Border Force staff who are members of the Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union plan to strike at six of the UK’s busiest airports, along with the seaport of Newhaven, over a 9-day period at the end of December that takes in two of the busiest weekends in the ski and snowboard season – Christmas and New Year.
Unless a an agreement is reached, the strike will start on Friday 23rd December and runs to New Year’s Eve 31 December at Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow (terminals 2-5) and Manchester airports.
Airports have been making plans to deal with the situation and are hoping to keep any disruption minimal. The Border Force action will mainly affects those returning home, rather than on the way out and in many cases passengers will be able to use automatic ‘e-gates’ to enter the UK. The MOD has also confirmed military personnel have undergone training to carry out border force duties on strike days.
The official government advice to travellers is:
“Travellers who are planning to enter the UK during the proposed strike period may face longer wait times at border control. Travellers should check the latest travel advice with operators before travelling. Please be patient and respect officers who are working to keep the UK border safe and secure for all travellers during strike action. We encourage all passengers eligible to use eGates to do so.”
Many ski and snowboard tour operator holiday change-over days are on the Saturdays of 24th and 31st December this year. The strike action officially ends at 7am on New Year’s Eve, so most returning passengers from Christmas week ski holidays should arrive after that.
Simon McIntyre, General Manager of ski holiday travel agency Iglu Ski stressed that it was all hands on deck across the British ski business and that deals could still be booked through strike-hit airports. Or skiers and snowboarders could use airports that are not being affected if they still want to get away over the festive period.
“In light of potential strikes at selected airports in the UK over Christmas and New Year, we are closely watching all developments in readiness to assist all Iglu Ski guests. As an industry we expect to work together to mitigate any impacts. For those still looking to book and travel, Iglu Ski has availability for alternative travel,” he said.
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