Analysis of Google search data has revealed that online searches for ‘cancel flight’ exploded by 381% in the United Kingdom after the August Bank Holiday weekend, when technical issue at air traffic control led to chaos across some of the UK’s most popular airports.
The analysis by NoDepositRewards reveals that searches for ‘cancel flight’ exploded almost four times more than average, an unprecedented increase in Brits looking to cut their losses and cancel their travel plans. The data also reveals that searches for ‘refund my flight’ increased 1,758% since yesterday, when the airport carnage began.
The disruption is said to be the worst day’s disruption to UK flying since 2010, with an estimated 15,000 journeys either cancelled or delayed, which are said to continue to remain significantly disrupted for the next few days. A spokesperson from NoDepositRewards commented on the findings: “With the summer holidays drawing to a close, Brits across the UK have been looking forward to their last getaways of the season.
“Unfortunately, for many, this has not been the case, and this disruption has not only caused thousands of hopeful passengers to cancel their long-awaited holidays but has left thousands of UK residents stranded in other countries, unable to return home. These findings highlight the impact that airlines and air traffic control over their customers and the desperate urge of those affected by the chaos to be able to come to some kind of resolution promptly.”
Nats (the National Air Traffic Services) said that a flight plan that its systems could not process was behind the technical problem over the holiday period. The fault saw passengers stranded abroad, as well as in the UK, and had to find alternative routes home.
Its chief executive, Martin Rolfe, said: "Initial investigations into the problem show it relates to some of the flight data we received.
"Our systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system." He later described the issue as "incredibly rare", adding that he was confident the situation would not happen again.
