Friday - 19th July 2024, was one of the most unforgettable days for every air passenger, airline, airport service personnel, and the IT industry, making the globe stand still. We are talking about the massive global IT outage that happened worldwide. Apart from banks, stock markets and healthcare, aviation was one of the most badly affected sectors and dealt with havoc. Out of 110,000 flights, more than 5000 were cancelled, leaving travelers stranded at airports and ruining itineraries.
While this appears to be an example of extraordinary circumstances, or exceptions that prevent you from exercising your passenger rights, it does not mean that airlines can use all IT issues as a justification to refuse your rights. Read this blog to find out more.
Last Friday, Crowdstrike, a global cybersecurity firm, initiated a software update for Microsoft users across industries and firms. However, some glitches in their system caused the malfunction, leading to hours and days of delays for airlines using their software. The glitch was due to issues in the Falcon content update for Windows Host.
While all airlines and airport authorities tried hard to navigate the inoperative software, most flights had to be canceled, and many desks started giving handwritten boarding passes. The company representatives, however, assured the public that their customers were at no risk and that the glitch should not be considered a security concern. They said that the experts are working diligently and building backups to enable airlines and other industries to deliver seamless customer services like before.
The impact of disruption went beyond flight cancellations and delays. Flights and carrier services are very sensitive to interruptions, relying heavily on coordinated schedules fostered by air traffic control and timeliness. Therefore, any instance of delays or cancellations can not only bring down the forts for an entire day but also raise questions about the operational efficiency of the services.
With no clue whatsoever, passengers and airlines went directly into chaos, along with the airlines that were not using the software owing to global disruption. The outage also affected many individual systems, like the ones that airlines use for calculating aircraft weight, checking in passengers, phone systems at customer service desks, and more. After putting a pause on all departures overnight, it resumed the following day, with the authorities working harder to get passengers to their destination.
Delta Air Lines, one of the largest US airlines, was a majorly affected airline, with 20% of its flights canceled. After some time, the airline resumed departures but warned passengers of further delays and cancellations. For the flights that got canceled, the airline gave passengers travel waivers as compensation. Ryanair, United Airlines, and Air India were the other players that faced significant disruptions.
Similarly, one of the world’s busiest airports, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, faced the worst flight disruptions, with over 36% of flights canceled, including scheduled departures for Delta Airlines. In Europe, Iberia Airlines, one of the Spanish carriers, mentioned how they had to manage and reallocate flights to avoid cancellations.
Imagine getting handwritten boarding passes in 2024 on one of the year's busiest travel weekends! According to passengers in Edinburgh airport, airlines had to issue a server offline message with the authorities saying they should only travel to the airport if they check the status of their flights first. Similarly, at New Delhi’s Terminal 3, airlines had to give handwritten boarding passes to passengers while the airport staff used whiteboards to display gate information.
On the other hand, airports in Singapore and Hong Kong also had to switch to manual check-in. However, the situation wasn’t as smooth despite the quick turnover of solutions. One of the passengers traveling through Baltimore airport had described how she had to wait for as long as two hours just to get the paper tickets. Additionally, Spirit Airlines was seen paging through printed manifests before issuing paper tickets, and a printed seating chart was displayed to ensure they didn’t end up double-assigning seats.
Per the provisions of EU261 and UK261, European airlines are required to compensate their passengers if the flight was delayed for more than three hours or canceled, However, since the IT outage on July 19 was an extraordinary circumstances and it was out of the control of the airline, they are not legally bound to pay compensation to their passengers. Yet, most airlines offered travel waivers and vouchers to their passengers.
Unlike European airlines, US air services have no legal obligation to compensate travelers for long hauls or delays. They have not declared whether this issue will be treated as a natural cause for delay. However, many big airlines did come forward to provide hotel rooms for stranded travelers as directed by the airline’s control.
Under EU261/UK261 Regulations, airline services are not obliged to pay compensation if flight delays or cancellations happen due to extraordinary situations such as extreme climate, medical emergency, air traffic control restrictions or political unrest. These situations are not within the airline’s control.
However, passengers must remember—an IT outage is NOT always considered as an extraordinary circumstance wherein the airlines could have streamlined operations. Flyers are not accountable for vendor failures. It is the responsibility of the airline. Therefore, in such situations passengers with flights scheduled on the eventful day are eligible for compensation, and the alternate flight failed to fulfill its purpose.
This is valid for even non-refundable tickets. You can get at least cash back on canceled or delayed flights if the carrier chooses not to fly. You can also decline alternatives like rebooking or accepting vouchers. The compensation amount, though, will depend on the distance traveled and hours of delay compared to the original departures. Here's what it looks like under EU261/UK261:
| Flights within 1500 km | Flights between 1,500 - 3,500 km | Flights that go over 3,500 km |
|---|---|---|
| €250 (£220) per passenger | €400 (£350) per passenger | €600 (£520) per passenger |
On the other hand, for US Airlines, the existing laws do not offer any type of compensation to the air passengers as it was regulated in the EU/UK laws. However, the administration has directed all authorities to initiate flight delay compensation and cancellation refunds starting in October. The provisions would include itinerary changes and delays of more than three for domestic flights and six hours for international flights.
You must ask the airlines and confirm the reasons behind the flight cancellations or delays. While the airlines may reject compensation or refund claims stating IT outages are not categorized as controllable, the law will hold them responsible for not ensuring backups for commonly arising crises like technical faults and glitches.
Here’s what you should do:
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Hope this blog helps you understand the story and impact of the global IT outage on airlines and passengers and what you must keep in mind during complex situations like this. While an IT outage on July 19 is an uncommon scenario, airlines should not refuse to pay you for any flight delays or cancellations. To help you deal with hassles like this, services like Click2Refund do all the hard work for you. We assist by ensuring:
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