Saturday 4 June 2022 09:34 AM Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary says 'defence forces' could fix ongoing travel ... trends now

The boss of Ryanair has suggested calling in the military to solve long queues at airports as families endure another fraught weekend of travel chaos while seeking to return from their half-term breaks.

The airline's chief executive Michael O'Leary has also advised passengers to travel mid-week to avoid difficulties, stick to 'hand luggage only' and to buy socks and other small items when on holiday.

Mr O'Leary told The Times: 'My tip would be to travel midweek, because you'll almost certainly have no difficulties and travel with hand luggage only. This reduces the time you spend in airports. Buy socks and jocks and stuff when you get there.

'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.'

This morning, travellers vented their frustration as they waited to reclaim their baggage at Gatwick Airport amid empty conveyor belts.

Ian Smith tweeted: 'How long do we need to wait for luggage? Landed from Heraklion an hour agao and still no sign!! Same for other flights too. not on.' 

Wayne M added: 'I know you guys at Gatwick Airport have been waiting hours for baggage reclaim - we landed 30 mins ago. What's the crack? People are getting itchy - trust is low.'

Ryannair is one of few carriers that has not cancelled flights over the Jubilee break, while Easyjet, Tui and British Airways have axed hundreds - allegedly due to staffing woes.

Steve Heapy, the boss of Jet2, said that airports were struggling to recruit staff, with Brexit cited as a problem. 

The industry wants post-Brexit rules relaxed so that they can hire foreign staff, rather than relying on British applicants who have missed interviews or failed aptitude tests.

Elsewhere, a family have described feeling 'trapped' and 'scared' after their flights were cancelled at the last minute, stranding them in Turkey, leading to costs of nearly £2,500 for new flights and hotels. It comes amid more chaos at Manchester Airport as mountains of abandoned bags are left after arrivals.

Michael Tierney and his family, including nine-month-old Ralphie, flew to Antalya, Turkey, 14-days ago and were due to fly back late on Tuesday, May 31. However, they say they arrived to find their EasyJet flight had been cancelled, leading to chaotic scenes for the many families present with no way of getting back home.

Baby Ralphie cried so much he fainted and many others were left with no option other than to stay at the airport overnight, hoping for another flight to come up. Reports over recent days have suggested it is not just UK airports where travellers are facing troubles, with flight cancellations and passport checks causing chaos abroad.

Speaking after arriving home to Oldham, Mr Tierney said: 'I should have been back three days ago. We were checking the flights on the app when we were travelling there on Tuesday night and it didn't say anything had changed.

'But, when we got there people were running around as the flight had been cancelled with no notice. We found a member of staff and asked what we could do but they just told us there were no more flights.

'We were just told to make our own way back and to sort it ourselves, a lot of people there had no money to do that. People just ended up on the floor with loads of kids crying. The only solution were were offered were flights the next day from Dalaman which is miles away.'

Mr Tierney's brother was able to book him a flight back, but they had to wait three days for this. In this time, he had to buy more food for the baby and book more travel and hotels, coming to just under £2,500.

They say that other airlines were offering flights back to England for inflated prices after this, and all easyJet could offer him was a flight back to London, but without his whole family.

Yesterday, it was reported furious passengers at Manchester airport storm behind the carousel curtain to try and locate their lost luggage forcing police to step in - as the boss of Ryanair has called on the government to deploy the army to help ease the 'shambolic' airport crisis.

The chaotic scenes at Manchester Airport were filmed after passengers on a Ryanair flight arrived from Porto in Portugal on Monday. The footage shows armed police being called to the carousel amid lengthy delays.

The woman, who recorded the footage but has remained anonymous, said by the time she reached the baggage hall 'there were hundreds of people waiting' and 'luggage had been left everywhere over the floor' - with some bags 'dated from May 27' - meaning it would have been there for three days. 

She told Manchester Evening News: 'Border Control came to calm some passengers. They were saying that there was no one to get the bags. A lot of people were angry. People were offering to go and help put the bags on the carousel from behind to speed up the process.

'It was worse for people with kids. There was nowhere to sit or get a drink or something to eat. A lot of people were just leaving their bags and coming back to get them on another day.'

Ryanair boss Mr O'Leary, meanwhile, told ITV News: 'Bringing in the army, which they do at many other European airports, would, at a stroke, relieve the pressure on airport security and would mean that people have a much better experience – not just this weekend, but for each weekend over the next three, four months.'

Britons returning from their holidays have complained of 'three hour delays' at baggage reclaim across UK airports and 'abandoned' luggage 'left in stacks' at Heathrow this morning - travellers have also said 'their luggage has been diverted to another airport', while others have reported their baggage missing altogether. 

Tui customers have been left furious by 'awful service' after their flights landed at 3am this morning at Manchester Airport, forcing families to put their children to sleep on the floor as the crisis continues to cause disruption.

The reason for the ongoing chaos has been due to a aviation staffing crisis - recruiting for roles such as security staff, ground handlers and check-in staff which is seeing passengers advised to arrive much earlier than normal for their flights because they are facing long queues.

While many businesses in the aviation sector are struggling to rehire staff after many were let go during the pandemic due to a collapse in demand thanks to successive lockdowns, high levels of staff sickness for those who are still employed is also having an impact.