UK Air Traffic Control Outage: Which Airlines Cancelled Flights and What You Are Owed

Manchester was among the airports experiencing the greatest disruption. No reliable airport-specific cancellation total was published, so check the exact flight rather than applying the UK-wide figure to Manchester.Prestwick incident

Edinburgh was among the airports experiencing the greatest disruption. Cancellations and delays could continue after the technical fault ended while airlines restored aircraft and crew positions.Prestwick incident

Glasgow flights were exposed because the Prestwick centre serves Scottish airspace. Confirm the operating flight by number before travelling.Prestwick incident

Belfast International and George Best Belfast City were among the most disrupted airports. Check which Belfast airport is printed on the booking before using its flight board.Prestwick incident

Newcastle was named among the airports affected by the Prestwick failure. Use the airline’s current status rather than assuming every service was disrupted.Prestwick incident

Cirium counted 227 cancelled UK arrivals and departures by late afternoon. That is a UK-wide figure, not a total for every airport or airline.Cirium, 21 September

“We will do all we can minimise the impact of this for our customers including providing customers on flights unable to operate with their options including a free transfer or refund and meals and hotel accommodation for those who require them.”easyJet, 8 SeptemberRead the statementDo this: the transfer and the refund are both on offer, so take the transfer if you still want to travel. Ask for the hotel at the airport rather than booking your own, and keep every receipt if you have to pay.

“Tuesday’s air traffic control issue has forced us into cancelling almost 550 of our flights, affecting more than 85,000 of our customers.”British Airways, 9 SeptemberRead the statementDo this: British Airways protected its long haul departures and cut short haul instead, so a European leg is likelier to have gone. It says it rebooked more than 60,000 customers onto other flights, and on 10 September it let customers due to fly that day move to a later flight free of charge, up to 13 September.

“More than 140 of our flights were delayed and 25,000 passengers were disrupted. Martin Rolfe should resign today.”Neal McMahon, Ryanair chief operations officer, 21 SeptemberRead the statement8 September, the bigger outage

“Families travelling on holiday, people travelling for work and thousands of visitors to the UK have once again paid the price for Nats’ abhorrent failure.”Neal McMahon, Ryanair chief operating officer, 8 SeptemberRead the statementDo this: Ryanair says it notified affected passengers directly and it has published no waiver beyond that. It has issued no updated count since the Tuesday, so this remains a day one figure. Delays of up to eight hours are long enough to trigger meals, so ask for them.

“A critical national infrastructure provider should not repeatedly bring the aviation system to a standstill. Nats is simply not fit for purpose in its current form.”Wizz Air, 8 SeptemberRead the statementDo this: Wizz Air has attacked the air traffic provider rather than publish terms for its own passengers. Your entitlements do not depend on an airline announcing them, so claim against the rules in the next section.

Emirates told passengers that flights leaving from and arriving at UK airports were disrupted by the air traffic control fault, and moved some passengers onto alternative services.Emirates, 8 SeptemberRead the statementDo this: your inbound leg to the UK is not covered by UK law, because Emirates is neither a UK nor an EU airline. The next section explains what that leaves you, and it is more than nothing.

Qatar Airways warned that flights to and from UK airports, and services crossing UK airspace on the way somewhere else, faced delays and possible rerouting.Qatar Airways, 8 SeptemberRead the statementDo this: the rerouting warning matters for connections through Doha, because a late arrival into Doha is what breaks the onward leg. Ask to be rebooked on the connection before you fly, not after you land.

European airlines flying into the UK were caught as hard as the British ones, because their aircraft were held at the far end. Most published nothing at all.8 SeptemberDo this: silence from your airline changes nothing about what you are owed. Look the flight up by number on the airline’s own status page, because a cancellation appears there hours before anyone writes an advisory.

• You can still choose a refund of every unused part of the ticket within seven days, or a seat on the earliest replacement flight.
• That replacement can be on a rival airline if it flies significantly sooner than your own airline’s next seat.
• Meals and refreshments once the delay passes two hours on a short flight, three on a medium one, four on a long one.
• A hotel and the transfers to it if you are pushed to the next day, plus two phone calls or emails.
• The cash compensation is unlikely. The CAA said on 9 September that disruption caused by the outage is likely to be an extraordinary circumstance, so the payment worth GBP 220 to GBP 520 is unlikely to be due. Its view is illustrative guidance, not a binding ruling.

Do this: ask for the re-route first, because a refund ends the airline’s duty to get you there. Keep every receipt for food and beds, and claim those back separately.

• This is the group most people get wrong. British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and Air France all carry these duties into the UK.
• You can choose a refund of the unused ticket within seven days, or the earliest replacement seat, including on another airline.
• Meals, a hotel and the transfers apply exactly as they do on a departure, and they apply at the foreign airport you are stuck at.
• The cash compensation is unlikely, for the same reason it is unlikely on a departure.

Do this: claim at the airport you are actually standing in. Ground staff abroad often say local rules apply, and for these airlines they do not.

• This covers most Gulf and South Asian carriers flying into Britain, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Air India and PIA.
• Your rights come from the airline’s own conditions of carriage and from the rules of the country you departed, not from UK261.
• In practice the large Gulf airlines rebook and accommodate anyway, because their conditions of carriage promise it. Ask, and ask before you leave the airport.
• Your return leg is a different flight. If you fly home out of a UK airport later, that leg is fully covered.

Do this: ask for the re-route and the hotel in the same breath, and get the refusal in writing if you are refused. A written refusal is what a later claim is built on.

• What is covered: meals and refreshments proportionate to the delay, a hotel and the transfers to it if you were held to the next day, and two calls or emails.
• What to send: the receipts, the booking reference, the flight number and the dates you were held. Photographs of paper receipts are accepted.
• The test is whether the spending was reasonable. A normal bed and a normal meal go through. Alcohol, room service and a suite get trimmed.
• Send it to the airline that operated the flight, not to the travel agent or the booking site you paid.

Do this: claim the expenses separately from the refund. Airlines run the two on different tracks, and accepting a refund does not close the expenses claim.

• The refund covers every unused part of the ticket, including a return leg you no longer want to fly.
• The seven days run from when you ask, not from when the airline gets to your case.
• Taking the refund ends the airline’s duty to get you there. If you still need to travel, ask for the re-route first and fall back to the refund.
• A re-route can be on a rival airline when that rival flies significantly sooner than your own airline’s next seat.

Do this: put the request in writing and keep the timestamp. The seven day deadline only helps you if you can show when the clock started.

• On 9 September the CAA said the outage is likely to count as an extraordinary circumstance, and that is what removes the cash payment of GBP 220 to GBP 520.
• It said the same about the days after. Cancellations caused by the backlog are also likely extraordinary, which is the part most people get wrong.
• The CAA called its own view illustrative and for guidance only, rather than determinative. It binds neither an airline nor a court.
• The burden of proof still sits with the airline. It has to show the circumstance hit your particular flight, not that the day was difficult.

Do this: claim the refund and the expenses whatever you decide about the cash, because neither of those is affected by any of this.

• Give the airline eight weeks to settle it. That wait is what the next step requires.
• Then go to its dispute resolution scheme. Most UK airlines belong to one, it costs the passenger nothing, and its decision binds the airline.
• If your airline belongs to no scheme, the CAA’s own passenger advice team takes the complaint instead.
• Court is the last rung. You have six years to bring a claim in England and Wales and five in Scotland, so nothing expires this month.

Do this: keep the whole thing in one email thread. These schemes decide on the paper trail, and one thread beats a folder of screenshots.