was crying and we was just like right we're not getting married now we can't they did get married but not before they paid out almost 4 000 pounds on new flights to get their family there on time and laughter the wedding I felt so drained because of what had happened Tui says it's incredibly sorry for what happened to Melissa and has provided refunds for the alternative flight she bought for her family [Music] inside Manchester Airport our undercover baggage handler and a colleague are racing to load bags for a Virgin Flight to Islamabad surprise they did me and you we're not exactly the two biggest people are we not they're falling behind and there's no extra help as the backs Mount up a supervisor arrives very safe flight Departed so it seems like the party if the uh flight leaves without half the baggage what do we do with all these five cans worth of luggage huh really bugs on top there's still 48 bags to load all of this comes in fact virgin delays take off because of the missing bags the flight eventually leaves 90 minutes late [Music] sport told us the airport's baggage handling system which it doesn't have control over suffered a failure its team had to process the luggage manually which led to delays but eventually all but two pieces of luggage made the flight [Music] coming up in this summer of delays we discover desperate passengers clambering airside offering to help our undercover baggage handler and we investigate why airlines are struggling to attract cabin crew I just thought it was just appalling the way they treated us [Music] thank you foreign [Music] airport chaos has caused misery for thousands of Travelers dispatchers has sent a reporter undercover working as a baggage handler at Manchester Airport and he's seeing first hand just what some of the problems are it's midday and he's nearing the end of his shift when he hears voices two frustrated passengers have climbed into the airside package area they are your passengers in Natalia what time is it 12 o'clock this is your luggage you'll say speak to the supervisor and find out where you're looking slightly this isn't here to be honest it's all about has been changing as far as we've been counting and stuff and we've got to find out and he landed over an hour ago they've been waiting all that time to grab their luggage to check it in for their next flight and passengers just pulled through from Bay about four saying um but they've gone back but it's like getting really agitated saying we'll come through and grab our luggage foreign s to work hoping the passengers get help later he spots border Force officers coming through um [Music] which is perfectly captured all of the chaos at the moment and now desperate passengers are the next day our reporter tells his colleagues about the incident involving the passengers it's so weird I've been this though with me I was on Belt five and then some passengers like crawled through the conveyor belts did the Virgin saved them away in so long for their luggage yeah yeah Hall what do we do put food in one of these up it sounded like I got off quite lucky because from what he said other times it's happened customers coming through have been getting quite aggressive and abusive towards the staff efficient baggage handling operations are crucial for an airline to run smoothly but it's just one step in a time-critical and complex process there are often 30 or 40 people in the chain of events that lead to a fully loaded airplane departing and that includes the people that take and load your bags those that check the fuel the crew and the the gate team that check you onto the airplane and everybody has a critical role which means if any of those teams are short of people it starts to hold up everybody else and it can knock on into many other departures [Music] and as we've seen many of those teams are short of Staff with passengers paying the price [Music] so I love to meet someone who knows exactly how a problem can escalate turning a long for Holiday into a bit of a nightmare thank you Valerie cools booked a flight to Bodrum in turkey with EasyJet flying from Gatwick Airport after spending so much time alone during lockdown she was Keen to get away [Music] but as oags were searched for dispatchers has identified in June over half of all EasyJet flights departing from the UK were delayed foreign we boarded the plane and everything was going to plan then the captained holders he was terribly sorry but our luggage hadn't been loaded onto the plane and we looked out the window and we could see that the luggage was still there Valerie says because the baggage wasn't loaded the plane missed its takeoff slot so we've got a new slot about two of the crew went out of hours so we lost that slot what was the mood of the of the passengers at that point people started to get agitated people started to drink their duty-free got a little bit scary on there to be honest people started shouting the weight for replacement cabin crew triggered yet another delay then the captain told us that the co-pilot went out vowels and she he's actually he came out of the cockpit he stood in front of us and his actual words were I cannot fly