Passengers flying from Corfu to Manchester left stranded after global IT outage causes 50 hour delay

Passengers flying from a Greek island are desperate to return home after becoming stranded for more than 50 hours due to a worldwide IT outage.

Holidaymakers were left stranded in Corfu after the outage, which affected Microsoft Windows PCs around the world, was triggered by a bug in an update rolled out by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike on Friday 19 July.

The Manchester-bound passengers were just some of the thousands who received numerous emails about sudden flight cancellations after the outage caused several issues including failure of online check-ins and blank departure screens, with several airports forced to do check-in and boarding manually.

This led to a build-up of delayed flights and cancellations causing "chaos" and "horrendous queues".

One passenger, who had travelled to Corfu with their mum, described the "nightmare" they are currently facing.

The passenger, who asked to remain anonymous said: "Our flight was due to fly at 2:20pm on Friday back to Manchester.

"They picked us up from the hotel and when we got to the airport, there were huge queues, it was chaos."It was horrendous, there were people everywhere. Some had to stand outside in 35C heat because the airport was so busy.

"Everyone was queuing because the flights were all delayed."

The passenger claimed that from 4pm on Sunday 21 July, they were still sitting in the departures lounge and left completely in the dark about when their rescheduled flight would depart.

They also say they were told to book their own hotels for two nights after their initial TOM2519 flight was cancelled on Friday, but 50 hours later they were still waiting to hear whether the plane will even leave the runway.

They claimed that some passengers, who couldn't afford another last minute expense of booking accommodation, have spent two gruelling nights sleeping in the airport.

The passenger flying with Tui added: "They told us about the IT issues and that it was a global issue, so we stayed on the transfer coach for three hours.

"We finally got into the airport and there was a lot of waiting around - but our flight still wasn't on the departures board."Eventually we got an email saying the flight was cancelled completely and that accommodation was being arranged, but when we got to the Tui desk, they told us they couldn't find us a hotel because there were so many guests and the island was at capacity, and that we had to sort it ourselves."We booked a package holiday and this should've been sorted. All these passengers were on booking.com finding random rooms and hotels where we could with our own money.

"A few young girls that had no savings or money in the bank to book somewhere had to sleep in the airport."Along with her mum, the pair were lucky enough to secure a hotel for Friday night, believing they would be on the next flight home the following day.However, passengers later received another email,from Tui, saying that due to being 'severely impacted' by the global IT issue, the airline was 'not able to operate a flight back to the UK' due to the 'scale of disruption' on Saturday 20 July.The email said: "We absolutely understand this is not the end of your holiday you would expect and apologise again for the impact this has had."

A number of passengers were once again forced to book other hotels at their own expense. The airline has said that they will 'reimburse reasonable costs' incurred by passengers.On Saturday evening, passengers hoping to get back to Manchester then received a further email from Tui, with the airline informing them that they were 'finalising details' and would provide an update later that evening on their plans to fly them home.On Sunday at 3am, a further message was received, confirming that the estimated departure time out of Corfu would be at 12pm later that day. The flight had then been rescheduled again for 5.25pm from Corfu - 51 hours late.The woman said: "The emails have been terrible. We came today to check in at 9am, then at 11.30am we are told it was delayed again. It has been 50 hours now and we still don't know what's happening."Everyone is just miserable and angry. It's been a nightmare. People have work tomorrow. My mum works for the NHS and was like: 'What am I going to do?'. People will be losing a day in work and have commitments, will they pay our wages?"

A statement shared by Tui on social media said: "Following the global IT issue impacting businesses around the world, we would like to apologise to everyone affected."Whilst the original IT issue was outside of our control, the impact to our systems has meant that our flight programming continues to suffer delays and cancellations."We are very sorry to all those customers impacted as we understand how disappointing this is. We ask that all TUI customers due to travel this weekend regularly check the Travel Information page of the TUI website for the latest updates. Your TUI Team."

The airline has also apologised as it announced that it has had to cancel several flights from Manchester Airport on Sunday as it continues to feel the effects of the outage.In a statement on its website, Tui said: “Due to the global IT issue at airports and airlines around the world on Friday, TUI’s overall service this weekend was heavily impacted and we would like to apologise to everyone affected.“If you are due to travel with us today, we ask for your patience and understanding. Customers should travel to the airport as normal unless you are contacted by TUI or your non-TUI airline directly. However, please plan ahead and expect longer waiting times.”The airline said those on cancelled flights have several options depending on whether their booking is flight-only or a package holiday, adding that impacted customers will be contacted directly.

It said: “Customers who no longer wish to travel can cancel and receive a full refund of the holiday cost. They will also receive a £200 per adult and £100 per child TUI holiday voucher off a future holiday.

"Refunds will be processed within 14 days. For customers who have booked just a flight with us, as this flight is cancelled you will automatically receive a full refund within 14 days.”