More misery for holidaymakers as British Airways cancels THOUSANDS more flights affecting winter getaways

BRITISH Airways is scrapping thousands more flights across the next six months, affecting both October half term and winter getaways.

The flag carrier has already been forced to cancel flights in recent weeks from London Heathrow due to the current cap at the airport.

British Airways has since confirmed that more flights will be cut until March 2023.

This includes another 629 round trips until the end of October, which is when the Heathrow flight cap is expected to end.

This works out to around 12 routes a day being cancelled at Heathrow until October 29, affecting family half-term breaks.

Short haul flights to popular destinations across Europe such as Amsterdam and Lisbon will be affected the most with passengers being rebooked onto other routes.

However, another 10,000 routes are to be cut to and from the UK this winter, affecting as many as two million passengers until March 2023.

This includes both short haul and long haul flights, with longer routes to destinations across Asia being cut due to ongoing Covid restrictions still in place.

The airline said that passengers will be told in advance if their flights are cancelled, and will be rebooked or offered a full refund.

A British Airways spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: "Following Heathrow's decision to extend its passenger cap we're making adjustments to our short-haul schedule for the next two months.

"While the vast majority of our customers will travel as planned and we're protecting key holiday destinations over half-term, we will need to make some further cancellations up to the end of October."

Also addressing the winter schedule cancellations, they said: "In addition, we're giving customers travelling with us this winter notice of some adjustments to our schedule, which will include consolidating some of our short-haul flights to destinations with multiple services. 

"We'll be offering customers affected by any of these changes an alternative flight with British Airways or another airline or the option of a refund."

BA isn't the only airline that has been forced to pre-cancel flights, with US carriers such as American Airlines and Delta also scrapping flights in recent months.

German flag carrier Lufthansa has cancelled thousands of flights this summer due to both staff shortages and strike action.

And Wizz Air confirmed that nearly all flights from Cardiff Airport will be cancelled for the next six months, citing "economic pressures".

The cancellations come after a summer of chaos caused by a huge demand in travel, as well as staff shortages and strike action.

Long airport queues, last-minute flight cancellations and lost luggage were just some of the problems that Brit holidaymakers experienced this year.

Travel experts have revealed the six ways to avoid chaos at the airport.

And if you are yet to book a holiday, you may want to choose Jet2 - the only UK airline that didn't cancel a single flight last month.