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Christmas travel news: Strike at UK airports by thousands of staff | Daily Star TRAVEL MISERY: The strikes comes at one of the busiest times of the year at UK airports

Employees at some 18 UK airports won't work for 48 hours from December 23, it has emerged.

Check-in staff, baggage handlers and cargo crew employed by firm Swissport are taking industrial action in a long-running pay dispute.

Members of their employment union Unite voted overwhelmingly for the action, which is expected to leave Christmas travel plans in chaos.

The airports affected include Stansted, Luton, Manchester and Birmingham, which each handle around 50,000 passengers every day.

It comes as British Airways cabin crew voted to walkout in a dispute over pay over the Christmas period.

And earlier today, it emerged pilots at Virgin Atlantic had voted for industrial action short of a strike in a dispute over union recognition. BUSY: Hundreds of thousands are hoping to jet off to spend Christmas abroad 
Here is the full list of airports affected:

“We appreciate that this is a very busy time of year at the UK’s airports”

Oliver Richardson, Unite national officer for civil air transport

Oliver Richardson, Unite national officer for civil air transport, said: “We appreciate that this is a very busy time of year at the UK’s airports and that’s why we are calling for the company to engage in constructive talks under the auspices of Acas to resolve this dispute. Unite’s door is open 24/7 for such talks.

“Our members are only taking this industrial action as a last resort in a bid to reach a fair settlement – our members have not had a pay rise since 2014.

“When you break down the headline figures – one per cent in 2015, 1.25% in 2016 and 2.4% in 2017 – they are barely keeping up with inflation.

“The company only wants these increases to be applicable to basic pay and not the other elements that make up ‘pay’ such as overtime.

“The dispute has been compounded by the high-handed attitude of the management in making proposals that would seriously impact the workforce’s terms and conditions, such as freezing overtime payments.”