Stansted airport IT failure: your rights if you were caught up in the chaos

Thousands of passengers are seeking alternative flights or have given up on their holiday plans after another airport IT meltdown.

At around 2.30am on Sunday 11 May, systems at London Stansted airport shut down. Eight hours later, the Essex airport said everything was working normally. But by then thousands of passengers, primarily booked on Ryanair, had missed their flights. Thousands more, mainly on Jet2, faced long delays throughout the day.

What rights do passengers have? These are the key questions and answers.

What went wrong?

Stansted airport was affected by an “IT issue” early on Sunday morning that rendered many of the systems useless. A problem was identified at 2.30am, but with the first wave of flights due to start just before 6am, queues began building.

“I was in queue for over two hours,” said Anne Alexander, head of politics for ITV’s Good Morning Britain.” She was booked to fly with Ryanair to Palermo in Sicily for a short break, and had arrived at Stansted with over two hours to spare. But by the time she arrived at the gate, the flight had departed.

Another passengers, Jodie, travelling to Antalya on Jet2 at 6.30am, talked of the confusion, saying: “I was told I won’t get on my flight as I was too late, and to go and book another alternative. Somebody else said the flight would go without me but with my case. I’m a solo traveller and have spent all morning in tears as it’s been handled dreadfully.”

In fact, she was a passenger on Jet2, which waited for customers to reach the aircraft before departing – but, with a fresh crew needed, is likely to be six hours late reaching Turkey.

Why did Ryanair and Jet2 respond differently?

They have different business models. Ryanair is a flight-only enterprise. Its operation depends on aircraft and crew operating their high-intensity schedules as close to on-time as possible. The airline has already warned of severe air-traffic control problems during the summer, especially at weekends, and wanted to get its crucial first wave of around 60 flights away on time.

The airline says that around 40 per cent of passengers affected by the IT failure missed flights. The Independent calculates around 4,000 passengers arrived at the gate too late.

Jet2 is devoted to package holidays as well as flight-only tickets, and therefore waited for all passengers to reach their outbound flights. This had an impact in terms of crewing; delaying a flight to the eastern Mediterranean by several hours can mean pilots and cabin crew reach flight-time limits.

What are the rights of Ryanair passengers who missed flights?

They are in a tricky position. Legally, it is the passenger’s responsibility to reach the gate in time, and so Europe’s biggest budget airline could rely on its normal terms and conditions – charging a “missed departure fee” of £100 for passengers who wanted to rebook on a later flight. In practice, given the circumstances, the airline is allowing rebooking free of charge for passengers.

The problem is, on a typical Ryanair flight only a dozen or so seats are empty – meaning many passengers could face a long wait for an alternative departure.

Many of the, like ITV’s Anne Alexander, will simply have abandoned their trips.

For travellers later on Sunday, Ryanair is saying: “We are monitoring delays for flights operating to/from Stansted airport. Affected passengers will be notified via the Ryanair app. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this internet outage, which is outside of our control.”

Can passengers who gave up claim on travel insurance?

Possibly, as long as they can demonstrate (for example through time-stamped photographs, car-park receipts, etc) that they arrived at the airport in good time – ideally a minimum of two hours ahead.

All claims will need to be supported by receipts.

What about passengers on Jet2 and other airlines?

Jet2 is the second operator in terms of scale at Stansted, and its entire first wave of 15 flights was delayed by anything from to six hours.

For flights to most Mediterranean destination, after a delay of three hours the airline must provide refreshments free of charge. The same will apply to the thousands of passengers departing from Stansted later in the day – whose flights will inevitably be delayed – and those at destinations across Europe waiting to come home.

Delayed passengers on Tui are in much the same position.

Is any compensation payable?

Not by the airlines. The IT failure was a Stansted airport issue and they do not need to pay cash compensation.

Some travel insurance policies may pay a modest amount for delays of eight hours or more.

Can I claim from Stansted airport?

If you have financial losses that are not met elsewhere, you can try to make a claim.