As you will know, if you have watched the news or been travelling today, there was a major system failure for UK ATC, which resulted in huge delays and cancellations. I was stuck at Jersey on board the BA Cityflyer to London City for 4 hours, but luckily, we got away eventually. We even had to evacuate the terminal at one point thanks to a fire alarm, which was when it all started to feel very surreal!
In this post:
What went wrong with Air Traffic Control?
I worked in ATC for 23 years, so here are a few of my thoughts on what happened.
This morning, the flight planning system failed for the UK, which affected both ATC centres in Scotland and Swanwick and the airports. The centres control aircraft once they have taken off, when they are inbound to the UK before they are handed over to the airport and also flights which are overflying the UK.
Controllers need basic information on each flight to populate their display, such as the flight number, aircraft type, destination and route. When the system initially failed, it was not an issue as it can store 4 hours’ worth of data, so everything continued as normal. When it became clear that they could not fix the issue within 4 hours they decided to go manual. This means all flight plans have to be entered manually, which is very time-consuming. Therefore, they will not be able to handle anywhere near the usual number of aircraft. It seems like they put a “zero-rate” on which stops aircraft departing for the UK and from the UK that are not already airborne. We were told at Jersey that the delay was indefinite at this point.
Once they have transferred into manual operations, they will usually try to increase the number of aircraft allowed to take off to a level where they can comfortably work, but this is still very, very limited.
At around 3.30pm the systems came back on, but by this time, most airlines were having to cancel multiple flights. The flights affected will be mainly domestic and short-haul flights. Airlines will now try to recover as much of the ongoing schedule as they can.
If you were on Avios there does not need to be Avios availability on the replacement flight.
What to do if you are flying from tomorrow onwards
Most airports are expecting to operate normally tomorrow (Tuesday). However, there will be lots of disruption initially as crew and aircraft will be out of place. Make sure you keep an eye on your flights using the airline’s app to track them or something like the Flighty app (although today, that didn’t work at all because it had no data to work from).
It’s likely that it will be very hard to contact BA for a few days as they have a huge workload trying to get people back to where they should be and will be completely overwhelmed. The airline apps are the best starting point to see what you can do if you have had your flight cancelled or delayed. If you don’t need to contact the airline urgently, please wait.
If you are flying Club Europe, it is likely you may find that the middle seat is no longer blocked. At times of mass disruption BA do this to try to get people home. It may not be what you paid for, but it is the right thing to do in my opinion. You can try to claim something back from BA as it is not the advertised product, but I am not sure how much success people have had with this in the past.
British Airways has advised that if you are travelling today but want to change to a later date you can do so free of charge. This applies to anyone flying short-haul from Heathrow, Gatwick or London City Airport. You can fly within 14 days as long as there is a seat in your original booked class. If you want to travel after that there must be availability in the same fare bucket as you booked.
For those whose flights were delayed or cancelled today
The same applies in that it will be very hard to get hold of the airline by phone. If there is a chat system or Twitter, you may have more luck with that. The first port of call should be the airline’s website and/or app with Manage My Booking to see if they have rebooked you already. They should notify you, but it’s worth checking. If you booked with a travel agent, you should speak to them rather than the airline initially.
Unfortunately, there was disruption a few days ago due to weather, so flights that were already almost full due to the Bank Holiday are now completely full. Some people are being told they will have to wait days for a new flight.
Firstly, I would not immediately accept the option offered if it does not suit you without checking. Before you contact the airline assess your options. It’s likely there are not many flights on any airline, but it is always worth trying something like Google flights to see if you can find an alternative on another airline. BA and some other airlines technically can rebook you on a different airline, but only if you can actually speak to someone.
You may choose to book yourself on something else and reclaim from BA, but be prepared that this could take a while – at least four weeks for many airlines. It is also worth checking your travel insurance to see what they can provide. Obviously, you can look at alternatives such as train, ferry or Eurostar and then claim those back as well.
You will not be eligible for EU261 compensation for late arrival or late notice cancellation, as the issue was not within the airline’s control. However, the airlines do still have a duty of care to get you to where you were meant to be going and give you accommodation and meals as necessary.
If the airline has not provided a hotel, you can find one yourself and charge the airline. BA normally suggest around £200 a night, but it depends on where you are and the average rates. Obviously, around Heathrow and major airports tonight, the rates will be very high, so it is always worth screening shotting something like booking.com to show what was available.
Make sure you keep all receipts from things such as food and drink plus transport such as taxis. While airlines are supposed to provide food and drink, often, in these situations of mass disruption, you may be left to fend for yourselves. I always think it is best in these situations to sort what you can yourself and claim afterwards.
Have you been affected by the disruption? Let us know in the comments below.
17 comments
My sister-in-law and her husband are stuck in LISBON and can’t get a flight back to LONDON. They used EasyJet. Any options for them? They aren’t even offering compensation? What’s the best way of going about it Michelle? Thanks in advance!
