Travel chaos at the airport: Experts give tips - How to spare your nerves

Created: 07/21/2022, 08:15

By: Dominik Goettler

A banging look at the departure display: Lufthansa has also canceled a whole series of connections at Munich Airport.

© picture alliance / Sven Simon

The summer travel wave is just around the corner.

Many vacationers are unsettled by the chaos at airports.

An overview of the current situation - and tips on how to avoid heartache when traveling.

Munich Airport – After two years of the Corona doldrums, the Germans’ desire to travel this summer is greater than it has been for a long time.

At Munich Airport alone, the airlines have registered around 40,000 take-offs and landings for the summer holidays – almost twice as many as a year ago.

Up to 900 planes a day will take off and land in Munich during the holidays.

But since passengers have been jetting around the world again, many airports have been rumbling and rumbling – long queues, canceled flights and ongoing suitcase chaos regularly make headlines.

What does that mean for summer vacation?

Suitcase chaos at the airport: airlines massively underestimated the rush of customers

Why is there a crisis in the industry 

Airlines and airports have obviously massively underestimated how fast and how much people want to travel again this year.

All forecasts were significantly exceeded, the German air traffic control (DFS) expects so many flight movements by the end of the year that 85 percent of the pre-corona level will be reached.

"It's going uphill - much steeper than we expected," says DFS boss Arndt Schoenemann.

But there is a lack of staff to handle this rush – from check-in to the counter to the canteen kitchen.

The handling problems at the various airports reinforce each other.

In addition, there are delays in the delivery of spare parts for the aircraft and bitter collective bargaining, including strikes.

The airspace closures due to the Ukraine war and technical changes at French air traffic control are also disrupting traffic in European airspace.

The flight schedules at many airports have therefore been thinned out.

What happened to the seasonal worker plan?

In order to stabilize the baggage loading at German airports, which has been plagued by the lack of staff, up to 2,000 employees from Turkey should be hired on a temporary basis at the initiative of the federal government.

Munich Airport has also expressed an interest in employing such employees.

The details are still being clarified, according to the airport.

The problem: For work at the airport, a so-called background check is necessary.

According to research by "Welt", there are currently no corresponding applications from the responsible authorities.

An improvement in the situation can therefore only be expected in October, said Ralph Beisel, general manager of the airport association ADV, the "world".

Airport officials fear the chaos could drag on at least until the middle of next year.

Chaos at airports in Germany: problem with guest workers from Turkey

What happens if the flight is cancelled? 

also read

Beer at the folk festival suddenly tastes funny: Many let Mass go back – Brauer explains the background

A star designer's suitcase has been at Munich Airport for two weeks: she's really disgusted when she opens it

Lufthansa alone has canceled almost 6,000 flights in Frankfurt and Munich - "to relieve the entire system," as Lufthansa spokesman Jörg Waber says.

Affected passengers would be informed immediately and, if possible, rebooked on alternative flights.

Waber recommends all travelers to include their contact details when booking, so that short-term changes reach the customer quickly.

Anyone who has been rebooked does not have to use this offer - cancellation is possible and the money will be refunded.

Any claims for damages are regulated by the EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Erding newsletter.

Departure: When do I have to be at the airport?

Long queues at check-in or at security?

Currently not excluded.

Munich Airport therefore advises: get there early!

"In view of the increased volume of traffic and the current turbulence in European air traffic, passengers should be in the terminal about two and a half hours before departure," says a spokesman.

Lufthansa also strongly advises checking in online in advance - and checking in your luggage yourself at the machine.

If you live near the airport, you can save additional time by checking in the night before. 

Lufthansa cancels almost 6,000 flights: Munich Airport gives tips

Traveling with hand luggage only? 

Several thousand suitcases that did not reach their owners in time are still being stored at Munich Airport alone.

The industry says that there are problems with loading luggage, especially during transfers, and that direct flights are less likely to be affected.

Many passengers currently tend to only travel with hand luggage in order to avoid a suitcase chaos.

However, Lufthansa points out that if you have a lot of hand luggage, the waiting times at the security check can also increase.

Keeping an eye on the suitcase: What is the use of a tracker?

If you want to know where your own piece of luggage is, you can use so-called suitcase trackers.

These are small devices that are equipped with a SIM card and can send a GPS signal.

The AirTag from Apple, on the other hand, works with Bluetooth signals.

With both variants, you can use your smartphone to track where your suitcase is.

If luggage is lost, trackers or air tags are only of limited help.

Because the airlines usually know the location of the suitcase anyway from the so-called “bag tag”, i.e. the bar code with which the luggage is provided when it is checked in.

Lufthansa spokesman Jörg Waber advises anyone who wants to be sure that their suitcase will always find its way back to them: “Attach a name tag to the outside of the suitcase so that it is visible – and put a piece of paper with the name in the suitcase,

Despite the chaos: Munich Airport is well equipped for the summer holidays

Security check: Munich as a role model?

Despite all the problems in the industry, the airport in the Erdinger Moos sees itself well prepared for the summer holidays - even if the passengers have to expect waiting times again and again due to the current situation.

For the SPD, Munich Airport is even a role model because the security checks there are organized by an aviation security company that is 51 percent owned by the Free State.

The SPD member of the Bundestag Zanda Martens demands that the security checks at all German airports come back into the hands of the state.

She told the "Handelsblatt": "The experiment with which sovereign aviation security tasks were placed in private hands decades ago has finally failed." 

You can find more current news from the district of Erding at Merkur.de/Erding.