UK airports chaos - live: Compensation 'unlikely' for passengers after air traffic control glitch

UK airports chaos - live: Compensation 'unlikely' for passengers after air traffic control glitch Heathrow and Gatwick flights are among more than 300 flights cancelled today on top of 1,300 that didn't go ahead yesterday Tens of thousands of passengers impacted by an air traffic control system glitch yesterday are unlikely to be entitled to compensation, a regulator has warned. A spokesperson for the UK Civil Aviation Authority said the outage was likely to be seen as an "extraordinary circumstance" under passenger rights rules. They said this means that "although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident". Although the chaos has eased across UK airports after more than 300 flights were cancelled today, on top of 1,300 that didn't go ahead on Tuesday, there are still multiple flights listed as cancelled including at Heathrow and Gatwick. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has told the House of Commons she believed the air traffic control "issue" was avoidable. When asked whether Ms Alexander and the Prime Minister still have confidence in NATS (National Air Traffic Services) CEO Martin Rolfe, a spokesperson said: "We have confidence in him and he's been tasked with an investigation." A NATS spokesperson has apologised for the delays and advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling to airports. Has your flight been affected by the air traffic control fault? Contact us via livenews@reachplc.com Key Events Aviation tracking website Flightradar24 has utilised social media to illustrate the full extent of the recent NATS outage. In a post shared to X, formerly Twitter, the flight tracker showed how much of a difference a week can make as far as air traffic is concerned. Aviation analytics company Cirium said cancellations were now slowing, with no flights cancelled for Thursday as per time of writing. Some 2,145 flights were affected over the last two days, according to Cirium. A total of 399 flights were cancelled or did not fly on Wednesday. The worst affected airport was London Heathrow, which saw 79 out of a total of 666 departure flights affected. British Airways was the worst affected, with saw 88 of its 507 flights scheduled to depart on Wednesday impacted. Gatwick Airport has issued a statement in the wake of the recent air traffic control chaos at British airports. Flight disruption that caused chaos for hundreds of thousands of passengers is expected to ease on Thursday. Technical issues with air traffic control systems have caused more than 2,000 flights arriving or departing the UK to be cancelled since Tuesday. The disruption is expected to lessen on Thursday and flight schedules return to normal, although Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (Nats), has faced calls to resign. Among those calling for Mr Rolfe to step down has been Michael O’Leary, the outspoken boss of budget airline Ryanair. On Wednesday, Mr O’Leary called Mr Rolfe’s position “untenable” and he is likely to issue further criticism when he hosts Ryanair’s annual general meeting at its headquarters close to Dublin airport later on Thursday. Cancellations and delays continued on Wednesday as airlines dealt with knock-on impacts at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted. A co-creator of The Walking Dead cartoon said British Airways had shut off its phone lines after wait times reached two hours. Charlie Adlard, 60, said he had decided to abandon his comic book convention in Palermo and return home to Shrewsbury after “hanging around in the hotel room for hours”. He told PA: “Due to the lack of information, due to everything crashing now, due to the fact that apparently BA have now switched off their customer service phone number because there’s so many calls, we’re not really sure what to do.” An airport member of staff told him BA’s customer service desk is behind security and that that “makes no sense”. Elsewhere, the American family camping on the floor had landed in the UK at 4pm on Tuesday and will not depart until at least 4.30pm on Thursday. The Connecticut couple and their two daughters were returning to the US after a holiday in Santorini, Greece, when the father, Bob Sehl, told PA: “We were three-quarters of the way, a little bit more, to Heathrow when everything shut down and they derailed us (to Stansted).” The family then had to wait five hours for their luggage at the Essex airport, with Mr Sehl, 58, adding: “We just waited and waited and more people and more people came and it just became a real crowded nightmare.” Stansted does not operate BA. As a result, at 2.30am, more than 10 hours after landing, they had to travel to Heathrow to try to continue their homewards journey. The said they spent two hours queuing at a Heathrow information booth, only to be handed a BA card with a phone number that did not work. A grandad says that customer service at Heathrow has been “nil” as he tried to accompany his daughter to her wedding in Italy. Speaking at Heathrow Terminal 5, Kevin Turner, 77, said: “We’ve been let down badly because they only told us (about the cancellation) an hour before and we was (sic) already in the taxi and on the way to the airport, so it’s not good enough really, but what can we do? “The customer service has been nil, to tell you the truth, so my daughter and her husband-to-be, or her husband-nearly, have been on their phones non-stop.” He added: “We was (sic) with BA (British Airways) but there’s no one in the airport who will talk to us, not properly anyway, but yeah we ring and ring and no one answers you.” Asked about reports that the airline has shut off its phone lines, he said: “That’s what we’ve experienced, nothing goes through and we’re really lost. We’ve rebooked with a different airline (EasyJet), through another airport (Gatwick).” A woman from Greater Manchester says she is stranded in Rhodes after her flight home from a dream £4,000 holiday was cancelled. The 32 year-old from Ashton-under-Lyne, flew out to Rhodes with her partner on September 1 for a week-long holiday with TUI. They were due to fly back to Manchester Airport in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday, September 9) however when they arrived at Rhodes airport, they were told their plane had been caught up in the chaos caused by an air traffic control system failure in the UK. "Everyone was absolutely fuming" she told the Manchester Evening News. "Why take us to the airport when they knew there was no flight?" Not long afterwards she said they received an email which said due to 'limited availability at your destination' they were being asked to source their own hotel, transport and meals 'for a minimum of two nights.' "We splurged out" she said. "This was a £4,000 holiday. We then had spending money on top. And they were expecting us to pay even more money out. I only had 40 euros left in my account, my partner's mum had to transfer us some money." Despite being told she will be compensated, she said she also worried about getting the money she had already spent back. She said they hoped to be able to fly on Thursday night, or the early hours of Friday, but had still had no confirmation from TUI. Flights may be returning to normal at Heathrow but passengers have told of "long queues" at arrivals. Spencer Kelly wrote on X that he had now arrived at Heathrow having previously shared that his flight from Lisbon was cancelled on Tuesday. He said: "Status update. Hello UK! Heathrow Terminal 2 Arrivals is rammed with people and there are long queues on the road leading up to Arrivals. My taxi driver had the excellent sense to go to Departures and I met him there instead." A British Airways passenger says that her flight cancellation has cost her £2,000 and has called the situation at Heathrow a "disaster". She wrote on X: "The effect of @British_Airways flying us from Austin TX to London Heathrow and then canceling our onward flight has cost me over 2000.00 and Im still in London. Terrible. Everyone on that flight is scrambling as well. Disaster." Heathrow Airport appears to have been the worst affected by delays and cancellations this evening but it appears to be returning now towards normal. Currently there are no flights marked as delayed or cancelled for departures and on the arrivals list only a 10.35pm BA plane from Barcelona has been cancelled. Earlier today the airport issued a statement saying that operations were recovering but "knock-on disruption" was expected. It stated: "Following yesterday’s technical issue affecting NATS air traffic control, Heathrow’s operations are recovering. Flights are operating today, however some knock-on disruption is expected as airlines reposition aircraft and crew."Passengers are advised to check the latest status of their flight directly with their airline and to only travel to Heathrow if their flight is confirmed as operating today."We apologise to passengers affected by the disruption. Additional colleagues are available across our terminals to provide support, and we are working closely with NATS and our airline partners to return operations to normal as quickly as possible." British Airways says that air traffic control problems need to be looked at "as a matter of urgency”. A spokesperson said: “We’ve heard reassurances before, but then we’re faced with issues like this yet again. Our customers and colleagues are tired of dealing with these issues, time after time. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. “Over the coming days, we’ll continue doing everything we can until every affected customer is on their way.” BA staff volunteered to work at its call centres and flying operations, and on Wednesday the airline plans to operate a full long-haul programme out of Heathrow and a full operation from Gatwick, it is understood. Passengers whose flights were delayed or cancelled because of Tuesday’s air traffic control problems are unlikely to be entitled to compensation, the aviation regulator has said. A UK Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson said: “We know many passengers have faced significant disruption and frustration following the Nats system issue on Tuesday September 8, and we understand the impact this has had on their travel plans. “As part of our established regulatory framework, Nats will be providing a technical report on the incident shortly. In addition, the Government has asked the UK Civil Aviation Authority to carry out an independent review of the disruption to establish what happened and consider how well Nats is set up to deliver a resilient service in the future. “In the meantime, we have reminded airlines of their responsibilities to look after passengers whose flights have been delayed or cancelled. “We consider that disruption caused by the Nats outage is likely to be considered the result of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ under passenger rights rules. This means that although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident.” Passengers have been told they are unlikely to be eligible for compensation if they have faced delays and or cancellations due to the air traffic control problem. The British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued an update stating: "Although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident." Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs today that the CAA is carrying out an investigation into the air traffic control chaos. She stated: "I am clear that passengers should not have to face this disruption. I have therefore asked the CAA to conduct an independent review to establish cause and ensure that our air traffic control systems can get passengers to where they need to be and this … review will report to me within six months.” Around 2,000 flights have been cancelled over two days of air traffic control issues, reveals a flight tracker. AirNav Radar states on X: "Travel disruption continued on Wednesday after flights resumed at major airports following Tuesday’s hours-long outage, which led to around 2,000 cancellations." It continued: "London Heathrow (LHR): 362 canceled yesterday + 253 today. 425 delayed yesterday + 572 today. "London Gatwick (LGW): 229 canceled yesterday + 34 today. 308 delayed yesterday + 379 today. "London Stansted (STN): 114 canceled yesterday + 6 today. 279 delayed yesterday + 275 today." A passenger says she is now stuck in "traffic jams" at Heathrow following a 20 hour delay for a flight to China. She wrote on X: "Slip road to Terminal 4 #Heathrow closed. Massive traffic jams. No directions as to where to go to drop off, no explanation why. "This is after a 20 hour delay to flight to China, wasted cab fare, train fare, car journey and time. Absolute fiasco." More than 330,000 passengers have been impacted following flight disruption caused by an air traffic control issue, according to industry body Airlines UK. In a letter to the Transport Secretary on Wednesday, the association’s chief executive Tim Alderslade said more than 155,000 passengers had had flights cancelled while flights had been delayed for more than 180,000 passengers. An American woman says it is “nerve-racking” in departures without a gate number amid "chaos" as she waits for a flight to Warsaw. Jennifer Jones, 69, is on a layover at Heathrow from Phoenix, Arizona, and told the Press Association: “(We) had to wait on the plane for the bus to come get us because everybody was trying to get on the buses, so we finally got on the bus and got inside, and it was chaos because everybody’s flights were cancelled, and by the time we figured out ‘well, I’m going to have to stay the night’, the hotels were all booked.” She landed at about 3pm, found a hostel that she arrived at at about 9pm, and then returned to Heathrow at 2.30am “hoping to get another flight so I don’t miss any flights to Warsaw”. Perched on a luggage trolley, Ms Jones, who has had her trip to Warsaw with her friends booked for about a year, added: “In the States you go to the airport and you just take your boarding pass and go through security and go to your gate and then you sit there and guard your plane, you know, and here you don’t even have a gate assignment so you can’t get through security yet – that’s a little nerve-racking.” The Government has "confidence" in the the Nats CEO Martin Rolfe and he has been "tasked with an investigation" into the air traffic control problem. A Downing Street spokesman said: “We have confidence in him and he’s been tasked with the investigation, which will report in a week’s time.” Airlines UK has written to the transport secretary to share "serious concern" and "frustration" over the air traffic outage. The association of UK airlines is calling for action over the third major system failure in three years for air traffic control. Tim Alderslade, CEO of Airlines UK, wrote that it is the airlines which are being left to "absorb the immediate costs of disruption" despite having "no operational control over this failure". And the letter added: "This kind of failure simply cannot happen again." British Airways has had to cancel nearly 550 flights – affecting 85,000 of its customers. A total of 349 were axed on Tuesday and a further 200 cancelled today with the airline diverting 17 journeys to different airports. A BA spokesperson said: “Since yesterday, we’ve rebooked more than 60,000 customers to travel on alternative flights, getting them to their destinations as quickly as we can. “Today, we’ve been able to operate almost 80% of our schedule across our whole network. We know this has been a very challenging and frustrating time for our customers, and we’re incredibly sorry for the experience they’ve endured because of an issue that has been entirely out of our control. “The scale and challenge of dealing with the aftermath of an event like this is severe and complex. What this and previous disruption events highlight is the enormous impact customers suffer when one part of the aviation system fails.” Thousands of passengers continue to be affected with delays and cancellations at UK airports despite the air traffic control issue now fixed. Heathrow: The airport says operations are "recovering" and "knock-on disruption is expected as airlines reposition aircraft and crew". Its departure board shows many delays and cancellations this evening. There is also disruption for arrivals but not as many planes affected. Gatwick: Passengers heading to the airport are advised to continue to check with their airlines over possible delays or cancellations. Many flights both arriving and departing are currently delayed for an hour or so. There is a TUI flight from Rhodes which should be arriving at 6.05pm which is among those cancelled. Stansted: The airport is similarly advising people to check with their airlines but there are not as many departing planes now affected by the earlier chaos with the majority of flights over the coming hours leaving on time. But arrivals continue to be impacted with for example a 5.15pm flight from Santorini now expected at 8.51pm. Manchester: There continue to be delays at the airport but most on the departure board are less than hour and it is a similar situation for those arriving. Edinburgh: Flights continue to be affected with many flights delayed for an hour or two this evening as the airport gradually returns to normal and there are no cancellations listed for arrivals or departures. East Midlands: The airport say it is operating as normal and there appears to be minimal impact now on departures and arrivals. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the Commons: “A four-hour air traffic outage yesterday left hundreds of thousands of passengers facing cancellations, diversions and delays. I would like to apologise wholeheartedly to passengers for this disruption. “We often take for granted the way in which our aviation system just works, but yesterday that was not the case. Safety must remain air traffic controllers’ overriding priority and this morning I have spoken to Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe, who informed me this outage was due to a technical issue at their Swanwick site. “So, while my understanding from Nats is that we can rule out a cyber attack on this occasion, I do not believe this issue was unavoidable. “We also spoke this morning about how Nats responded to resolve and minimise the disruption as quickly as possible, and I am grateful to the airports and airlines who responded straight away. “But I am clear that passengers should not have to face this disruption. I have therefore asked the CAA to conduct an independent review to establish cause and ensure that our air traffic control systems can get passengers to where they need to be and this … review will report to me within six months.” Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says she does not believe the air traffic control problems that have caused chaos for passengers were “unavoidable”. She also told MPs that she had asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review. A woman, with an eight-month-old baby, claims that no food or water were provided to passengers who were stranded for six hours on a Ryanair plane at Newcastle Airport. She wrote on X: "6 hours we spent on a @Ryanair plane yesterday stuck on the tarmac at Newcastle. No updates for hours, no water or food. "Being told we would have a replacement flight for today to then be told we have to sort out our own flight. We had an 8 month old baby with us. Disgusting." In an update from aviation analytics company Cirium the airport chaos has now led to 347 flights not taking off today. It breaks down as 150 of those being departures from airports and 197 arrivals. Thousands of passengers face being stuck abroad until next week due to knock-on effects from the air traffic control chaos at airports. The issue has been with Nats, the National Air Traffic Service, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports with arrivals as well as departures affected. A family said on Facebook said they couldn't get back to the UK until September 16 and would need to travel to another airport. Other examples are a woman who wrote: “So Ryanair can’t get me on a flight until NEXT WEEK TUESDAY. God this is a nightmare.” And a further said: “Next rebookable EasyJet flight is next Tuesday.” An American family camping on the floor at Heathrow airport had landed in the UK at 4pm on Tuesday and will not depart until at least 4.30pm on Thursday. The Connecticut couple and their two daughters, who used towels for cushions and luggage trolleys for seats, were one of many groups waiting with their luggage at Terminal 5 departures on Wednesday. The family was returning to the US after a holiday in Santorini, Greece, when the father, who gave his name as Bob, told the Press Association: “We were three-quarters of the way, a little bit more, to Heathrow when everything shut down and they derailed us (to Stansted).” The family then had to wait five hours for their luggage at the Essex airport, with Bob adding: “We just waited and waited and more people and more people came and it just became a real crowded nightmare.” Aviation analytics company Cirium has said in its latest update that a staggering 30.1 per cent of flights across UK airports were cancelled or did not fly yesterday. So far today, 327 flights - 140 departures and 187 arrivals - have been cancelled or have not taken off, Cirium said. It added that more than 2,000 flights have been affected since the outage began, with at least 300,000 passengers impacted. Today, 182 flights at Heathrow Airport have been cancelled or have not taken off, followed by 13 at Manchester Airport, 12 at Luton Airport, 10 at Edinburgh Airport and nine at Gatwick Airport, according to Cirium. Other airports have also been affected. Flights covered by UK consumer law include those operated by an airline departing from a UK airport, those arriving at a UK airport on a UK or EU airline, and those arriving at an EU airport on a UK airline. The amount of assistance passengers are entitled to depends on the distance of their flight: - Flights under 1,500km (932 miles), such as Glasgow to Amsterdam - at least two hours - Flights between 1,500km (932 miles) and 3,500km (2,175 miles), such as Manchester to Marrakesh - at least three hours - Flights over 3,500km (2,175 miles), such as Heathrow to New York - at least four hours The assistance should include a reasonable amount of food and drink (often provided through vouchers), as well as a means for passengers to communicate, such as reimbursement for phone calls. If an overnight stay is required, airlines should also provide accommodation and transport to and from the hotel. Andy Burnham's official spokesperson has said the Government has confidence in NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe. Speaking to reporters, the Prime Minister's spokesperson said: "Well, you've got the transport secretary's instruction to the NATS CEO. I think it's self-evident that she wants answers and the full investigation to be reported back in a week's time, and she's got confidence in him to deliver that." Pressed on whether the investigation could affect the Government's confidence in Rolfe, the spokesperson said: "We have confidence in him and he’s been tasked with the investigation, which will report in a week's time."