Brit tourists stranded on Greek island and forced to sleep on hotel floor after Microsoft outage sparks flight chaos
A FUMING Brit tourist has revealed the bitter end to her summer holiday after a major IT outage sparked travel chaos.
Kate Bromley, who’s stranded in Greece, said she was forced to sleep on the floor of a conference room with dozens of other families.
Kate, from Chiswick in west London, is one of the many flyers affected by the global IT outage that brought the world to a standstill on Friday.
It saw flights grounded and widespread chaos at countless airports.
Airlines were unable to check in passengers, and even basic airport terminal services were disrupted.
Following the IT meltdown, Kate said that the passengers on the cancelled flight to Gatwick have had “no information” from airline TUI and don’t know when they’ll be able to fly home.
Have you been affected by the major tech outage when travelling on holiday? Get in touch by emailing juliana.cruzlima@the-sun.co.uk
She told LBC News from a hotel in Rhodes: “We were told that our Gatwick flight had been cancelled and we were being sent off to a desk where we were told we would be sorted out with hotels and somewhere to go.
“But then they told us there’s no rooms and we would all have to be sleeping in a large conference area and we were told there would be beds and bedding. But when we got here there wasn’t anything.
“There’s children here. There’s babies. So everybody’s quite stressed and upset.
“The very frustrating thing for us is we’re just not being given any information. So we’ve not had any emails or text messages from TUI.”
CrowdStrike apology in full
IN a statement, the IT firm said:
CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.
Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.
We are referring customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous public updates on our blog.
We further recommend organisations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.
We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption.
We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.
We assure our customers that CrowdStrike is operating normally and this issue does not affect our Falcon platform systems.
If your systems are operating normally, there is no impact to their protection if the Falcon sensor is installed.
We will continue to provide updates to our community and the industry as they become available.
Holidaymakers like Kate are battling more flight delays and cancellations today as travel mayhem sparked from the CrowdStrike outage stretches into the third day.
Heartbroken flyers have been turned away at check-in desks at London Gatwick and Heathrow this morning as planes continue to sit on the tarmac.
More than 400 planes coming into and out of the UK have been grounded because of the failed CrowdStrike update as over 7,000 were cancelled globally.
In a statement, CrowdStrike said it had found the glitch in a “single content update” for Windows – adding it was not a cyberattack.
In what has been branded the “largest IT outage in history“, major airport, airline, railway and supermarket services across the globe have been crippled by the tech issue – which could continue into next week.
Travel insurance
HOLIDAYMAKERS whose plans have been dashed are urged to check with their travel insurer to see what they are covered for.
MoneySuperMarket Travel Insurance said if a policy includes travel disruption cover – it may be possible to claim for disruption or losses incurred as a result of a trip being delayed or cancelled.
A spokesperson for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said: “We can appreciate that it will be very stressful for anyone whose travel plans have been impacted by the IT outage.
“If your travel insurance policy includes cover for travel disruption then costs that you might incur as a result of travel delays or cancellations, and that are not recoverable from elsewhere, should be included.
“In the first instance, refunds should be sought from the airline, accommodation provider or tour operator and any bookings made through a credit card may also have recoverable cost protection.
“If unsure, check with your travel insurer to see what you’re covered for.”
What we know so far…
- Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike sent out a flawed anti-viral update which affected Microsoft Windows systems around the world
- Airports, businesses, banks, newsrooms, television networks, supermarkets, ships and more have been plunged into chaos
- Planes were even made to remain in the air on Friday morning
- Britain woke up to chaos with NHS appointments cancelled, mayhem at supermarkets and huge airport queues
- Friday’s Sky News breakfast show was wiped off computer and TV screens completely
- Microsoft uses CrowdStrike to handle its system updates – with the tech company looking to fix the outage “urgently”
- CrowdStrike said the problem is related to their “Falcon Sensor” and they have reverted back to an older system to avoid further disruption
- The company confirmed it was not a hack or cyber attack
Thousands of Brits were still sleeping on airport floors abroad Saturday night as flights were axed amid the ongoing chaos.
