easyJet and British Airways flight cancellations – latest travel updates

A British family embarking on their first overseas holiday since the pandemic began has lost out on a £1,500 spend after getting stuck in Manchester Airport’s mega-queues.

Mum Michelle Donohue described the experience of missing out on a four-day trip to Rome as “traumatic”, as passengers jostled to get through four-hour security queues.

She had booked the trip to Rome with her husband Robert and 12-year-old son, leaving on 5 April.

Despite arriving in plenty of time for their 7.15am Ryanair flight, they were met by a “nightmare” four-hour wait at security.

Read the full story here:

Confusion reigned in Spain yesterday – first it was announced that all unvaccinated British tourists would finally be allowed into the country, provided they had a negative test.

Next minute, the tourist board had done a full 180, apologising “unreservedly for the miscommunication earlier today which was due to a misunderstanding of the new entry requirements”.

So what are Spain’s current travel rules – and can Brits go on holiday there? Here’s everything you need to know.

Only fully vaccinated travellers have been permitted to enter Spain for months, with only 12-17 year olds able to enter with a negative PCR test instead. Following the example of neighbours like France, this appeared to be a step towards opening up.

Simon Calder’s travel podcast today dives into the extraordinary U-turn, and the current state of affairs for holidaymakers – some of whom may have booked flights and packages between the two announcements.

As easyJet and British Airways continue to cancel some flights to and from the UK today, passengers are scrambling to organise alternative travel or request compensation.

Airline communications are not always specific about the assistance and compensation passengers are due, so it’s worth knowing your rights as well as reading each carrier’s cancellation policy.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Despite Spain’s reversal of its promise to admit unvaccinated travellers last night, one small rule change has been implemented: holders of an NHS Covid Pass no longer need to fill in the country’s Health Control Form.

This also applies to children under 12.

Spain’s Secretary for Tourism Fernando Valdés Verelst yesterday tweeted: “Starting today, if you travel to Spain and have an EU Digital Covid Certificate or equivalent, you will no longer need to fill out the Spain Travel Health form before your arrival.”

The NHS Covid Pass is accepted as an equivalent to the EU’s Covid Certificate.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 travellers will suffer from today’s flight cancellations alone, as British Airways axes some 74 flights to and from Heathrow and easyJet cancels 52 from various UK airports.

The bulk of easyJet’s cancellations are from Gatwick, with some from Luton, Bristol, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh.

All are domestic or short-haul routes, with many from the UK to Italian, Spanish or French destinations.

Following days of lengthy queues and abandoned luggage, passengers this morning are reporting a smoother check-in and security experience at Manchester Airport.

“It took us approx 1 hour, from arriving at the airport at 5am, to get through security at T2. It did get considerably busier once we had joined the queue though. However they do call you to skip the queues with an hour to go to your flight. Don’t panic!” wrote Charl Adams at terminal 2.

“No queue at security at 9am this morning. Bag drop also clear,” said Verity Taylor at terminal 1.

“Terminal 1. Through security in 20 mins. Hand luggage so no bag drop. Now having a drink,” wrote Hannah Stamp.

After Spanish tourism officials retracted an announcement opening up to unvaccinated British visitors with a pre-departure test, there remains one way for unjabbed UK travellers to enter Spain: proof of recent recovery from Covid-19.

But the rules are complex. The traveller must have a recovery certificate “issued by the official authorities”. The test must have been “carried out by qualified personnel” – so a self-test result will not be valid.

Official certificates are regarded as being valid for 11 to 180 days after the first positive diagnostic test result.

In an extraordinary reversal of an earlier announcement, the Spanish tourist board in London last night withdrew a declaration that the country was opening up to unvaccinated British visitors.

On Wednesday morning the tourist board told press that Spain had opened up to all UK travellers with immediate effect, saying unjabbed visitors would be able to enter with a negative pre-departure test.

But eight hours later travellers were told this was incorrect, and that the announcement resulted from an error of interpretation of the official state bulletin.

British Airways and easyJet have both been forced to axe a number of flights to and from the UK today.

BA’s cancellations are all domestic and short-haul: routes between Heathrow and Scotland are affected, as are Germany, Netherlands and Sweden services from Heathrow, and some Italian cities.

Meanwhile easyJet has cancelled Gatwick flights to some Italian and French cities, along with some short-haul routes from Luton, Bristol, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh.

Read the full list of cancellations here: