Thousands of passengers face being stranded abroad until next WEEK – with UK airports warning of more travel delays

THOUSANDS of passengers face being stuck abroad until next WEEK after more than 1,000 flights were cancelled yesterday due to a major tech outage. The air traffic control issue emerged around 1pm yesterday and, while now fixed, NATS has warned that delays are expected to continue as it tries to “clear a backlog of flights”. Passengers have been stranded at airports after a major tech outage across UK airports Credit: Sarah Holt Travellers have reported being stranded in multiple destinations including Tenerife and Corfu Credit: Getty And due to the huge disruption, this has had a knock on affect with Brits trying to get home, due to a lack of flight availability – with some told they could be stuck abroad until next week. One family wrote on Facebook that they they were not getting flights back to the UK until September 16 – and to a different airport. Sign up for the Travel newsletter Thank you! Another said: “Due home last night. Arrived at airport, checked luggage in and told flight cancelled. “The flight was cancelled at very short notice, and the alternative flight offered was a whole week later, 16th September.” Read more on travel inspo One woman wrote: “So Ryanair cant get me on a flight until NEXT WEEK TUESDAY. God this is a nightmare.” A third wrote on social media: “Next rebookable EasyJet flight is next Tuesday.” It’s not just delays, but also passengers being left hundreds of pounds out of pocket – one disgruntled passenger posted on X that they had spend nearly £330 on hotels. Not only that, but they told they could only fly on Saturday to a London Southend rather than Luton. Most read in Travel Some passengers even had to wait hours on planes Credit: Getty More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled already Credit: PA Hundreds of other travellers have taken to social media platforms to share that they are stuck abroad, with other destinations including Tenerife, Spain, Corfu, Greece and Paris, France – and as far as Seoul and the US. Others have been stranded in UK airports and some have even sat on planes for hours before moving on. Passengers affected are being advised to contact their airline, and keep any receipts for hotels and food and drink booked to reclaim later. Here is everything you need to know about getting compensation – and it isn’t the best news if you’ve been affected. And we’ve listed all the UK airports still affected by the ATC outage. Sun Travel weighs in on ATC issues By Sophie Swietochowski, Assistant Travel Editor THE last time we saw an air traffic control problem such as this was last year, when a NATS radar system failed. It was only a 20-minute outage but the knock-on effect was catastrophic. An even more dramatic air traffic control issue arose on the August bank holiday weekend in 2023. It was something as simple as a small piece of incorrect data that triggered a mass system failure, lasting a matter of hours. Despite the small time frame, hundreds of flights were forced to divert to alternative airports outside of the country and UK airspace capacity was reduced by about 90 per cent. For this period of time, routes had to be processed manually as opposed to the automatic operations ordinarily relied upon, and the ripple effect was huge. Thousands of holiday plans were put on hold and holidaymakers were left unsure of whether or not they would be flying or how their trip would be affected. The current situation is sure to have a pretty major knock on effect with air traffic control problems causing bottlenecks further down the line. Flights arriving and departing will be impacted with trips to European destinations likely affected as low cost airlines operate multiple routes a day. It’s not possible to predict how long the difficulties will last or how major the impact will be, but it is a good sign that planes aren’t completely grounded at this stage. While the airlines are not directly responsible for the chaos, they do have a duty of care to their passengers. Taking out decent travel insurance is typically the best way to safeguard your holi Comment now