This Plane alone therefore I have to cancel this flight then another problem Valerie struggles to walk far and needed special assistance helpers to get off the plane they're subcontracted by Gatwick Airport not EasyJet they took ages to come and get us off the flight really ages we were on that plane on that tile mark from around 4 15 till nine o'clock at night the people who work on special assistants that you could tell that they're very stressed because there's not enough people working there Gatwick told us it is sorry for the delay Valerie experienced EasyJet told us it provided an alternative flight the next day it says Valerie's flight was canceled due to air traffic control restrictions which led to the crew reaching their safety regulated operating hours it's sorry this happened the airline has now cut back its schedules to reduce delays I'm hearing that as well as airports and ground handling companies airlines are also short of staff some cabin crew and even Pilots that went part-time or were fired during the pandemic are now reluctant to return to the industry hi Olivia hi nice to meet you thank you Olivia Kerr worked as a flight attendant for BA for 22 years I absolutely adored it I loved wearing the uniform you know people would look at you and I did feel really really special what's the adverts like this ba shows cabin staff Keen to take to the air but in the pandemic it sacked a quarter of its staff including over 4 000 cabin crew it was a great service and I just love making people happy because you'd see all these people going on holiday and you just get really excited for them Olivia says during the pandemic she was told to accept a 40 pay cut or be fired we were told we were being fired and rehired okay that was the deal you were going to come in on 17 000 and all your terms and conditions were interchange but sorry we can't tell you what they are now 17 000 a year yeah for all that experience yeah that's full full time so all of those people's skills and that experience that you're talking about there what was the offer ultimately that you were given and and ended up declining they were saying you've got to leave or you've got to sign up for a new contract which we had no idea what it meant except there was a massive cut in in terms of Finance but not only the finance it was a massive change in in working life Olivia says when she refused the new contract she was made redundant she has now left the industry [Music] we had covid come along where there was real crushing pressure on competition in the industry where there was almost no Revenue that meant that some Airlines some were worse than others took the advantage of the situation and put further pressure on terms and conditions in particular in ba there would seemed to be a desire to attack terms and conditions in a permanent sense rather than making the temporary changes needed to cope with a pandemic Olivia is one of 50 crew challenging the airline through an employment tribunal she says other experienced cabin staff have found better paid jobs and won't return I just thought it was just appalling the way they treated us you know and they just treated us with total uh contempt you know treating us as though we are a disposable commodity that is only worth this much on an accounts page ba is now short of staff and has cut back flights to lesson delays oau's research for dispatches shows that in June over 8 in 10 of ba flights leaving the UK were delayed the reason we have such significant disruption has been some Airlines sacked lots of staff and what I would say beyond that is they didn't just sack them but the manner in which they're trying to get them back is very poor the pay is poor the working conditions are really difficult VA told us it restructured to survive and despite four billion of losses most redundancies were voluntary it won't comment on Olivia's ongoing litigation Airlines UK is the body that represents many leading Airlines including ba the pandemic's been an unprecedented situation for Airlines for every sort of one pound of furlough we had sort of seven pounds of loans you can't just take on more and more debt all the time but you are aware of the fact that some Airlines have used the pandemic to get rid of maybe more expensive experience staff and really hire cheaper staff having to take tough decisions was was part of part of survival for many carriers not just Airlines but airports and other parts of the aviation system I think it's not unreasonable that they that they did that coming up the strain is showing in the baggage handling Hall and as the industry struggles to cope we hear concerns Pilots feel they're under pressure to fly when fatigued if you're fatigued then you're not in a fit state to fly an airplane [Music] it's 8 A.M and our undercover reporter working for Swissport at Manchester Airport is loading a Tui flight to Cancun in Mexico problems elsewhere mean bags for other long-haul flights start to arrive on the same belt and it jams the system has to be shut down threatening delays on all the flights how many flights Tui passengers paying for premium seats have priority tags on their luggage our