One expert said the financial impact of Friday’s “tech doomsday” will cost billions across the globe.
Senad Aruc – who has has more than 25 years of experience in cybersecurity – added that even the best hacker groups can’t cause such an outage or damage.
“The impact is huge since real hackers will hit the viability in 90 per cent of the attacks,” he told The Sun.
The incident will likely cost CrowdStrike both financially and in terms of its reputation – but they remain a leading cybersecurity firm, Senad added.
The exact financial impact is uncertain but expected to be in the billions, given the widespread nature of the disruptions.
Global services affected by IT outage
Trains
- Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – urged passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”
- Gatwick Express – warned travellers they are “currently experiencing widespread IT issues”
- South Western Railway – all ticket vending machines are currently non operational – buy tickets online
- National Rail – some train operators are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice train cancellations
- TransPennine Express – some TPE stations and systems are having IT issues – buy tickets online
- New York City’s MTA system affected
- Washington D.C Metro trains – delayed
Airports and airlines
- Manchester Airport – delays for those checking-in for Swissport flights
- London Gatwick – passengers may experience some delays while checking in and passing through security but should still arrive for their normal check-in time
- Ryanair – advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions
- Edinburgh Airport – wait times longer than usual
- Stansted Airport – some airline check-in services reverted to being done manually, but main operational systems are unaffected and flights are still operating as normal
- Luton Airport – running manual systems
- Heathrow Airport – affected but flights operational – check with airline on latest journey information
- American Airlines – all flights cancelled
- United and Delta – no flights taking off
- Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines – flights grounded
- Frontier and SunCountry – affected by outage
- San Francisco Airport – passengers reporting suspended flights
- Mumbai Airport – check-in desks shut down for IndiGo, Akasa and Spice Jet flights
- Australian airline Qantas – flights grounded
- Schipol Airport in Amsterdam – flights to and from the Netherlands affected
- Spanish airport association AENA – reported issues at 42 airports
- Rome’s Fiumicino Airport affected
- Ibiza Airport – empty due to IT outage
- Hamburg Airport in Germany affected
- BER Berlin Airport – Long queues
- The Hague Airport in Rotterdam – travellers experiencing longer wait times
- Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo – check-in delays
- Palma Mallorca Airport affected
- Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok – longer queues reported
- Hong Kong Express Airways passengers delayed at Hong Kong International Airport
Television Networks
- Sky News – Friday morning breakfast show unable to air but now back on screens with reporter reading from printed notes
- Paramount Global channels including MTV, VH1, CMT and Pop TV – bumped offline.
Britain’s GPs
- The Wilmslow Health Centre in Cheshire – without access to their IT systems
- Solihull Healthcare Partnership in the West Midlands – affected ability to book/consult with patients this morning
- Central Lakes Medical Group in Ambleside – stated there has been a “big effect” and delays on the phone expected
- Pocklington Group Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire – appointments needing to be cancelled and rearranged
- Hulme Hall Medical Group, in Stockport – unable to offer any appointments
- Windrush Medical Practice in Witney, Oxfordshire – continuing as normal for urgent enquiries but ask for routine concerns to wait until Monday
- Grimethorpe Surgery in Barnsley – no access to the clinical system, EMIS Web
- The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) confirmed the IT outage is disrupting community pharmacies
- A surgery in Putney, southwest London – Displaying an error message online to patients who attempt to book
Global hospitals
- Two German hospitals have been forced to cancel emergency operations
- The hospitals, in the northern German cities of Luebeck and Kiel, cancelled all elective operations scheduled for today
Supermarkets and restaurants
- Morrisons are affected
- Some Waitrose and Co-op are now cash only
- Gails and Waterstones experiencing some issues
- Wetherspoons pubs – only accepting cash
- Woolworths and Coles supermarkets in Australia – self service machines not working
Events
- Manchester United ticket release postponed – morning’s ticket release will be postponed until midday and website will remain unavailable
Banks and supermarkets in Australia including Beyond Bank Australia have also been experiencing issues this morning.
Various Microsoft services in Japan and New Zealand are also battling tech issues.