Wizz Air passengers were among those caught up in an air traffic control system failure that led to more than 2,000 flight cancellations across the UK on Tuesday. Nats fixed the problem within hours, but hundreds of thousands of passengers still faced further delays and cancellations on Wednesday.
For passengers already at airports, the disruption did not end when the system came back. Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats, was given a week to report back on the reasons for the technical failure, while travellers described closed baggage systems, diversions and long waits on aircraft and tarmacs.
Heathrow and Daniel Garrick
Daniel Garrick was due to leave Heathrow for Austin, Texas, on Tuesday. He and other passengers waited seven hours on the asphalt before leaving the plane, and he said, "we were released from the plane only to find Heathrow in absolute chaos".
Garrick said, "My baggage was lost, and British Airways employees were nowhere to be found." He also said, "Baggage reclaim was “pandemonium”" and added, "All the screens just said it was closed. You couldn’t tell where your baggage was supposed to be." British Airways later rebooked him automatically for a flight on Thursday morning, 48 hours after his first flight.
Edinburgh and Melanie Thompson
Melanie Thompson said passengers were told about 40 minutes before arrival that their flight would divert to Edinburgh because of IT problems and disruptions at Heathrow. She said, "We were exhausted."
After landing, she was told, "We were hoping we could refuel and then take you on to Heathrow. But we can’t do that, so we would like you to stay in Edinburgh tonight." Thompson stayed overnight in Edinburgh and paid £500 for a flat there. The next day she travelled from Edinburgh to London by train because there were no flights available.
Morocco and Thomas Reilly
Thomas Reilly was due to fly with BA from Marrakech to Gatwick on Tuesday and then on to Marseille. He said he was told his flight was cancelled when he got to the airport and added, "I am currently stuck in Morocco".
Reilly also said, "I did not receive any information from BA about th". The cancellations and diversions left travellers trying to find alternate routes while the technical failure had already been fixed, and Rolfe now has a week to explain what caused it.
