Booking a holiday is supposed to be a stress reliver. But, for me, it only heightens my blood pressure to levels that I think would make me into a medical marvel.
That’s because for my last four holidays, I’ve been riddled with travel miseries one after the other. As the saying goes ‘once an accident, twice a coincidence, three times a pattern’, so who knows what four times means?
However, I’m going to predict that the next line is ‘four times a curse’ because after my experience it feels like my dream getaways are more like nightmares.
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(Image: Layla Nicholson)
Curse? What curse?
Let me fill you in…so far, a fire in the car park of Luton Airport threatened to cancel my flight to Lisbon last October, my trip to Boston was hanging on by a thread due to the impending Icelandic volcano eruption and my sun-seeking in Cyprus was delayed by hours because of the French air traffic strikes.
So, what now?
Well, it’s just the global Microsoft outage – penned the ‘biggest in history’ – that is threatening to bodge my trip to the Netherlands tomorrow.
(Image: Getty Images)
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It’s already looking like utter airport mayhem is on the cards and I’ve only got 20 hours to go.
In an age of everything being done digitally, I enjoy the fruits of an online check-in. It often proves to make a swift journey through the airport so I have time for a glass of Wetherspoons bubbly before my flight.
However, Ryanair announced they’ve been struck down along with the major Microsoft outage that’s affecting anything from transport to hospitals.
(Image: Layla Nicholson/Daily Star)
(Image: PA)
When I went to check-in for my flight I realised that I couldn’t do it and it was possibly just a fault with my phone. Just my luck, the travel curse has struck again.
The airline addressed that customers are not able to check-in for their flights online due to the global power outage, therefore they can do so manually at the airport – making for much longer queues.
On X, formerly Twitter, the airline wrote: “We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a Global 3rd party IT outage which is out of our control. We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours before their scheduled departure time.
(Image: Icelandic Coast Guard/AFP via Ge)
(Image: PA)
“If you’re due to travel today and have not already checked-in for your flight, you can do so at the airport. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this Global 3rd party IT outage.”
Already, social media users are documenting the absolute chaos unfolding in airports who are trying to manually check-in all customers.
X user @sellwithDean filmed scenes at Gatwick Airport where the usually sparse check-in lines are now full to the brim. He snapped a picture of the British Airways queue that’s “out of the building.”
(Image: Layla Nicholson/Daily Star)
Similar scenes are coming out of Stansted, where I’m flying from tomorrow morning. Although flights are reportedly operating normally, chaos continues to ensue in the form of queues.
While I’m not having to deal with the likes of freak car park incidents nor literal ash-billowing volcanos, the power outage spurring on the great British act of queuing could put a spanner in the works for my trip to the ‘Dam.
Yes, I may well have a travel curse. But, I have managed to get on my flights despite the circumstances.
Will the power outage continue to threaten my dream of relaxation abroad? Only time will tell…