Travelers around the world face a second day of chaos following Friday’s global IT outage.
Here, Sky News looks at what you can do if you’re affected by the disturbance.
Air passengers
Friday was supposed to be one of the busiest days of the summer as families went on vacation at the end of the school year.
But more than 300 flights to and from the UK were cancelled, and many others suffered significant delays, while others reported lost luggage.
The bad news is that, as global IT disruption It was an extraordinary circumstance, no compensation is due for flight delays or cancellations.
Travel journalist Simon Calder told Sky News: “Unfortunately, if your flight is cancelled, you won’t automatically be prioritized for the next one.
“What happens is that the airline gives priority to people already booked on the flights they are going to, and then you have to fight for the few remaining seats. And this weekend, there aren’t many of them.”
But Calder assured passengers that “it’s very clear what the rules are.”
He added: “I’m hearing from [people] in various parts of the world, hearing various things from various companies, including, ‘Oh, well, we haven’t had another flight in three days, so you’ll have to wait.’
“This is complete nonsense. According to European air passenger rights rules, if your flights are cancelled, the airline will have to get you to your destination as quickly as possible.
“If that means the airline has to spend hundreds of pounds buying a seat on a rival airline, well, that’s just difficult. That’s what the rules say.”
What caused the global IT outage?
However, the global nature of the IT disruption means it may be difficult to get airlines to comply with the rules.
The travel expert said package holiday companies offer travelers more protection than “a DIY trip”.
“If you’re on a package vacation, you have solid consumer protection,” he added.
“The organizers, the airline have to arrive [the] destination as quickly as possible. If they actually hung up and said, ‘okay, your trip has been cancelled’, well, I’m happy to say that there are still – even at this late stage – plenty of holidays around.
“Then [the passenger] you will be able to book different holidays, hopefully to the same destination with a different supplier. Consulting a good travel agent would be a good way to resolve this.”
See more information:
Who will pay for the worst IT outage the world has ever seen
Charts show when outages peaked in services
IT disruption: the risks of complexity
If your holiday package is reduced and results in you losing a day or two of your trip, Mr Calder says: “You should be entitled to get back part of the cost of your holiday because, there you were in Birmingham when I was hoping to be in Benidorm.”
But airlines have a duty to care for passengers caught in the chaos.
Calder said airlines should provide vouchers for hotels and food, but if they don’t, passengers must pay and claim a refund with an itemized receipt.
He gave an important tip for the recipe, saying: “They don’t want to see alcohol on the meal bill, thank you very much.”
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Rail passengers
Although most trains are running across the country, there have been last-minute changes and cancellations.
Refunds and compensation are due when a train is late. Most carriers will issue delay compensation for 15 minutes, others 30 minutes.
If your trip is cancelled, you will be entitled to a full refund.
Customers must receive a complaint within 28 days. Keep your travel ticket to send as proof.
Crossings at the Port of Dover
Port of Dover authorities said on Saturday it was dealing with “hundreds of displaced passengers” from the airport and had a 30-minute processing time just after 11am.
Processing time was 60 minutes early this morning.
Traffic at Dover Port this morning. Photo: PA
Traffic queues in Dover this morning. Photo: PA
He advised customers to make a reservation for the crossing before arriving.
Authorities also asked customers to have their documents on hand to ensure “the fastest possible processing time through border controls and check-in.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