They would only get a refund or another flight home rather than compensation. But they can claim expenses such as accommodation and food. I’d be looking at booking something themselves perhaps via somewhere else if they can’t rebook via the app today. I suspect it will take until mid morning today for the airlines to catch up. They do have a duty of care to get you back but if there are no flights left it could be in a few days. I’d be looking at options via Google flights or even a combination of flight/train/ferry. I know people who were offered flights on Thursday as the earliest option. If they buy other flights they can claim that back from the airline.
I just received compensation from BA for a cancelled flight last month due to the closure of Catania Airport following a fire at the airport, this involved taking indirect flights from Palermo two days later. Whilst BA booked the flights, I paid out and claimed for the train fare and two nights hotel which were all fully refunded. I did not claim for taxi fares and food. I was happy with that outcome.
Liable?? Eligible!!
Corrected. Was writing that at about 11pm last night after a very long day so not surprised there is a small error.
Tbf being on Propaganda Central, sorry the beeb would exhaust most of us. At least it was remotely so you avoided catching anything 😄
Personal loathing of them aside, you look great and it’s great exposure for TLFL.
Flyer talk is gonna be a hoot in a few days & then again in 6 weeks or so when all the newbies make their rage posts & when they aren’t granted 250k Avios and/or £50k for their emotional distress
Okay I’ll put my bitchy claws away now hehe
I was due to fly in Club Europe to Brussels yesterday on the BA 398 flight at 16:30. My wife informed me of the situation at about 1pm yesterday, so I called BA’s Priority Gold Guest List team and they advised me to come to the airport as normal. I arrived at the airport at 3pm and was informed that my flight BA 398 was definitely cancelled. I was then put on the BA 404 flight which was scheduled to depart at 20:25, but I was informed would not be going until 5:30am the following day. I collected my new boarding pass & strolled to the Sofitel adjoining T5 with the intention of booking myself a room for the night. Fortunately I was travelling with hand luggage only. Prior to heading to reception I checked what the latest status as by then the news was stating that NATS had rectified the problem. At 15:51 I received a text message stating that the BA 404 flight that I had been rebooked on had been cancelled! I tried to use the app and my laptop to access Manage My Booking, but it wasn’t possible, so the advice about the ‘first port of call should be the website’ was not available. Even logging onto the BA website was met with the message, Sorry it’s not possible to access our systems now. So I called the Priority Gold Guest List number again and after a long wait was able to speak to a representative. She confirmed that the 404 flight was definitely cancelled, even though Heathrow’s flight information was stating that it was going to go on time. She searched for alternatives for me and although there was 1 seat available on an 8:15am flight the following morning, it could not be guaranteed that the flight would operate due to the ‘knock-on’ effects of planes and crew not being where they should be. The earliest flight where she was confident that would operate normally would be later on Wednesday. As I was due to return on Thursday anyway, that would not have made my trip worthwhile, so I requested a cancellation of all my flights and the associated car hire. I returned to my car and drove home. Back at home I got onto my laptop and started cancelling hotel reservations and rearranging all the meetings that had been scheduled. I then clicked on the link to the BA website from the numerous emails that I’d received and to my horror the BA 404 that was reported as cancelled, was showing that there would be an On Time departure at 20:25. As it was now after 6pm I judged that there was no way I could get to LHR on time & in any case, I’d just cancelled my trip and all associated reservations! The BA 404 eventually departed at 21:51 – I wish I’d been properly kept up to date.
That sounds like a total nightmare and sadly not an isolated case. Unfortauntely the BA website and other no doubt simply could not keep up with the volume of people trying to access it. My general advice would be that the situations change constantly as crews and aircraft back into place and people decide to abandon their flights. So for anyone still stuck my advice is keep checking yourself.
When I heard your dulcet tones on the Radio 2 news bulletin at 2pm, Michele, my first thought was that one of the IT Crowd had decided that a bank holiday would be a good day for ‘scheduled maintenance’. 🙄
I then had visions of all the airline’s ‘suits’ rushing to airports/call centres to support their beleaguered customers & front line staff. A notification of possible disruption to a flight I have today soon took me out of that wishful dwam 🤣
Thank you Michelle and rest for the info. Hopefully EasyJet will compensate and refund after they submit all the receipts. The husband is going today on BA hopefully and sister in law tomorrow also on BA hopefully. But now they are out of pocket £1500 including hotels. So far EasyJet not answering phones either so we have very little hope for any help.
Happy to report we’ve just returned from Verona as scheduled, on time and without hassle via BA. The only delay we suffered was waiting for valet parking to deliver our car upon arrival at Gatwick!
We were very lucky as we’d been expecting several hours of delay or even an overnight stay
That said the BA Gold Line proved to be a complete waste of time when we tried to call last night for info and we were cut off without being able to speak to anyone
That’s great news
*Michele
Apologies
Great article on how traffic control works. I’d love to see more like this one as I found it very educational
Thanks Patrycja.
Excellent articles Michelle- and in The Times too! I’ve just passed through Gatwick- departing to Grenada (so cannot comment on arrivals) and it was seamless- and strangely ‘quiet’ (well as quiet as Gatwick can be) !Currently enjoying a glass of Balfour sparkling somewhere north of the Canaries!
THanks Simon. Have a great trip.
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