Global IT outage: How will my flights be affected this weekend?

Airports around the world have been some of the worst impacted by the global tech issues that caused chaos on Friday.

The outage, which has affected Microsoft Windows PCs around the world, was triggered by a bug in an update rolled out by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Although CrowdStrike says they have repaired the issue, it is likely to be some time before everything comes back to normal.

All of the UK's biggest airports and carries were impacted with cancellations and delays creating chaos for holidaymakers.

More than 330 scheduled arrival and departure flights in the UK were cancelled amid the global IT outage, aviation analytics company Cirium said. Across the world, 5,078 flights were cancelled due to the disruption.

According to travel journalist Simon Calder, at least 45 flights had been cancelled to and from UK airports on Saturday.

Long queues at Stansted Airport due to the global IT outage

The collapse came on what was predicted to be the busiest day of the year for UK flight departures, with 3,214 flights scheduled - the highest number since October 2019.

Videos shared on social media showed travelers facing extremely long queues.

How long will it take for things to get back to normal?

Although many airports have restored their systems they are beset by cancellations and delays.

Crews have limits on their working hours, so staffing challenges cascade along with flight delays.

Getting schedules back on track is a complicated process that can take several days to iron out.

On top of this due to the global nature of the issue other airports and carriers may take longer to restore their systems likely creating a form of backlog in the network.

What are the UK's biggest airports saying?

For the eight biggest airports in the UK, which carry more than 80% of the country's air traffic, their statements are mostly the same.

In updates published on X, formerly Twitter, throughout Friday Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Luton, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Bristol all said they had managed to mitigate the issue and get their systems back online.

But they also warned there would be knock-on effects for the rest of Friday.

For example, on Friday afternoon, Edinburgh airport said: "Things are now returning to normal but clearly there will be knock-on impacts over the coming days."

But with some airlines still operating with a manual check-in process they advised passengers to arrive early for their flights to ensure everyone can board without delays.

Manchester Airport said: "Global IT problems continue to affect some of our airlines."

At the moment airports have said little about if the issues will stretch into the weekend with Heathrow still predicting all of their flights on Saturday departing on time.

Carriers and airports are all recommending passengers plan for delays and regularly check the status of their flight for any sudden change.

What should I do if my plane is delayed or cancelled?

The airline you are travelling on is the first point of call for updates on their individual policy.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said compensation for delayed or cancelled flights "will not be payable" as these are "extraordinary circumstances".

But, he added: "airlines nonetheless have a duty to look after you, including providing meals and accommodation if it becomes necessary.

"They should also reroute you as quickly as possible, though given the global nature of the problem, this may not be immediately possible."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...