Sun-starved British travelers endured hours-long backups this month trying to leave the country for a spring holiday. The return trip could bring renewed stress.

The past two weekends saw rolling chaos at airports and the Port of Dover, while fuel shortages in some places added to the uncertainty over travel. Many families will soon return to the U.K. ahead of schools starting up again after the long Easter weekend, testing the Border Force once again.

Airlines scheduled around 25,000 international flights per week to and from the U.K. over the Easter holidays, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. While that’s still only 85% of 2019 capacity, it represents a rapid ramp-up from levels earlier in the year.

The Cirium figures exclude hundreds of pre-emptive flight cancellations made by airlines including EasyJet Plc and British Airways, which have struggled to contend with staff illnesses and, in BA’s case, hiring delays, technology glitches, and resource shortages at its London Heathrow base.

The pared-back schedules set the tone for a holiday period that hasn’t gone smoothly for carriers. They now find themselves on the defensive even as they welcome back much-needed customers.

Here’s what to expect this weekend:

Airport Hassles

Staffing shortages and hiring delays continue to dog the system, raising the risk of further delays, cancellations or missed flights. At Manchester airport, a shortage of staff trained on scanners was the main cause of congestion that prompted an apology last week from CEO Charlie Cornish. Wait times as long as 90 minutes to get through security will persist for several months.

The biggest pinch point at London’s Heathrow airport this weekend could be with incoming traffic. Europe’s largest hub said it had sufficient staff to conduct security checks, but it expected the longest lines at immigration.

The U.K. Border Force, which processes arriving passengers, warned of longer wait times due to expected high volumes. The agency has mobilized more staff and will deploy them flexibly to manage demand, it said in a statement.

BA, a unit of IAG SA, said it has lowered frequencies on some routes and brought in larger aircraft to minimize customer disruptions from schedule cutbacks made in late March, just ahead of the holiday surge.

Luton-based EasyJet said this week that it hasn’t yet seen a let-up in Covid-19 cases that have driven absences at some bases to 20% of staff. Larger rival Ryanair Holdings Plc, whose main U.K. base is at London Stansted, hasn’t suffered the same levels of cancelations or delays.

Dover Problems

There has been a significant disruption in recent weeks on the vital shipping route from Dover to Calais, France, which transports thousands of trucks, cars and passengers between mainland Europe and the U.K.

That’s set to continue this weekend after authorities on Thursday diverted passenger cars off the M20, the main highway linking London to Dover, and onto local roads to make way for trucks headed for the EU.

The abrupt firing of almost 800 workers by P&O Ferries, which operates about a third of the capacity on the link, has led to a spat with the government and a suspension of the company’s operations on the route.

P&O tried to bring two ships back into service this week, the Spirit of Britain and the Pride of Kent. Both failed safety inspections with new, agency-supplied crews—the Pride of Kent for a second time—and won’t be in use for the weekend.

DFDS A/S, which had been taking passengers with P&O reservations, has added capacity to France but says it won’t accept its competitor’s customers over the Easter weekend.

The port tumult was exacerbated last week by an IT glitch on a key customs system instituted after the U.K.’s departure from the European Union. The problem led to 20-mile queues for trucks trying to cross the Channel. HM Revenue & Customs officials say the issue has now been resolved.

Train Services

Eurostar International Ltd. is running at about 84% of pre-pandemic levels as it continues to build up services.

There will be up to 15 daily round-trips between London and Paris this weekend, up to six between London and Brussels, one between London and Disneyland Paris, and three between London and Amsterdam, a spokeswoman said. That compares with as many as 19 returns a day to Paris, eight to Brussels, one to Disney, and two to Amsterdam in the same weekend in 2019.

Londoners hoping travel by train to Liverpool or Glasgow will be out of luck, thanks to London’s Euston station being closed for upgrade works. Getting to airports will also pose challenges, with fewer trains stopping at Gatwick because of construction work and the Piccadilly Tube line to Heathrow not running all weekend.

Road Crunch

Nearly 22 million people will hit U.K. roads this weekend—some 40% of those heading to airports, ferries, or the Eurotunnel—according to roadside recovery firm Green Flag.

“It’s very possible this weekend could turn out to be one of the busiest for leisure journeys for many years,” with traffic exceeding 2019 levels, said Rod Dennis, a spokesman for motoring group RAC.

Climate-change protests have exacerbated fuel shortages—most acutely for diesel—that were triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Several stations in southeast England ran out of supplies last weekend, and the environmental group Just Stop Oil plans further actions this weekend.

A spokeswoman for the group wouldn’t say where it plans to target after protesters disrupted supplies at two terminals in Essex on Wednesday by blocking tankers and loading bays.