Flight cancellations: Children and teachers stranded abroad as school starts

These sisters will miss three days of school

Hundreds of school pupils, and some teachers, are having to miss school after getting stuck abroad on half-term holidays.

They are some of thousands of British holiday-makers thought to be stranded in other countries, after the cancellation of more than 100 flights over the weekend.

There are reports that some children are even missing GCSE or A-level exams!

Airlines say they are struggling to hire enough staff to deal with demand but are also being accused of booking more flights than they can handle.

Exams stress

Ben (right) has been at Disneyland Paris with his brother and their extended family

Ben and his family went on a trip to Disneyland Paris and they were due home on Saturday in plenty of time to take his maths GCSE on Tuesday.

But after a cancelled flight by Easyjet and a scrabble for train tickets, he will only just make it back on Monday night after they bought tickets to come home another way - on the Eurostar train.

"Ben was going to have a couple of days at home to get his revision in, prepare mentally for it," said his mum, Emma.

EasyJet apologised for the disruption, saying it was doing everything it could to support passengers. It has extended its customer service opening hours from 07:00 to 23:00, and said it was helping those affected find hotel rooms.

The Murray family - with four sisters - had booked return flights from Tenerife to be back in time for the Jubilee celebrations but missed the whole four-day weekend after Wizz Air cancelled their return twice.

"The curriculum is packed and losing three days from school post-Covid isn't good," said dad, Joe. "There isn't time to really catch up."

Wizz Air also apologised and said passengers would be offered alternative flights, a full refund or airline credit notes.

Teachers affected too

Kelly and her husband are taking buses to get home

Some school staff were also stranded and unable to get back in time.

Teachers Kelly and her husband are making their way as fast as they can from Montenegro back to Lincolnshire after their flight home was cancelled.

"We are both teachers so have to get back," says Kelly. Instead they took a bus to Dubrovnik, Croatia, and will aim to fly back from there.

Pol, who teaches in a special educational needs school in London has had a similar experience trying to get home from Bodrum, Turkey.

The students at his school find changes to their teaching schedule particularly upsetting, he said. So he does not want want to be away longer than he can avoid.

"People from home think a couple more days in the sun, it can't be that bad... but the point is we're all uptight and upset"

Why is it happening?

Ground staff are in short supply according to airport recruiters

Thousands of people heading on their first trip abroad since coronavirus restrictions ended have been met with long queues, delays, and in some cases, cancelled flights.

Some airports and airlines have been struggling as passenger numbers gradually return to pre-pandemic levels.

Airlines are being blamed for taking more bookings than they can manage with lower staffing levels since the Covid pandemic.

As flights slowed down during lockdown many airlines ended staff members' jobs or people left to do other work.

However, the airlines also say that more should have been done to support the industry during the pandemic and to speed up the process of security checks for new staff now.

Industry experts say the situation isn't going to improve for some time yet.