Frustrated agents are still dealing with flight cancellations, diversions and delays, as travel chaos caused by yesterday’s air traffic control technical issue enters a second day.
A National Air Traffic Services (NATS) technical problem initially affected departures at a number of UK airports yesterday afternoon, with inbound flights also becoming affected later.
Flightradar24 estimated 1,300 flights were cancelled yesterday, and travel expert Simon Calder said at least 75,000 people had had their travel plans ‘messed up’, with another 25,000 ‘scattered’ in places they shouldn’t be.
“Knock-on effects are going to be horrible,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
More than 250 flights have been cancelled to and from UK airports this morning, according to Flightradar24, and, although most airports now say they are operating as normal, passengers have been told to contact their airline for the latest information.
Today’s cancellations are mainly at Heathrow Airport, where 246 flights were cancelled by 6am, while Gatwick has faced 33 cancellations.
Gatwick said: “We still anticipate that it will take time for our operations to fully return to normal. Passengers should continue to check with their airlines for more information regarding their flights.”
Heathrow said: “Following yesterday’s NATS technical issue, flights are operating today, but some disruption may continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew. Please check your flight status with your airline before travelling to the airport and only travel if your flight is confirmed to be operating.
“We apologise to those affected and have extra colleagues across our terminals to support passengers while we work with NATS and airline partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.”
NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe said a cyber attack had been ruled out, and apologised for the chaos. He has been called to a meeting with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander today.
Wizz Air UK Managing Director told Sky News she was ‘beyond angry’ with NATS, while Ryanair repeated its call for the NATS boss to resign.
And ABTA Director of Public Affairs Luke Petherbridge said: “While the immediate priority is supporting customers, as this isn’t the first NATS outage to cause widespread disruption, the industry and the public will want answers as to what has gone wrong, what lessons are being learned, and how the system will be made more resilient to avoid this happening again.”
He added: “ABTA members will be supporting those booked with them, to help make alternative arrangements, and we have advice on abta.com to help people understand their rights.”
Agents said some clients found out while they were on the plane that their holidays had been cancelled, while others waited for hours to take off and others have been stranded.
One agent said she didn’t initially worry about clients flying to Japan with British Airways because the airline information said the flight had departed. However, the flight was cancelled after passengers had boarded and the customers had to be rerouted.
Independent agent Julie Hill, who runs Julie Hill Travel Inspirations, said: “I can’t say I’ve noticed ‘taxied’ as a flight status before. My poor clients had five hours on a taxied plane on the tarmac at Gatwick heading for Zakynthos with a very young baby. The captain wouldn’t let them disembark despite some passengers complaining they should. Turns out he was absolutely right as knew he was in prime position to take off.”
Julie said the flight took off five hours after the plane first taxied.
“The EZY captain apparently was not losing his place front of the queue and ZTH airport stayed open later,” he said. “I feel I’ve escaped lightly compared to many of you today. What a nightmare (again).”
Travel Kuoni agent Meg Phillips said: “I came back from Bogata to Heathrow this ‘afternoon’. The plane landed at 15.20 and we were stuck on it waiting for a stand until 19.30.”
Other agents reported customers returning to the UK complaining of little or no help at airports.
Hays Travel Personal Travel Consultant Nickie Woolf said: “My customers were left to sleep on floor a LHR, no baggage, no special assistance and now being told no flight ‘til Friday. They are doing self-drive tour and will be totally out of sync.” She told Travel Gossip at 11am today (Wednesday) “They’ve not been given any water or food since they arrived there yesterday at 13:00.”
Typically Travel Managing Director Daniele Broccoli said all affected clients booked with the operator have been dealt with and alternative arrangements made. Last night, he said: “It has been a stressful day. All clients that had their flights cancelled are all tucked up in bed. I’m dreading the morning already. Me and the team have everything crossable crossed that all flights go.”
Some agents used the latest NATS issue to again show why it’s important to book a package holiday with a professional.
Designer Travel agent Julie Franklin told Facebook followers: “I just want to highlight the reason why booking through a travel agent and a packaged tour operator you are so much better protected. The ground staff, when it was a package holiday, were able to just take control for the customer, make sure they had a hotel, transfer booked, take them back to the resort if they were abroad. You and your money are protected. We will work with the operators to make sure those holidays do happen. I will have your corner.”
And Henbury Travel in Macclesfield, run by Richard Slater, put out a statement on its Facebook page to say: “Good news! The NATS air traffic system appears to be back up and running after Doris the cleaner allegedly pulled out the wrong plug…
“It looks like most flights should operate today, although there may be some delays while airlines get aircraft and crews back where they need to be. There may still be some cancellations and disruption, but we’re keeping an eye on things and we’ll be in touch with our clients if there’s anything they need to know.
“We’ve already been in touch with many of our clients departing today and will continue to keep everyone updated as the day unfolds. Our clients will hopefully be ON the beach today – not spending the day on hold trying to sort out their holiday.
“If you booked online and struggle to get help today, why not book with us next time?
“We’re here when you need us, and we take the stress out of your holiday.”
