Call for an instant quote 0345 90 80 161
Open Mon to Fri 09:00 - 17:30 | Sat 09:00 - 16:00 (GMT)
Or call 0345 90 80 161
05 January 2015 09:30
Gatwick Airport is reporting a busy Christmas Eve but there is no sign of last year's issues
What a difference a year makes. Last Christmas Eve was a day of chaos and confusion for passengers at Gatwick Airport but the atmosphere there this year could not be more contrasting.
Last year, flooding problems at the West Sussex airport caused power cuts and delayed and cancelled flights. Tweets from passengers were full of anger and disappointment as they contemplated making travel insurance claims.
This year, passengers are taking to Twitter to tell the world how the airport looks "Christmassy".
There is no shortage of travellers at Gatwick and other UK airports as an estimated four million people are spending Christmas abroad this year. Many flights are full and the departure lounges are packed.
Nicola Keleher tweeted how the South Terminal at Gatwick was "super-busy" but she enjoyed being entertained by singers and an "amazing polar bear".
Another passenger, Rhiannon Morton, tweeted about the Christmas atmosphere at the airport and about seeing a giant snow globe, Santa and Frosty the Snowman.
Brits waiting for long-haul flights are heading for the likes of Egypt, Cuba, Mexico and Dubai, while many other flyers will be spending the season in Morocco, Tunisia and the Canary Islands.
British Airways will be serving 37,000 turkey dinners on its 267 flights on Christmas Day to destinations such as Australia, Barbados, Barcelona and New York.
Ryanair expects to fly half a million more passengers between December 20 and January 6 this year than it did over the same period 12 months ago, a total of 3.5 million travellers.
Although a strike by French cabin crew is affecting some Easyjet flights, none of them take off or land from the UK.
It might be a busy Christmas Eve for airports, but not on the trains. Many of the main line trains and Tubes were less busy than usual.
Most of the disruption caused by a £200 million engineering programme is expected to be on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
There was some disruption to the West Coast Main Line due to work at Watford and between Crewe and Stafford.
02 March 2019
A Flybe flight was forced to abort take-off due to the cabin filling with "smoke" while it was accelerating along the runway at Exeter Airport.
[more...]
01 March 2019
Holidaymakers will soon be able to take advantage of the first direct flight from London to Scotland's Western Isles after Loganair announced three new routes.
28 February 2019
Over one in five women in the UK wrongly think a smear test can detect ovarian cancer, new research has revealed.
27 February 2019
One in 10 UK adults over the age of 40 is living with Type 2 diabetes, new analysis suggests - but the real figure could be much higher.
26 February 2019
British Airways has revealed the second of its series of retro liveries being recreated as part of the airline's 100th birthday celebrations.
23 February 2019
The price of a prescription in England is set to rise again, the Government has announced, in a move some campaigners have called disappointing.
22 February 2019
Just half an hour of exercise every morning could be as effective as drugs at lowering daily blood pressure, research suggests.
21 February 2019
A British man accidentally used the wrong passport to fly from Prague to the UK, leaving his friend stranded in the Czech capital.
19 February 2019
Hundreds of passengers have had their travel plans cancelled following the collapse of airline flybmi.
16 February 2019
Holidaymakers were left fuming after a "lack of clarity" over Brexit led a Romanian airline to cancel flights from Liverpool's John Lennon Airport.
15 February 2019
British Airways celebrated Valentine's Day with a special flight where all members of the cabin crew were couples who work for the airline.
14 February 2019
The "concerning" level of stigma surrounding the human papilloma virus (HPV) could be putting some women off going for vital check-ups, campaigners are warning.