Travel Chaos Continues

It’d be nice to have a week off from travel chaos news, wouldn’t it?

Sadly, that hasn’t been the case - in fact, a lot’s been happening in the past seven days that could affect your flights over the summer, so let’s get right down to it.

Cuts, cuts, cuts

In anticipation of further disruption over the summer, European airports have begun to impose caps on the number of daily flights allowed through their terminals:

• Gatwick Airport has imposed a daily cap of 850 flights during August (that’s about 10% less than its usual pre-pandemic maximum).
• Amsterdam Schiphol - which has accounted for nearly 9% of all cancelled flights in Europe this past month - has set a daily cap of 67,500 passengers in July, followed by a rise to 72,500 in August.

So far, airlines have accepted the caps as necessary, and ultimately better for travellers than last-minute cancellations - easyJet, which is likely to be most affected by the news coming out of Gatwick and Schiphol, has stated,

“We recognise the need for Gatwick to do this, as airports…are well placed to decide what capacity is realistic in the current challenging operating environment.”

However, the CEO of Swissjet has also warned that airlines which have been frantically recruiting extra workers over the past couple of months “now have too many people” and could pose “legal challenges” to caps enforced by airports.

If you’re an easyJet customer and you’re worried that you might be affected by the cuts, it might be best to wait and see before making any panicked calls just yet.

The airline began contacting customers on Tuesday, and they’ve said that they’re aiming to speak to everyone who’s affected by the end of this week.

Ryanair relishes its rescue flights

As easyJet struggles, Ryanair has been strutting about with a decidedly cocky air - announcing over 200 extra ‘rescue flights’ at airports across the UK over the summer, including Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, and Stansted.

The aim here is very clearly to swoop up passengers whose flights have been cancelled by competing airlines, but it’s an impressive feat nonetheless.

Let’s just let Ryanair have their moment and quote their press release, which is so deliciously pleased with itself that it's practically wearing sunglasses:

“While BA, easyJet & TUI cancel thousands of flights across the UK causing travel disruption for UK families, Ryanair continues to operate a full schedule with over 15,000 weekly flights, and today (June 20) we have added over 200 extra flights from/to our 19 UK airports to help the BA, easyJet & TUI customers who have been disrupted by these cancellations.

"UK families can now rest easy in the knowledge that Ryanair will fly them to/from their summer holiday destination to enjoy some well-deserved time off with friends and family."

Failures continue for disabled passengers

Last week ended on a deeply sad note at Gatwick, when a passenger with restricted mobility died from a fall while attempting to exit their flight.

The airport has stated that “staff shortages were not a factor in this incident”, and that staff were carrying out their usual protocol by helping several travellers to leave the aircraft one-by-one when the incident occurred.

However, the sad news comes after a series of deeply unacceptable experiences at UK airports during the ‘travel chaos’ period - as a result, this week the Civil Aviation Authority has formally warned airports that they will face legal action if they continue to fail disabled passengers during staff shortages.

A number of disabled travellers have also been writing in to the Guardian about their own hours-long waits at airports - it's a frustrating, upsetting read.

Heathrow's baggage mountains

On Monday, after an ever-growing ‘baggage mountain’ (just as impressive as it sounds but a whole lot less fun - some passengers over the weekend were reporting a three-hour wait to pick up their suitcases) due to a lack of available baggage handlers, Heathrow asked its airlines to cancel 90 flights on the day, affecting a likely 15,000 passengers in total.

It’s understood that most travellers were accommodated onto replacement flights, and thankfully we’ve seen fewer reports of huge luggage piles as the week’s gone on, but airlines have warned that the weekends could continue to see additional strain on handling teams (so potentially more long waits and more giant heaps of luggage).

Strikes and staff shortages

EasyJet staff in Spain look set to strike for nine days in July (currently, we’re looking at three three-day periods at intervals throughout the month) over cabin staff wages.

The airline has warned that there might be disruptions for flights to Barcelona, Malaga and Palma but has stressed that it intends to keep operating a full schedule.

The news comes shortly after strikes amongst security staff at Brussel Airport resulted in a day's worth of cancelled flights yesterday.

There are also possible strikes coming over the summer amongst Ryanair staff in Spain - but these currently look to be limited to one smaller union membership, and are not expected to cause widespread disruption.

The CEOs of easyJet and Ryanair have both been arguing that the strain on their staff has been exacerbated by Brexit, as airline staff are now required to have a British Visa.

Both bosses have appealed to the Government to make things easier, although it should be noted that UK airlines are already getting around the requirement by simply leasing European planes (which, having been registered in the EU, can legally hire EU-resident staff. That certainly is one hell of a loophole).

Travel Smart!

The Foreign Office’s response to all of this chaos has been to launch a new ‘Get Travel Smart’ campaign, which encourages fliers to…check out the Foreign Office website to avoid disruption over the summer.

Good job, guys, that ought to fix it.

We’re mostly kidding. It is actually a very helpful website, and the Government has also announced an ‘amnesty’ on airport runway slots - allowing airlines to cancel flights without fear that they'll lose their precious spaces on the tarmac.

