Holidaymakers suffer airport misery

Palma airport has seen long delays

Hundreds of Scottish holidaymakers have spent the first day of their holiday in Glasgow and Edinburgh airports because of a strike by coach drivers in Spain.

Up to 800 passengers have been sent to hotels for the night not knowing when they will finally reach their destination.

Four flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports scheduled for Menorca have never left the ground.

The passengers were stranded at the airport for up to twelve hours before being taken to hotels for the night.

We have extra staff in the resorts and in the UK to look after guests and our priority is to keep customers up to date and as comfortable as possible

Thomson spokeswoman

Flights to Majorca and Ibiza eventually took off many hours delayed but holidaymakers were angry.

In Spain, bus drivers are refusing to ferry tourists between airports and hotels until their dispute is settled.

Meanwhile tour operators are reluctant to fly holidaymakers abroad without being able to guarantee them transport to their accommodation.

If the strike continues over the weekend, more than 27 flights could be affected.

Bill Whiteford, Editor of BBC Radio Scotland's Newsdrive programme, who is on a family holiday in Menorca, said the action was having a significant effect.

He said there were reports of holidaymakers being brought from the airport to their hotels only to find they could not get into their rooms because existing holidaymakers were stranded with no transport to reach their flights.

Bill Whiteford: Logjam at hotels

He said: "One of the local reps was telling us that one of the hotels had an influx of holidaymakers last night and as these things go it was a whole hotel's worth at one time.

"And of course they still had a full hotel's worth who couldn't get out."

Officials at Palma Airport in Majorca said flights have not been cancelled, but warned they could not rule out closing the airport if the action continued.

British journalist Humphrey Carter, of the Majorca Daily Bulletin, said the situation at the airport was a "nightmare".

The strike by coach drivers led to queues of up to three hours for taxis on Friday from airports on Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza.

Mr Carter said holidaymakers were being brought back hours before their return flights because of the shortage of cabs.

He said: "This could have serious long-term implications for the tourist industry here.

Picket lines

"Many people have told me they will not come back to the island because of the way this has been handled. Some said they would have got better treatment in prison."

The coach drivers are striking over a 3% pay claim and have organised picket lines at the airport.

The industrial action began at midnight on Thursday and is expected to finish on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for tour operator Thomson, which has 20,000 holidaymakers heading to the island this weekend, said: "Our resort staff were prepared for the worst-case scenario but so far it has gone relatively smoothly."

"We have extra staff in the resorts and in the UK to look after guests and our priority is to keep customers up to date and as comfortable as possible."

Airport spokesman Javier Pons said a terminal was being used as an extra waiting area, but said flights were not yet being affected.

He said: "The buses are not coming to the airport but the passengers are going by taxi.

"We have 1,000 taxis working, which are paid by the tour operators."