The disruption caused by the global IT outage continued this weekend, with airline passengers reporting long delays and lost luggage, while pharmacies tried to cope with a delay in medicine deliveries.
The outage spread globally on Friday morning after an update from global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike knocked many Microsoft Windows PCs offline with a “blue screen of death” appearing on the screens.
The company’s founder confirmed that it was caused by a bug in the update and not a cyber attack, as some feared.
Experts warned it may take weeks for systems to fully recover and problems at airports were reported on Saturday.
Andrew Evans, from Taunton in Somerset, said he waited more than nine hours at Palma de Mallorca airport and said there had been little communication from airline operator TUI.
Their flight, bound for Exeter, was due to take off at 2:05am local time (1:05am UK time), but passengers had still not boarded by 10:30am local time on Saturday morning.
“Our holiday completely fell apart at the end – it felt like we were abandoned,” said Evans.
“We went to the carousel, but there was nothing there. We haven’t gotten our luggage yet.”
Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Bristol to Portugal reported arriving at their holiday destination to discover that no checked luggage had been loaded onto the plane.
On Friday, around 167 flights scheduled to depart from UK airports were cancelled, while 171 flights due to land in the UK were cancelled.
TUI said its IT systems “remained unstable” and apologized to passengers, adding: “We understand how disappointing this would have been and recognize that many customers were already at the airport awaiting their departure.”
The Port of Dover said on Saturday morning it was dealing with “hundreds of displaced passengers” at the airport and asked customers to ensure they had a booking before arrival.
Error messages on screens at Chicago O’Hare International Airport after software problems delay and cancel flights around the world. Photo: AP
Blue screens showing error messages are displayed instead of flight information at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Photo: AP
It is understood that the port was not a victim of the global IT outage.
Doug Bannister, head of the Port of Dover, said: “We operate a turn-up-and-go system here. However, we insist that you have a book on busy days, even if people are doing so on the commute.
“The greater visibility we have, the better.
“But we’re here to serve people who want to travel. So I would say to passengers displaced from the airport, ‘Come down. We have capacity.'”
The National Lottery app and website fell on Saturday – although it’s unclear whether this was related to the global IT outage.
The travel delays come as thousands of families begin to embark on summer vacations at the end of the school year for many schools.
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However, there were also significant disruptions to pharmaceutical services on Saturday.
Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “Systems are generally back online and medicine deliveries have resumed in many community pharmacies today following the global IT outage.
“However, yesterday’s disruption will have caused delays and we expect services to continue to be disrupted this weekend as pharmacies recover.
“We are asking people to be patient when visiting their local pharmacy and some may still be prioritizing patients with emergency prescriptions from their doctor’s office.”
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Indie rock group Bombay Bicycle Club have announced the rescheduled date of a music festival performance they missed due to the global IT outage.
The British group were due to perform at the Poolbar Festival in the Austrian city of Feldkirch on Friday, but missed it due to a canceled flight.
The show will now take place on Sunday, the band said.
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