This policy should benefit travellers, as it'll help to ensure that airlines aren't deliberately hanging on until the very last second before cancelling or rescheduling. (It also has a very sensible environmental benefit, since it means that airlines will be less likely to resort to fuel-wasting 'ghost flights'.)

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

Weird and Wonderful Architecture Worldwide

Over on the JFC website, our amazing Flight Finder Larissa (you'll have seen a lot of her fab discount alerts dropping into your inbox!) has been giving us her recommendations on eight of the most splendid, strangest-looking towns across the world.

Here's a choice few to get you started:

#1: Living underground in Coober Pedy

On a family road trip through the notoriously harsh Australian desert, we came across the mining town of Coober Pedy. Only, I didn’t see many shops or houses along the road.

Instead, I saw pipes of all shapes and sizes coming out of the ground. As it turns out, these were air vents for the houses under the ground. Yep, over half of the town’s 3500 people live in subterranean caves to dodge the extreme heat (and cold) of the desert.

And it’s…kind of genius?

It all started with abandoned opal mine shafts - they were an easy place for people looking to make their fortune mining to set up their home in to shield themselves from the desert heat. Over the years, thousands of people built their homes, known as ‘dug outs’ into the hard rock underground.

When you visit, you’ll be greeted by a whole world below the surface - from the local bookstore to a church, and several underground hotels.

It’s a feeling I’ll never forget - stepping into the dark passageway of a shop, cut out of rock, and immediately feeling the cool air from underground. Once your eyes adjust, you’d be surprised with how normal it feels to be below the surface - all underground buildings have electricity and water, so it’s not like you’re missing out on much (apart from, well, sunlight).

When I stayed in Coober Pedy, we actually set up a tent in an underground campsite. And, in comparison to the pitch-black vastness of the desert, it definitely felt a lot safer to be surrounded by stone!

This isn’t the only place in the world where you can find life below the surface - Cappadocia in central Turkey was home to an ancient civilization who built their cities underground, and you can still visit the ruins today.

#2: Masuleh - where roofs become roads

Masuleh in regional Iran is unique for one really cool reason - the building’s roofs double as main roads.

It’s an ancient town built into the hillside, which means real estate is in short supply. Without having the space to cut roads into the side of the hill, they took the flat space of the roofs and joined them together, so people can get around easily.

When I say roads, I mean pedestrian walkways, because this is a strict no-car zone - for obvious reasons. The main streets are linked by a complex system of stairways and alleyways, alongside larger community plazas and places to gather.

It’s not only the unique photo-op, misty mountain views and rolling green hills that encourage tourists to come to visit - it’s also the traditional Persian food on offer, like lima bean stew (baghali ghatogh), and its proximity to a few breathtaking waterfalls in the region.

I think that's worth the 5-hour drive from Tehran, don't you?

#3: Assam's houses are next level

People living in the north-eastern region of Assam in India are no stranger to natural disasters. From monsoons to earthquakes, their houses have to deal with a lot to stay standing.

After one particularly bad flood in 2017, many Assam residents have gone back to traditional building methods - namely, chang gahar. These houses are on stilts, metres in the air, made from locally-sourced bamboo and thatched roofs.

Homes on stilts can be spotted all over the world, including the kelongs in the Philippines, palafitos in South America, and some houses in Thailand. The thing is that many of these are actually built on lakes and rivers, so the houses need to be built high above the waterline.

Chang gahar aren’t - they’re built on land. That just happens to be in a valley that floods multiple times throughout the year. It turns out, when your annual rainfall is over 3 metres, it pays to be as high in the air as possible.

Unless you’re a tea fanatic, one of the reasons you might travel to the region is the very river that causes the flooding - the Brahmaputra. It’s the ninth longest river in the world, and it's a nature-lover’s paradise, with river dolphins, one-horned rhinos and elephants just a boat-ride away.

Read the rest of of Larissa's recs for weird and wild architecture across the world right here on the JFC website.

Our Pick of the Clicks

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

• TripAdvisor has released its top global attractions for 2022, according to travellers across the world - with Barcelona’s magnificent Sagrada Familia taking the top spot.

  (CNN’s withering headline on this announcement was “Unfinished building named world’s top attraction", which is…well, technically true, sure.)

• Hong Kong’s legendary Jumbo Floating Restaurant - which has served a million diners over the past 46 years - has sadly capsized and sunk in the South China Sea. (Eerily, one social media artist predicted it just a few days before...)
• European foodies have been revealing the most underrated restaurants around the continent.
• The world’s most sustainable cities in 2022 have been announced - unsurprisingly, Scandi cities are taking most of the top spots.
• And the UK is hoping to become a true out-of-this-world superpower, by launching a new spaceport in, er, Newquay.

  (Good news for astronauts based in Cornwall looking for a shorter commute to work, possibly not good news for nearby residents or anyone else who might not want their fish ‘n’ chips blown away by a blast-off.)

Well, it's not all doom and gloom across Europe.

The beautiful town of Diest in Belgium has been enjoying its annual adorable pink rubber ducky race through the city's canals. (It's all to raise funds for breast cancer research, and the rubber ducks are carefully retrieved and reused afterwards.)

Thanks for reading!