Travel Chaos: Any Plans For The Summer?

Yes, there’s more travel chaos news. Here’s what’s been happening this week:

Luton Leaks Looking Lousy

A leaked letter from French easyJet pilots to their bosses warns that “the worst is yet to come,” predicting that the summer holidays will see “unprecedented chaos” and more cancelled flights due to staff shortages.

The pilots also accused their control centre (based in Luton) of disorganised behaviour that’s made things unnecessarily harder for easyJet passengers - waiting until the last minute to announce cancellations that were known about days in advance, or carrying out avoidable cancellations while staff were in fact available.

Night-Owl Nightmares at Gatwick

Meanwhile, Gatwick staff members have been telling the Mirror that the airport is facing a late-night “meltdown” on a regular basis, due to accumulated delays throughout the day and staff shortages in the air traffic control tower:

"By the end of the day it can be the case that airlines are forced to cancel the last flight of the day, either because the crew have gone out of working hours or because its arrival airport will be closed by the time it comes to landing.”

A Gatwick spokesperson has rebuffed the claim, stating, “Sickness among air traffic control staff in the airport’s control tower has been an issue on just a couple of evenings recently but these have not been the cause of any delays outside of these isolated incidents.”

(Are there any Detour readers who’ve been on a late-night flight to Gatwick who can confirm this either way? Drop us a line at [email protected] and let us know.)

Strikes Seem Certain, Sadly

As discontent among aviation professionals over chaotic and stretched working conditions continues, we’re likely to see more industrial action over the course of the summer - which of course will have a knock-on effect on passengers in turn.

Notably, Ryanair cabin staff in Spain are due to strike for six days from the end of this month, although the airline’s spokespeople insist that “negotiations are going well.”

And while it isn't related directly to flights, all of our UK readers should be keeping their eyes on the National Rail strikes on the 21st, 23rd and 25th June. It'll be the biggest industrial action on our railways in 30 years, with about half of Britain's trains out of commission.

There's also due to be a Tube strike on the 21st June - so in other words, if you have a flight to a London airport booked on Tuesday, best of luck and maybe consider splashing out on that taxi transfer.

But don't panic, airlines say (well, they would, wouldn't they?)

All of this continued uncertainty appears to be having an impact on flight bookings, which means that airlines are kicking into overdrive to reassure travellers that they’ve got things under control.

For instance, TUI has been mass-emailing its passengers with an apology for the half-term disruption, stating that they’ve “learnt from the experience” and intend to be ready for the summer holidays.

Meanwhile, the Government has formally written to UK airlines, strongly encouraging them to axe July and August flights now if necessary, rather than over-committing to flights that might then need to be cancelled at the last minute.

At this point we'll keep our sceptical frown. Depending on where you are in the UK, it's only 2-5 weeks until the summer holidays begin, so there's very little time to get things in order...

Had a painful - or a pain-free - flying experience at an airport recently? Email us at [email protected] and let us know about it.

What's That Camino Over The Hill?

We got a lovely message last week from a few of our Detour readers, the Stevenson family (Mark, Louise, Henry and Megan) who are currently halfway through the Camino de Santiago Frances, an epic 500-mile hiking adventure (and ancient pilgrimage route) across the Iberian Peninsula.

Instantly intrigued, we got in touch with our intrepid family and asked them for more details: what sights had they seen? And just as importantly, how were their feet faring?

While still on the road, the family kindly gave us their full report:

Hello, Stevensons! Could you start by telling us a bit about this journey? What made you decide to take it on as a family?

The Camino de Santiago Frances route had been on our bucket list for a number of years after seeing it on a TV documentary, and we have often wanted to go outside of the normal annual two-weeks holiday and explore the world through a different lens. This seemed to be a perfect opportunity to do just that!

The Camino de Santiago (Camino Frances is the specific route that we are taking) is an ancient pilgrim route; it starts in St Jean-Pied-de-Port in the south of France at the foothills of the Pyrenees, and then proceeds across the Iberian Peninsula for approximately 500 miles and finishes in Santiago de Compostela in the north-west of Spain.

The Camino Frances passes through many beautiful towns and cities, such as Pamplona, which is famous for its bull run, as well as La Rioja wine region and its vibrant capital Logroño.