reporters supervisors have told him these bags should go into a special container so they can be loaded last and offloaded first but takeoff is fast approaching should I be reserving this uh can just for the priority ones what's that yeah all right the flight ends up leaving two hours late because of the baggage delays Swissport told us but because another service provider was late cleaning the aircraft research for dispatchers by oag reveals that in tune with air delayed almost 7 in 10 flights leaving the UK and it's not just the passengers who are frustrated [Music] out of my control I'm as frustrated as you are I want to get going to lanika for we cannot get out of here at the moment foreign booked onto a wizair flight to Cyprus in June this year the single mum had saved up for two years to go abroad with her eight-year-old son sack [Music] the whole way to the airport is like he's looking for the signs you know all the traffic signs yeah you can get there quick enough so what time is it supposed to take off it's supposed to be leaving at 1105 um by half 11 we hadn't had an update just kept saying last call for boarding and then from 11 30 onwards it was just uh tanoi every half an hour or so saying it's been delayed again and again and again there was a lady there and I asked her what is going on do you know what's happening she goes well they're telling us they can't find a crew but I've just been told that they do have a crew but they're refusing to work because they're exhausted the flight was canceled Amy and Zach had no option but to go home they were rebooked to fly two days later so we went down to the gate at one for 115 departure which changed to 1 30 which then changed to 145 which then became 215 then became 245 and then they canceled us again oh yeah so very um yeah very very annoying so how do you explain to an eight-year-old who has been looking forward to a holiday for two years and has had to put up with two cancellations it wasn't easy I think he was about two hours sort of crying so it was yeah it was hard really hard was there told us it disputes its crew was exhausted and says that's based on hearsay the civil aviation Authority regulates the hours Pilots work and makes them personally responsible for not flying if they suspect they're dangerously fatigued [Music] Louisa pilot has told us that with the airlines struggling to cope he's experienced what he believes is concerning pressure to fly longer hours he's asked us to conceal his identity pressure for us to help out by flying on our days off there is also a summer bonus scheme that actively encourages Pilots to fly more hours you can report sick if you are fatigued but you will lose financially if you do there's not that culture of thinking where you can actually speak up in June Wizard's chief executive Joseph varadi spoke to his staff but you also need to take down the fatigue rate uh I mean we cannot run this business when uh every fifth person um of a base reports sickness because uh the person is uh is fatigue uh uh we are over fatigue but sometimes uh it is required to uh to take the smile we would argue that if you are fatigued which is a Step Beyond just tired if you're fatigued then you're not in a fit state to fly an airplane foreign Aviation Authority has now issued a warning to all UK airlines that undue pressure on Pilots to fly has contributed to a number of aircraft incidents many companies are seeing the limits that are there to protect the flying public from crew that are fatigued as targets as productivity targets but the limits are there because that is where the science says the human being begins to start making poor decisions or starts to not be performing at their best wizard told us the safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is always our top priority we ensure our pilots and cabin crew keep our customers safe by operating an industry-leading fatigue management system this is in line with the legal requirements applicable in the industry and is regularly reviewed and monitored by Aviation Regulators regardless of the challenges our business and The Wider industry are currently facing with air will never compromise on safety [Music] lines Council floats out of the UK it leaves thousands of passengers stranded abroad among them Russell montlake Meese wonderful thank you Russell had a triple heart bypass last year and is reliant on medication I've bought the car as a present to myself for surviving my first heart attack [Music] in June Russell and his wife Nicola went on a midweek break to Amsterdam flying with easyJet came to fly home on the Saturday and got to the ship hole Airport waiting to check in and the flight was canceled we've been to Ship Hall a number of times and we've never seen anything like it was chaos any available flights had already been booked and taken there was nothing available so it was it was just terrible it was we just felt thrown under the bus [Music] Russell had only taken enough medication for the planned trip [Music] if you don't want to carry boxes and boxes of medications on the off chance you might be stuck somewhere being that I've never been delayed more than 10 