Stranded Brits face zero compensation after flights grounded in world IT outage

Thousands of stranded holidaymakers face getting zero compensation after their flights were grounded by the global IT outage.

Hundreds of planes have been cancelled in the UK after the glitch crippled systems – leaving at least 80,000 passengers marooned on Friday alone. Dozens more holiday flights were axed across Britain on Sunday (July 21) in the devastating wake of US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s botched software update.

It left peeved travellers jammed in snaking queues at airports and their bags caught in the turmoil. But industry watchdog the Civil Aviation Authority has told airline bosses the glitch is likely to be seen as “extraordinary circumstances”.

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It means there would be no obligation to pay out millions of pounds to passengers caught in the computer gremlin chaos. The CAA’s letter – sent on Friday at the peak of the IT chaos – said: “As a result, passengers are unlikely to be entitled to fixed-sum compensation.”

If it designates the computer outage as an “extraordinary circumstance” it would rank it with acts of terrorism, sabotage, deadly weather and the impact of sick or rowdy passengers. All of them are deemed beyond airlines’ control.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy the PC Agency, blasted about the watchdog’s advice to airlines: “This outage caused untold financial and emotional stress to thousands of people in the UK. If the regulator can’t protect passengers in this case and agree compensation for ruined holidays, what is it truly for?”

He added the CAA’s position was laughable as airlines have the power to regain their costs from CrowdStrike.

The watchdog did admit in its letter passenger groups may “try and claim compensation, including through the courts” if they “disagree with the CAA’s interpretation”. Passengers may still be able to claw back refunds on the cost of their ticket, as well as some expenses such as hotel and food costs.

Any extra compensation of between £211 and £506 – standard in the EU for flight disruption – is now set to be excluded. It would let airlines wriggle out of paying tens of millions of pounds of compo.

Airline bosses are being slated by passengers for snubbing them amid the IT crash. One mum has told how she was left marooned in an airport with her six-year-old twins with no food or water as Vueling customer staff reportedly told her they “owed nobody an apology”.

Friday was forecast to be the busiest day for departures since October 2019 before the computer meltdown. Knock-on delays from the CrowdStrike disaster dragged on through the weekend.

At the time of going to press on Sunday, easyJet had grounded 24 flights at London Gatwick, while British Airways cancelled a dozen flights at London Heathrow. CrowdStrike says it is “now close to rolling out an automatic fix to the issue with their update” that would allow millions of stricken systems to get back online. But IT experts are warning it could take weeks for global tech infrastructure to recover.

Microsoft says 8.5 million devices were hit by the glitch, which has crippled life-saving GP, hospital and pharmacy systems and trains axed. Banks, supermarkets and millions of businesses have also been hit, with stores and pubs forced to go cash-only and TV channels including Sky News knocked off air.

Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, 53, branded the outage the “biggest IT fail ever”. The turmoil was caused by a bug in a software update at CrowdStrike, which has said it has now “identified”, with a “fix deployed”.