The global tech outage has brought chaos to air travel around the world on the busiest day for UK departures this year.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that 1,396 flights were cancelled globally by midday on Friday as a result, while tracking site FlightAware counted more than 18,000 delays worldwide.
As many schools break up for the summer holiday, more than 3,214 flights were scheduled to take off from the UK on Friday, according to Cirium. This is the highest number of daily departures since October 2019, before the pandemic grounded airlines globally.
By Friday lunchtime, 52 flights departing UK airports had been cancelled, with a further 51 arrivals scrapped.
Which airports are affected by the IT outage? Is Heathrow?
The highest number of departures on Friday was scheduled at the UK’s busiest airport, Heathrow, followed by Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Edinburgh.
A Heathrow spokesperson said flights are operational and the airport is implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys. However, passengers are experiencing a range of issues, from cancelled flights and delays to retail and food outlets unable to take card payments, accepting cash only.
Flight Aware states that Heathrow is experiencing departure delays an average of 48 minutes (which is increasing).
Flights cancelled from Heathrow on Friday include high-frequency British Airways services to Edinburgh, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Berlin Airport has suspended operations.
Edinburgh Airport is asking passengers not to travel to the airport without checking the status of their flight with their airline first. Those whose flights have been cancelled have been requested to leave the airport. However FlightAware data suggests that flight departure delay times are decreasing.
There are also delays and cancellations on many transatlantic services across a range of carriers. The world’s biggest airline, American, was forced to ground its fleet until around 6am on Friday.
FlightAware counted 48 cancellations in the US by Friday lunchtime, and 215 delays on its “Misery Map”. The US airport most affected by the disruption is New York Newark, followed by Atlanta and Boston.
Which airlines are affected by the IT outage? Is EasyJet?
In the UK, Cirium data projected easyJet to operate the largest number of UK departures this weekend, followed by Ryanair, British Airways, Jet2.com and Tui.
EasyJet is expecting to fly a record number of passengers this summer, with 80,000 flights scheduled over the school holidays. However its busiest day is expected to be 28 July.
The airline’s biggest UK base is Gatwick, where there have been delays to services on Friday. The airline was forced to cancel four flights as a result of Berlin Airport suspending operations.
An easyJet spokesperson said that the tech outage “led to some disruption to flights [on Friday morning] and we expect some further potential impact to flights today.
“Customers should expect longer than usual airport queues and we are advising customers travelling from Spanish airports to arrive three hours before their flight.”
At Gatwick, critical systems such as air traffic control are working as normal, but it is also reporting delays at check-in and security, as well as e-gates.
It said in a statement, “We are using our backup process, but some passengers may experience delays while checking in and passing through security. Additional teams are working throughout the terminals to provide help and support to passengers.” FlightAware has recorded average delays to departures of 34 minutes, which is increasing.
How do I check in?
Manchester Airports Group, which operates Manchester Airport, London Stansted and East Midlands Airport, says that some airlines’ check-in services are taking longer as they are being processed manually, so terminals are busier than expected.
For any flight or airport, choosing to carry hand-luggage only can be advantageous, avoiding the potential for checked in bags to go astray.
Many of its terminal retail payment machine services have been affected. Although “they are slowly coming back online”, cash payments are being taken in the meantime.
Passengers heading to the airport on flights that are scheduled to operate on Friday are advised to carry cash if they wish to make purchases inside the terminal. While the 100ml liquid limit applies to hand luggage across all airports, solid food is permitted to be taken in hand luggage.
What do I do if my flight is delayed or cancelled?
Airports are asking passengers with flights scheduled on Friday and Saturday to check the status with their airline before making their way to the airport.
As well as checking flight status, it is often possible to track planes prior to scheduled departure – this can help to give an idea of how delayed a flight might be if there is no time update provided on departure boards.
While the tech outage is beyond the control of airlines, they do have a duty of care to passengers whose journeys have been significantly disrupted. The threshold for disruption is as follows:
- Short-haul flights under 1,500km: more than two hours
- Medium-haul flights 1,500km – 3,500km: more than three hours
- Long-haul flights over 3,500km: more than four hours
In this instance, passengers are entitled to:
- A reasonable amount of food and drink
- A means of communication (such as phone calls)
- Accommodation of a delayed flight is re-routed the next day
- transport to and from the hotel or your home if reasonable
If vouchers are not provided, you can arrange these items yourself, and submit a reasonable claim to the airline afterwards.
Because this disruption is beyond airlines’ control, compensation for delays is unlikely to be due to passengers.
However, those whose flights have been cancelled are entitled to a full refund within seven days, or to be rerouted at the earliest possible opportunity.
If the replacement flight offered is inconvenient, passengers are within their rights to demand an alternative – which could be on a different carrier – or to organise this themselves then submit a claim.