hours on a flight ever so I only took enough medications to cover the original trip that turned out to be you know a mistake the earliest flight they could take was two days later but that too was canceled [Music] I was in three days basically without medications I required my blood sugar went from the normal 6 to 24 there was no way that I could guarantee that my heart wasn't going to give me some sort of issue it was only on the third attempt that EasyJet finally got them on a flight home absolutely inexcusable they knew obviously they weren't going to be able to service most of these flights so why did they make people turn up I don't understand how they can actually operate in that way and get away with it EasyJet told us Russell and Nicola's initial flight was canceled due to air traffic control restrictions it tried to get them home as quickly as possible but options were limited so what's your message to the the poor old passenger that's had their holiday disrupted or in some cases completely ruined I think Airlines have been clear that weather's been disruption you know we're very sorry for that across the sector we're seeing more cancellations than we would have wanted it's around two to four percent during the worst worst period of time 31 normally um so I think look as a sector we would say that the level of cancellations and disruption routine isn't good enough not not in one particular Airline which is why collectively we're all trying to do everything we can to minimize that going forward coming up the final battle the ever lengthening cues to get through passport control with current Staffing you're going to get cues significantly longer than three hours yeah and are some Airlines trying to stop passengers claiming the compensation they're entitled to let's be frank they don't really care about customer care they care about flogging you a cheap ticket [Music] for tens of thousands of britons the excitement of a holiday abroad has been replaced by trepidation as I discovered earlier on my trip to Corfu has joined one cue pre-cued to join the main and as we've seen getting home again can be equally daunting so Heathrow Terminal 5 is an absolute show no one's cases are showing up is apparently two to three hour wait because it's no staff there's no customer service and then there's passport control [Music] lengthy cues piling misery on holiday makers are down to the UK's border Force according to a recent review commissioned by Home Secretary pretty Patel it's operating in an unsustainable and highly inefficient way to find out the implications for travelers I've arranged to meet a border Force officer he's worried about losing his job so he's asked us to conceal his identity there is no rabbit to produce out of a hat solve the problem with staff we don't have the resources we don't have the I.T and I'm afraid the arriving passengers are likely this summer to have big waiting times what are some of the waiting times you've been told about three hours isn't unusual when we start to get close to pre-pandemic Summer levels with current Staffing you're going to get cues significantly longer than three hours yeah now one of the things that supposed to help ease those cues is e-gates yeah but they don't always work do they for some reason the software wasn't compatible with the gates and we had a lot of problems with the gates falling over anywhere between 40 and 70 of all passengers depending on where your based go through the e-gates so you can see that if the e-gates fall over it has a huge impact because suddenly you've got hundreds of people who would otherwise not have seen an immigration officer and it means it has a big impact on cues oh yeah are you up yeah good thanks thanks a lot [Music] of course there's no rewriting holiday memories ruined by canceled flights lost luggage and days spent in transit but when it comes to claiming compensation for what they've been through many families are facing even more frustrations Amy and her son Zach whose holiday flight was canceled twice have had no joy with Wiz air they ask you to fill in these forms to get your refund to claim your compensation but you never get a reply I've tried emailing them and they reply I've tried social media you just get like an automatic robot reply they just say that they are sorry that I feel I've been let down I'm like no we have been let down there's a big difference wizard told us Amy's travel agent is responsible for compensation not them [Music] Nicola and Russell who was stranded in Amsterdam also chased compensation thanks for calling EasyJet your call may be monitored or recorded for training and quality purposes they spent weeks struggling to get through to EasyJet we're a thousand pounds out of pocket I don't think we're going to see any of it back they are fighting any compensation giving different reasons for the flight being canceled which are extraordinary circumstances which means they don't have to pay after we contacted EasyJet the airline rang Nicola offering compensation and a flight voucher Valerie who sat on the runway for almost five hours when her flight was canceled was refused compensation EasyJet