Families worry over cancelled flight expense costs

With thousands of UK holidaymakers having their flights location cancelled successful caller days, galore are disquieted if their other costs volition beryllium reimbursed.

Families person reported forking retired for food, accommodation and successful immoderate cases, alternate travel, owed to the chaos.

And portion determination are regulations successful spot for radical to assertion expenses, determination appears to beryllium grey areas.

Latest figures suggest astir 2,000 flights to and from the UK person been cancelled since Monday.

The Baker household are among thousands of holidaymakers who person had their formation cancelled owed to the information glitch which deed the UK's aerial postulation power system.

Mark and Holly, on with their 2 children, were stranded successful Palma, Majorca, erstwhile their formation location to Brighton was cancelled connected Monday.

They told the BBC they were offered accommodation and a caller formation successful a week's time, but owed to enactment and 1 of their daughters starting secondary school, they could not hold that long.

Instead, the household embarked connected an overnight ferry from the Spanish land to Toulon successful France, wherever they are hoping to instrumentality 3 trains and different ferry to get backmost to Brighton by Thursday night.

Mr Baker said the household was keeping receipts for everything, but was unsure if they would beryllium capable to assertion for them. Excluding nutrient costs, the outgo of question and accommodation for the household of 4 is conscionable nether £1,000 truthful acold and has been paid connected recognition cards.

"I didn't spot I had immoderate choice," said Mr Baker. "When you're lasting determination astatine the airdrome astatine 11 o'clock astatine night, with kids, and you don't cognize what you're expected to do.

"I don't cognize if I'm going to get this wealth back. That's my worry," added Mr Baker.

He said the household was being conscious connected the magnitude they were spending connected nutrient and accommodation, fixed the guidelines astir claiming costs stating they request to beryllium "reasonable".

Mr Baker said helium had tried to get successful interaction with the hose connected the telephone but could not talk to immoderate unit subordinate and truthful was keeping each of his receipts successful the anticipation of claiming the wealth back.

"I honestly don't cognize [if I volition get wealth back]," said Mr Baker. "I'm trying to support my costs down conscionable successful case. I'm not going to instrumentality the Mickey."

The Civil Aviation Authority, the watchdog for the industry, says nether UK law, radical person ineligible rights connected galore flights to, from oregon wrong the UK.

If a formation is cancelled, a passenger's hose indispensable fto them take betwixt either getting a refund oregon an alternate flight, careless of however acold successful beforehand the cancellation was made.

However, owed to the disruption being caused by a information glitch by National Air Traffic Services (Nats) and not airlines, radical could not beryllium eligible for other compensation owed to them being "extraordinary circumstances".

But an hose indispensable find alternate flights and if different hose is flying to your destination importantly sooner, oregon determination are different suitable modes of transport available, past radical person a close to beryllium booked onto that alternate transport instead.

Rory Boland, question exertion astatine user radical Which?, told the BBC that expenses could beryllium claimed by radical who had booked alternate modes of transport arsenic a effect of determination being nary flights available.

"The airlines cannot assertion an bonzer condition forever," helium said.

In the cases of the Bakers and different families, Mr Boland said that "nobody should beryllium waiting a week for a replacement flight" arsenic the instrumentality stated airlines were required to connection alternatives "at the earliest possibility".

"Waiting a week is ne'er going to beryllium the earliest opportunity," said Mr Boland, meaning radical could assertion costs if they booked an earlier flight, oregon made antithetic question arrangements.

The chaos endured by thousands of UK travellers was a effect of Nats receiving information that it could not process, starring to portion of its strategy failing.

Nats controls astir craft successful UK airspace and receives millions of formation plans each year. Airlines taxable each formation way to the nationalist power centre and these should automatically beryllium shared with Nats controllers.

Due to the failure, Nats reverted to a manual strategy - meaning less flights could beryllium handled. For respective hours they had to manually input formation routes, alternatively than it hap automatically, which was slower and caused a immense backlog.