Global IT outage: What to do if your travel plans are disrupted – as some passengers were told ‘complete nonsense’ by companies | UK News

Travel expert Simon Calder offers advice to passengers affected by a second day of disruption.

Travelers around the world are dealing with a second day of chaos after Friday’s global IT outage.

Here Sky News looks at what you can do if you’ve been affected by the disturbance.

Air passengers

Friday was set to be one of the busiest days of the summer as many families went on vacation at the end of the school year.

But more than 300 flights to and from the UK were cancelled, with many flights experiencing significant delays and others reporting lost luggage.

The bad news is that since the global IT outage In the event of extraordinary circumstances, no compensation will be paid for flight delays or cancellations.

Travel journalist Simon Calder told Sky News: “If your flight is cancelled, unfortunately you won’t automatically be given priority on the next flight.

“What happens is that the airline gives priority to people who are already booked on the flights that are going, and then you have to fight a bit for the few seats that are left. And this weekend there are not many of those seats.”

But Mr Calder assured passengers that “the rules are very clear”.

He added: “I hear from (people) from different parts of the world, different airlines saying different things to me, including, ‘Oh, well, we don’t have another flight for three days, so you’ll just have to wait.’

“That’s complete nonsense. According to air passenger rights rules in Europe, if your flight is cancelled, the airline must get you to your destination as quickly as possible.

“If that means the airline has to spend hundreds of pounds on a seat on a rival airline, then that’s just inconvenient. That’s what the rules say.”

Because the IT outage is happening globally, it can be difficult to get airlines to comply.

According to the travel expert, package tour companies offer travellers more protection than ‘a do-it-yourself trip’.

“If you book a package holiday, you have rock-solid consumer protection,” he added.

“The organisers, the airline, need to get to the destination as quickly as possible. If they really pulled the plug and said, ‘OK, your trip is cancelled’, well, I’m happy to say that there are still – even at this late stage – plenty of holidays.

“So (the passenger) can book another holiday, hopefully to the same destination with a different provider. Consulting a good travel agent would be a good way to sort that out.”

Read more:
Who will pay for the worst IT outage the world has ever seen?
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IT Outage: The Risks of Complexity

If your package holiday is cut short and you miss a day or two of your trip, Mr Calder says: “You should be entitled to some of the cost of your holiday because you were in Birmingham when you wanted to be in Benidorm.”

But airlines do have a duty to care for passengers who find themselves caught up in the chaos.

Mr Calder said airlines should provide vouchers for hotels and food, but if they did not, passengers would have to pay for it themselves and return their claim with an itemised receipt.

He gave an important tip for the receipts: “They don’t want to see alcohol on the meal bill, thank you.”

Train passengers

Although most trains run throughout the country, there have been occasional sudden changes and cancellations.

Refunds and compensation are due if a train is late. Most operators will give compensation for a delay of 15 minutes, others for 30 minutes.

If your trip is cancelled, you are entitled to a full refund.

Customers must file a claim within 28 days. Keep the travel ticket to send as proof.

Crossings in Dover Port

Port of Dover authorities said on Saturday they were dealing with “hundreds of displaced” airport passengers and that processing times were 30 minutes just after 11am.

The processing time this morning was still 60 minutes.

Customers were advised to make a booking for the crossing before arrival.

Authorities also asked customers to have their documents ready to ensure “the fastest possible processing time at border controls and check-in”.