Travel strikes in the Easter holidays

Airport strikes in Spain in the Easter holidays

Ground staff in Spain who work for Swissport Handling have gone on strike repeatedly in recent weeks. They will continue to strike every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday until 13 April. The dates going forwards are 3, 4, 6, 10, 11 and 13 April.

Seventeen airports will be affected. So if you’re travelling to or from Spain in March or April, keep checking your flight status in case it’s delayed or cancelled. The affected airports are:

Alicante (ALC)

Almeria (LEI)

Barcelona (BCN)

Burgos (RGS)

Gran Canaria (LPA)

Huesca (HSK)

Lanzarote (ACE)

Madrid (MAD)

Malaga (AGP)

Murcia (RMU)

Reus (REU)

Salamanca (SLM)

Tenerife Sur (TFS)

Valencia (VLC)

Valladolid (VLL)

Zaragoza (ZAZ).

Strikes won’t affect some popular airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet - because they do not use Swissport ground handlers. It may affect Jet2. The airline said earlier this month that due to the strike, ‘there will not be as many members of staff available’. Walkouts will affect Jet2 flights in and out of Barcelona and Lanzarote (Arrecife).

Jet2 continued: ‘Rest assured we'll try to keep any disruption to a minimum.'

Airport strikes in France in the Easter holidays

Various flights operating out of French airports like Paris-Orly, Toulouse, Nantes and Bordeaux will be cancelled over the weekend of 1 and 2 April due to ongoing strike action by air traffic controllers.

Ryanair has warned it is expecting cancellations and delays on flights up until 8 April.

Airport strikes in the UK in the Easter holidays

Security staff at Heathrow Airport's Terminal five have begun their 10-day strike action, which is due to finish on April 9 (Easter Sunday).

Terminal five is BA's main hub. The walkouts have therefore already impacted over 300 of the flag carrier's short haul flights over Easter. No long haul flights have been impacted by strikes.

To ensure you don't arrive at the airport unnecessarily, check whether your flight is running using BA's flight status page before heading to the airport.

The airline said that the number of security lanes will be reduced. Despite that, it advised not to arrive any earlier than two hours before a short haul flight, and no earlier than three hours before a long haul journey.

If your flight is running, make sure you have a maximum of two pieces of hand luggage with you. Heathrow said: ' On strike days, passengers will only be allowed to travel through security with two items of hand baggage. Handbags and laptop bags count as a piece of hand baggage. Your allowances for checked-in luggage remain as advertised by your airline.'

Because of this, BA says that it'll check in hand luggage for free. Simply take it to a bag drop when you arrive at the airport. Less bags for staff to inspect at security will help speed up queues.

UK Border force strike dates in April: what you need to know about ferries and airports

Border Force Staff are due to walk out on 28 April - one day before the early May bank holiday weekend. This is likely to cause disruption to those looking to head away for a getaway from the Friday.

When are passport office staff striking and will it delay passport applications?

More than 1,000 passport office staff will walk out between 3 April and 5 May.

Staff in the Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport offices will strike between 3 April and 5 May. Those working in Belfast will walk out from 7 April to 5 May.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which organised the strike for its members, believes it is 'likely to have a significant impact on the delivery of passports as the summer approaches'.

However the Passport Office has 'comprehensive contingency plans' in place, according to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office. The Home Office typically advises that passports could take up to 10 weeks to be processed. It has no plans to change that advice despite strike action.

We'd advise renewing your passport as soon as possible if you know you're heading away this summer so you aren't caught out.

If you are planning to use the fast-track service, it may be more booked up than usual because of the strikes. When Which? Travel checked on 24 March, there were no appointments available for someone living in London - the only option was Belfast. Don't rely on this service - check for an appointment before booking your Easter break.