Easter travel warning: How to survive holiday chaos from when to hit the road and how to get a airline refund
MILLIONS of Brits will face travel mayhem this weekend as huge traffic jams build, major works begin on the railways and airports descend into chaos.
Anyone preparing to travel should brace for disruption however they plan to reach their destination.
Queues began building at Gatwick and Manchester airports at 3am, while Dover has faced an eight-day traffic nightmare and Eurotunnel bosses warned of a ";tsunami of traffic" thanks to the P&O disaster.
Here's how to survive this weekend - with all the information you need to know on when to hit the road and how to get an airline refund.
How early should I be at the airport?
There have been long queues and delays at many airports this morning.
By far the worst affected airport appears to be Manchester, which is struggling badly during a staffing crisis.
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On April 1, it's claimed distressed children vomited from exhaustion during five-hour queues. There have been reports some passengers were forced to wait on their feet for up to seven hours in stifling heat.
Police have been placed on standby and airport director Karen Smart has quit to "pursue fresh opportunities".
Those at Heathrow and Gatwick have faced a different set of problems after British Airways and easyJet unceremoniously cancelled 110 flights. There are also reportedly issues with queuing for some passengers.
The advice for every airport seems to be the same - get there as early as possible.
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Manchester Airport urged passengers to arrive three hours ahead of take-off or risk missing their flights. But anyone heading there this weekend should likely plan to arrive significantly farther in advance.
One couple heading away for their anniversary told of how they arrived at the airport at 4.30pm but were still queuing to get through security at 8.15pm - 10 minutes after their flight was due to leave.
The earliest of birds may like to know that Heathrow's check-in desk and security usually opens at 4am, while Gatwick's North Terminal security opens at 2am.
Some airports will also allow passengers to pay for fast-track security - it costs £4 at Manchester. However, even those who paid for the privilege last weekend still faced two-hour waits.
What if airport queues make me miss my flight?
Most airports, including Manchester, have a procedure to call passengers with just an hour to spare to the front of the line.
However, airports aren't legally required to help or those who do miss their flights as a result of airport delays, reports.
There's also no guarantee you'll be transferred to another flight, although staff are likely to try and help in this way.
The best bet is to pay for good-quality travel insurance and make sure there's proof you arrived at the airport sufficiently early.
What if a flight is delayed or cancelled?
Passengers are entitled to a cash payment of £220 for short flights delayed by three hours or more which are the fault of the airline.
The pay-out rises to £350 for a flight of 1,500km to 3,500km, and £520 for flights over 3,500km that are delayed by three to four hours.
If a flight is delayed for five hours or more, you can simply go home and you'll be entitled to a full refund within seven days.
It's absolutely best to check with the airline though, as compensation doesn't apply in all cases.
How about taking a ferry?
The situation on ferries can be broadly categorised as 'disastrous' thanks to P&O's sacking of 700 staff without notice.
There have been eight days of tailbacks at Dover already, and yesterday, the firm suspended all of its services until the end of the weekend and told would-be passengers to book with other companies.
It's believed the company will resume services from Dover to Calais soon, but who knows - your best bet is to keep an eye on Twitter for updates.
For the time being, customers are advised to make their own arrangements with a rival firm.
That's tricky too, unfortunately.
DFDS ferries reported two-hour delays on services from the Kent port to Calais and said it could not accept desperate P&O customers. It expects 40,000 travellers tomorrow and on Sunday.
Chris Parker, from the company, said: “We’ve added extra sailings and increased passenger capacity as well.”
Anyone travelling around Dover will quickly see the effects.
Council leader Trevor Bartlett said the town could “not tolerate another weekend of gridlock” and was on the brink of declaring a “major incident”.
Can I get a refund for ferry delays or cancellations?
P&O says it'll provide a full refund for cancelled tickets until April 10.
It'll also pay back the difference in cost between the initial P&O ticket and the new booking with a different operator.
Send all claims to [email protected]
Passengers can get back a quarter of their ticket price if they're delayed by an hour, for a journey of up to four hours.
The situation is different for journeys of between four and eight hours, when the delay must be two hours to get money back.
For eight to 24-hour journeys, customers can claim compensation after a three-hour wait.
Compensation jumps to 50 per cent of the ticket price if delays are double those stated times.
What about railways?
More bad news there, we're afraid to say.
Let's start with the Eurotunnel. Just getting there will be tricky - bosses say greater demand at the start of the holidays and a reduction in ferry capacity was creating “a sort of tsunami of traffic all at one time”.
It said passengers would be offered the next available service if they missed their bookings.
Anyone heading for the Channel Tunnel for any reason at all should take food and drink with them, bosses say.
Toby Howe, tactical lead at the Kent Resilience Forum, advised travellers to France to "allow a lot of extra time".
He told BBC Breakfast the delays had been caused by "the perfect storm" of P&O chaos, a storm at sea which held up crossings, snow and IT problems.
Eurostar is running normally, although customers are advised to arrive at stations for the time stated on their ticket. However, arriving earlier than that is a good idea. Queues were spotted sneaking outside of St Pancras this morning.
Meanwhile, Network Rail is carrying out 530 engineering works over the break.
It means buses will replace trains in some areas.
There's a warning here for anyone who wants to bail on their journey - rail firms have been accused of enforcing a "ridiculous" administration charge on anyone who cancels an Easter journey.
Customers who do not want to travel on replacement buses, but booked their tickets after they were confirmed, will need to pay a £10 fee to obtain a refund.
Ok, so far so bad. What about driving?
The RAC estimated there'll be 21million journeys this weekend alone.
It's likely to be extremely tricky in all the usual places, and a few more besides.
But there might be a trick to help avoid the worst of the queues.
Data from traffic analytics firm INRIX suggests going very, very early - or a bit later - is the best thing to do.
Major roads are expected to be particularly busy between 10am and 3pm.
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RAC traffic spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “We’re expecting to see two big waves of Easter holiday traffic over the next few weeks – one this coming weekend as many schools break up, and another the following one which coincides with the bank holiday and a long weekend for a lot of people.”
If you're heading for Kent, take a look at the advice above for railways - anything near the port or the Channel Tunnel is set to be very difficult indeed.
