‘We’re worried airport strikes will leave us stranded and we won’t make it home to our dogs’

A couple who have booked a celebratory silver wedding anniversary holiday to South Africa fear summer travel chaos could leave them without return flights home – leaving their dogs stranded.

Industrial action that could be taken air traffic control managers could see thousands of holidaymakers facing a summer of uncertainty.

Joanne Day, 46, and her husband Simon were due to fly to South Africa on Saturday to spend two weeks celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. On Sunday, they were notified that their planned connecting flights no longer existed and their outbound flights had been brought forward to Friday night.

After the chaotic start to their break, the couple, from the Wirral, Merseyside are now concerned about reported strikes by staff at Eurocontrol, which handles European air traffic, as they fear it might delay or cancel their flight home at the end of July.

Eurocontrol staff are understood to be prepared to walkout in a dispute over staffing levels and conditions.

One industry source told The Times that up to 30 per cent of flights could be at least delayed in a “full-blown strike”. They said delays or cancellations could affect up to 12,600 flights across Europe everyday of a walkout.

Ms Day and her husband have both accounted for flight delays and have held back their return-to-work date at the end of the month but flight cancellations remain a worry for them both.

What Ms Day is most worried about is the kennel her dogs are booked into.

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She told i: “The kennel have already gone over their maximum booking numbers to take the dogs today instead of tomorrow as planned. I don’t want the same the other end. We’ve used the same kennels for 12 years and they’re like family.”

Their trip away was booked 15 months ago and Ms Day says she is getting “really frustrated” with the travel stress.

“This has just felt like a whole week of unrequired stress for something that isn’t out fault,” she said.

“We were given just 30 minutes Sunday to make the decision [to change the outbound flights] when we didn’t know if we’d be able to rearrange kennels for our dogs or work commitments because it was outside working hours”.

Any industrial action would be likely to hit holidaymakers heading to the continent during the busiest period of the year as schools break for summer.

A spokesperson for Eurocontrol told i a letter from the union has announced a period of six months during which industrial action could take place in its Network Manager Operations Centre, which is based in Brussels.

But no specific dates for industrial action were announced in the warning about potential walkouts, with Eurocontrol saying it is in talks with the union and others.

According to The Times, the dates of the strikes are due to be confirmed in the coming days. But travellers face a nervous wait to find out if their flights and destinations will be hit.