We always said that we would complete the 500-mile trip once the children had made their own way in life and we had a little more time - however, a cancer diagnosis for Mark in early 2021 rapidly changed our view, and we decided to make it happen as soon as we could.

With this in mind, we sat down with Henry (15) and Megan (11) and shared with them the journey route, accommodations and regions that we would pass through, and quite quickly they decided they wanted to be a part of it as it is something completely different!

And how has the journey been so far? What have been the highlights?

The journey so far has far exceeded our expectations, and every day is bringing something new to the experience!

We always wanted to take the journey by foot (there is the opportunity to do it by bike) and with walking days of approximately 25 km a day, we took the opportunity and stayed in the local albergues (hostels) along the way, which allows for stories and friendships to be easily formed over dinners in the evening.

We have currently made it about halfway (250 miles) into our journey, and we would all identify our stay in Logroño as a highlight so far. We stayed in the city centre, close to a large volume of tapas bars tightly squeezed into a small area, making it easy to walk from one to another with little effort.

On one of our walking days, we stopped for a rest break in the small town of Navarrete and took a quick look around the Church of Santa Maria de la Asunción, which was just breathtaking.

The views whilst walking the Camino Frances are amazing, and as we walk through the regions they gently change in their appearance and feel (from dry and arid to lush green with rivers flowing)!

Jack’s tips: A lot of pilgrims on the Camino end up generating their own lists of favourite albergues to stay the night at, which makes it easy to choose! Here are a few delightful hostel recommendations from travellers who’ve taken on the route.


And have there been any particularly challenging days or moments?

Our most challenging day to date has to have been Day 2, Refuge Orisson to the village of Roncesvalles over the Pyrenees. When we left the albergue at about 8:00 am, the skies were clear blue with some wind. By the time we got onto the Pyrenees, it was blowing 50mph+ and was the hardest day by far!

We were lucky to escape injury - however, we witnessed a number of pilgrims being blown over through the force.

Apart from some long walking days that involved some steep ascents and descents and caused some blisters, the journey overall has gone to plan!

And finally, do you have any advice for families who are considering taking on an epic adventure with their children? (Both in terms of physical prep and making sure that everyone's happy and entertained!)

For pre-prep, make sure the shoes and socks that are intended to be used are fully broken in prior to leaving and the rucksack properly fits. Most things along the journey can be dealt with if your feet can comfortably carry you every day.

We did not do any practice walking days prior to the start of the Camino, and we have managed just fine - there are many on the Camino that have done the same.

One thing that we would highly recommend taking is headphones. There are periods of time on the Camino when we as a family need some alone time - this is when music or a podcast comes into its own!

As for general advice, just get it booked and enjoy it. The Camino Frances is well organised and there are some fantastic books available (we use A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago by John Brierley) to help plan the journey.

We also watched YouTube to give us the confidence needed to tackle this walk, and we have captured our journey as a family so hopefully others will take inspiration and give it a go!

A huge thank you to Mark, Louise, Henry and Megan for sharing your story, and our warmest wishes to you all as you complete your epic adventure!

Please do check out more of the Stevenson family’s journey - and give them a cheer on! - on their YouTube channel.

Our Pick of the Clicks

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

• The Daily Mail has been shining a light on the long queues of would-be influencers that pile up behind popular Instagram views across the world:
• “The weirdest thing I saw? There was the guy on a 747 in Frankfurt who was riding his bicycle down the aisle.” Over at CNN, one former flight attendant remembers the chaotic and bizarre world of working on a plane during the 1980s.
• A blues musician has opened a new hotel and creative residency on the tiny Arctic island of Sørvær (which gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘chillout jazz’)
• Become a deckhand, join an organic farm or houseswap: from the Guardian, here are five ways to see the world for free.
• Maybe give this one a miss if you’re an anxious flier - but Backpacker Magazine has carried out a thrilling interview with Syd and David, two Hawaiian pilots whose plane went down in the ocean in 2016. (Yes, there are sharks. No, there isn’t an unhappy ending, don’t worry.)

At Disneyland California, an animatronic Spider-Man swings heroically through the air in front of an awe-struck crowd - and then goes splat into a wall. (It's OK, Spidey, we all have off days.)

Thanks for reading!