The backlog of demand caused by around 1,500 cancelled UK flights on Monday has meant some are facing up to ten days before they can back to the UK, with dozens of cancellations to UK airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick
A young girl was stuck abroad with a dwindling supply of insulin and no way to get any more.
The chaos caused by air traffic control issues on Monday is still being felt keenly two days later, particularly by those whose flights were cancelled and are trying to get back to the UK. Many are facing numerous extra days away from home, racking up serious hotel and phone bills they hope to have refunded by their airlines.
The backlog of demand caused by around 1,500 cancelled UK flights on Monday has meant some are facing up to ten days before they can back to the UK, meaning they’ll miss days of work and the start of the new school year.
Such issues are particularly acute for the Acheampong family, eight of whom are currently stuck in Gran Canaria trying to work out how to get home after their easyJet flight was cancelled. One member of their party is quickly running out of crucial medication.
Have you been caught up in the chaos? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
On Wednesday morning Chanel Acheampong told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “All we’re told is to speak to the information desk and they say it’s nothing to do with them. We ask where easyJet is and we’re told they’re never down here, and it’s ground workers who have to book passengers in.
“My niece is type 1 diabetic, she has an insulin pump and she’s literally got minimal insulin left. We told easyJet this on the phone, who told us to go to a shop and buy some – you can’t buy insulin over the counter. We need to get home, she needs her medication.”
Weary travellers continue to trickle through UK airports today having spent the past 48 hours arranging their alternative transport home. Among them are Joy Zhang and her mother Lulu Jin, from Sheffield, who arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport on Wednesday morning after being stuck in Amsterdam for two days when their flight to Manchester was cancelled.
Joy said: “We’d been in China, so we’d just got off a 13-hour flight and were told that unfortunately our flight was cancelled. We just sat in the airport for a few hours and waited to buy tickets, but there were about 200 people queueing. We didn’t know what to do.
“We ended up having to get two separate flights, so my brother and dad came back yesterday. We were really lucky because there were lots of people that had to stay at the airport but we managed to find a hotel. It’s just been really stressful.”
The problems do seem to be easing today however. Aviation analytics company Cirium said 64 flights due to serve UK airports on Wednesday were cancelled as of 9am. This is equivalent to around 1% of all flights.
Heathrow appeared to face the most cancellations, followed by Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Cirium said 1,585 flights were cancelled on Monday when the air traffic control failure happened, and 345 were axed on Tuesday.
The air traffic control issues which led to the cancellations were caused by a problem with inbound data, it was announced today. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) chief executive Martin Rolfe said initial investigations show the failure “relates to some of the flight data we received”.
Primary and back-up systems used by the company responded by “suspending automatic processing”, he added. Some have been forced to sleep on airport floors or take long routes by land after their flights were cancelled. Airlines were criticised for failing to book hotel rooms for many people who were delayed overnight.
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: “We’re seeing worrying reports of passengers being left stranded without support, and airlines failing to properly communicate with their passengers or fulfil their legal obligations such as offering timely rerouting or providing overnight accommodation.
“In particular, travellers should be aware that their airline has a responsibility to reroute them as soon as possible, even if that means buying them a ticket with a rival carrier – a rule that some airlines appear to be ignoring. Passengers should also be given food and refreshments and overnight accommodation if required.”
EasyJet is operating five repatriation flights to Gatwick, with the first two setting off on Wednesday. The airline said: “During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on August 31, and from Rhodes on September 1.”
EasyJet has been contacted for comment.