Passengers hit by airport chaos ‘unlikely to be entitled to compensation’ as disruption ‘could last WEEKS’
A British air traffic control meltdown strands hundreds of thousands of passengers — and the people responsible for their rights are telling them not to expect a payout.
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Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz. We were trapped in there.”
Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz. We were trapped in there.
A stranded passenger conveys the feeling of total entrapment inside Gatwick during the chaos.
In context
Yesterday, passengers told The Sun they had been left stranded overseas as flights were unable to return to the UK. One passenger at Gatwick, Josie Donoghue, said she spent three hours trapped on a plane before being forced to get off. She said: “Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz. We were trapped in there. “We were told we couldn’t get out until the flights were cancelled, and then eventually they allowed us to get out. “It’s just an absolute nightmare down there, it’s the only word I can use to describe it.”
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It's insufficient to simply bolt on new front end parts onto an ancient legacy system.
An expert argues the meltdown exposed a structural vulnerability that makes future failures inevitable without deeper reform.
In context
…services hit by the Nats Air Traffic computer meltdown but also crews and aircraft rendered inoperative as planes out of position, pilots out of hours as are cabin crew. “Air cargo services also hit and many time-critical shipments are either ruined, destroyed or delayed. “Sadly all this could happen again with the current legacy computer set-up. “It’s insufficient to simply bolt on new front end parts onto an ancient legacy system.” Travel journalist Simon Calder warned the knock-on effects are “going to be horrible”. He said: “There are going to be dozens of cancellations in the morning of flights coming into Heathrow because, basically, the flights didn’t go out tonight.”…
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My flight's rescheduled in two days, how am I supposed to live without my things?
A stranded traveller captures the personal helplessness of being separated from belongings for days.
In context
Others passengers complained they were forced to abandon their luggage after flights were cancelled and rebooked days later. RECOMMENDED STORIES One traveller said they had been told to leave the airport without their bags, despite their new flight not being until Thursday. Another fumed: “My flight’s rescheduled in two days, how am I supposed to live without my things?” Four tips to help you claim back compensation if your flight is delayed or cancelled MORE than seven million of us are expected to fly to European holiday spots this summer.
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Airlines are left footing the bill for a systems failure they did not cause, while passengers are told the outage is an 'extraordinary circumstance' that forfeits their right to compensation.
An industry body frames the core injustice: airlines absorbing costs for a failure beyond their control, while passengers lose compensation rights.
In context
They wrote in a statement: “Although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident.” Airlines have hit back at the chaos, demanding failures like this “simply cannot happen again”. An industry body also blasted airlines being left to foot the bill for problems they did not cause. But the CAA said the outage is likely to be classed as an “extraordinary circumstance” under passenger rights rules. Most read in The Sun
Airlines being are left to foot footing the bill for problems a systems failure they did not cause, But the CAA said while passengers are told the outage is likely to be classed as an 'extraordinary circumstance' that forfeits their right to compensation.
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I don't believe we've ever seen an incident happen more than once, so this will be something different that we've never seen in 50 years of operation.
A NATS official concedes the incident is unprecedented in the organisation's entire half-century history.
In context
“My focus and that of the team has been on both getting our system operating back up normally, which it is now, but there’s obviously a huge tail to the disruption and we’ll be working on that through the course of today. “And then our attention will turn to exactly what’s happened in this particular incident. “What I will say is I don’t believe we’ve ever seen an incident happen more than once, so this will be something different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation.” Heathrow urged travellers to check their flight status with their airline before heading to the airport and only travel if they have a confirmed flight operating today.
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