blamed air traffic control which means they don't have to pay out this is the late female I sent to the CEO at easyj can I have a read yes of course it's the pilot clearly specified that the slot was missed due to luggage not being loaded onto the plane EasyJet were to blame for the canceled flight and passengers deserve compensation I look forward to your response he's ignored every single email I've sent that won't give up I'd like him to put his hands up and admit that it didn't start out with air traffic control it started out with stuff that EasyJet could have put right and if he doesn't want to pay us compensation how about a good will gesture after we contacted EasyJet the airline offered to reimburse Valerie's expenses as well as giving her a Goodwill payment yeah consumer Group which says Airlines need to be investigated [Music] let's be frank they don't really care about customer care they care about flogging you a cheap ticket that does need some sort of resolution we can't be in a situation where passengers are told these are right but they can't enforce them because the airline is uncontactable so have Airlines flouted the rules on compensation airlines are breaking the rules today as we're talking they will break the rules tomorrow and they will continue breaking the rules on compensation refunds rerouting because they never face any action the civil aviation Authority unfortunately does not have the right Powers they are supposed to regulate that industry but they are not unlike in many other Industries able to directly find Airlines so when we looked at investigations the CIA is carried out they have only taken action against one Airline once in nearly 20 years and when you consider the level of law breaking with some particular airlines that is disgraceful and Rory Bowen from which says that your members are breaking the rules he's he's right isn't he no we don't recognize the airlines UK airlines are breaking the law and not doing what they should be doing a conversation isn't always due it depends on the circumstances if it's whether or if it's a problem with the airport if it's a security issue that is not the airline's responsibility and therefore the airline wouldn't pay compensation some of the stories that are emerging from what we're doing here is clear where to go to compensation and some passengers say they feel that that's a deliberate tactic and B that when they know that they are entitled to it they can't get through on the phone it just rings and rings and Rings it's impossible our members are absolutely committed to paying conversation when it's due they will do that um and they will usually make a number of ways available to do that so it could by phone it could be by by website but it doesn't work does it a lot of the time people try that and they don't they can't get anywhere well you know I can't comment on the circumstances that you're referring to but you know what I can say is I know from talking to our members that they do everything they can to make sure that they've got the resources available to to meet those conversation requests in a timely way equally for for refunds undercover reporter has spent two weeks working inside Manchester Airport today was my final days was brought at Manchester to be honest I just don't know how people do these shifts and these kind of hours starting at 3am it's um absolutely brutal no one gives them much credit but without them no one's flights could be taking off no won't be going on holiday this was Manchester Airport the other day still with some of the queues I saw when I traveled through back in early July with school holidays underway problems are persisting even though some airports are capping the number of flights they operate so when will air travel get back to normal I don't think there's a magic wand there are going to be problems right the way through the summer it won't be fixed overnight but it certainly will improve and hopefully we can work towards a much better much more resilient industry and towards the back end of the year I think this is a watershed moment because it can't get any worse for the Airlines and airports it means they've got to pay much more to attract people back into the sector yes the sector has underpaid in some areas and it should have been paid more over the years now it's paying the price Affairs but if that's the way to avoid the queues delays and cancellations we might decide it's a price worth paying foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Channel 4 Documentaries

Views: 350,036

Keywords: Channel 4, Channel 4 Documentary, Documentary, dispatches, airport, airport truth, gatwick, baggage, airports, heathrow, stansted, lost baggage, documentary, documentary 2022, channel 4 news, doc, border control, trending documentary, travel chaos, chaos, shortage, pilot shortage, pilot, spirit, airline, video, long lines, inside edition, why are airports, why airports, travel 2023, covid, covid travel, heathrow strikes, heathrow live, heathrow airport, strike, union, ryanair, easyjet, delay, deal

Id: MopVe3Kp_Sw

Length: 46min 56sec (2816 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2022