Global IT Outage: UKICC Advice and Support

The global IT outage last week had a significant impact on airports around the world, causing widespread disruption to air travel. Many airports experienced delays and cancellations as essential systems used for flight scheduling, passenger check-in, baggage handling, and security operations were affected. Passengers faced long lines and extended wait times, and some were unable to check in online or access real-time flight information.

As a result, many travellers experienced considerable inconvenience, and airlines faced increased operational challenges and financial losses. This incident highlighted the critical dependence of the aviation industry on robust IT infrastructure and the need for comprehensive disaster recovery and continuity planning to handle such disruptions effectively.

If your travel has been affected by the global IT outage you can contact the UK International Consumer Centre (UKICC) for advice and support. The UKICC is an independent, non-profit consumer protection organisation that provides free and impartial advice and can assist with consumer queries around travel disruption in cases where your flight was booked with an airline that is not based in the UK. The rights available to air passengers are explained below.

"Help! I’m stranded in the airport..."

The law requires airlines to offer assistance to passengers who find themselves stranded in an airport due to flight disruption. You should be offered reasonable refreshments (not alcohol), accommodation (if a replacement flight requires an overnight sleep), and transport between the airport and your place of accommodation.

The point at which you are entitled to this assistance depends on the length of the delay and distance of your flight. For short flights of less than 1500km, the rights accrue after a delay of two hours or more, three hours or more for flights between 1500 and 3500km, and a delay of four hours for all other flights.

If the new expected departure time is at least the day after the initially scheduled departure time, you are entitled to accommodation and transport to and from the airport and your accommodation.

Flight Cancellations and Delays

If your flight was cancelled, and the airline is based in a country within the European Union, or was departing from a UK airport, then there is a legal right to be given a choice between being put on another flight to your destination or getting a refund of the value of your unused flight ticket. You can only choose one of these options. In a situation where the cause of the cancellation or delay is a more general issue, impacting all airlines, you may have to be patient in waiting for alternative routing and this may have an impact on other, separate bookings such as hotels.

Compensation

Additional compensation to the above rights is only available where the reason for cancellation was within the control of the airline and that is unlikely to be seen to be the case with a general air traffic problem.

Impacts on other Travel Services - such as Hotel Bookings

If you booked your flight as part of a wider package covering other travel services like hotel accommodation and related holiday services, you might have rights through your package travel organiser, so contacting them for a solution can also be helpful.

Where you have booked holiday or travel services entirely separately, through different providers and purchase mechanisms, you may not have a right to cancel such items as hotel bookings, just because you cannot get to the hotel on the specified day. You may also not have a right to change the dates of the booking. Of course, you should contact the service provider, as early as possible, and let them know of the problems you are facing, asking them if they are willing to adjust your arrangements. You may however need to make new arrangements yourself, at your own cost. If you have holiday insurance you should let your insurer know as soon as possible as this may be the only avenue available for compensation for impacts on these services.

The UKICC advise that you make contact with the airline or your package travel organiser to outline your complaint to them and tell them what you would like them to do to put the problem right. The UKICC are aware that formal complaints communicated in writing have more impact and help with an evidence trail than a telephone call and can often result in a positive solution to a complaint. It’s recommend that you allow them a reasonable amount of time in which to respond to you (allow around three weeks for a response) and if your case is still unresolved after having made contact with them, please contact the UKICC who may be able to provide further help.

You can also contact your bank/credit card company, as they may also be able to help you claim if you paid using a debit card or a credit card if your claim is only about a refund of the unused ticket.

You may want to check if the airline subscribes to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) body that assists with disputes A significant number of airlines do, and this information is usually in their terms and conditions on complaints handling. For airlines that do not take part in Alternative Dispute Resolution, then the UK Civil Aviation Authority may also be able to assist. Information on how they can help can be found here: How the CAA can help | Civil Aviation Authority.