Should passengers book an alternative British Airways flight to Tenerife as a back-up?

Simon Calder answers your questions on BA cancelling flights, queues at Dover and invlid passports

A few weeks ago a Gatwick-Tenerife round-trip was cancelled by BA when the plane ‘went tech’ (Getty/iStock)

Q I’ve heard that British Airways is cancelling flights to Tenerife at 24 hours’ notice. I am booked to fly there on BA in a couple of weeks. It’s for a really important event. Should I book an alternative flight as a back-up?

Name withheld

A Definitely not. I am currently analysing British Airways cancellations every day – because it’s important for travellers to be able to get a picture of what is happening. However, as I emphasise in the article, the 100 or so daily cancellations to and from BA’s main base of Heathrow are planned at least a week in advance. They are also on routes that have multiple daily flights – usually a minimum of four, and often more. On Friday, for example, three Heathrow-Amsterdam round-trips were grounded. But that left a further six, as well as three to and from London City – which, for flyers heading to or from the capital, may well be more convenient anyway. Barcelona, Berlin, Geneva, Milan and Nice all feature regularly on the list.