The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA<\/a>), which is conducting an independent review, has told those impacted that the \u201cdisruption caused by the Nats outage is likely to be considered the result of \u2018extraordinary circumstances\u2019 under passenger rights rules\u201d.<\/p>\n This means passengers are \u201cunlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n More than 2,000 flights<\/a> to and from the UK<\/a> were cancelled or delayed on Tuesday and Wednesday due to a \u201ctechnical issue\u201d.<\/p>\n London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted airports were among the most disrupted aviation hubs on Wednesday.<\/p>\n National Air Traffic Control<\/a> Service (Nats) chief Martin Rolfe was summoned at lunchtime on Wednesday to see Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, after reporting a problem with the organisation\u2019s flight data processing system. <\/p>\n Asked whether Ms Alexander and the prime minister still have confidence in Rolfe, a spokesperson said: \u201cWe have confidence in him and he\u2019s been tasked with an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Have you been affected by airport delays? Get in touch by emailing sophie.dickinson@independent.co.uk<\/p>\n <\/a>British Airways operated 80 per cent of flights on Wednesday <\/p>\n British Airways said it operated almost 80 per cent of its flight schedule on Wednesday, with flights rebooked for \u201cthe vast majority of our customers\u201d.<\/p>\n Natalie Wilson10 September 2026 09:32<\/p>\n <\/a>Virgin Atlantic customers told to ‘come on time’ to airport <\/p>\n Airlines have advised passengers to arrive at the airport on time as the aviation industry recovers. <\/p>\n Virgin Atlantic said: \u201cFollowing the widespread disruption from the technical issue affecting the Nats air traffic control system, we expect to operate our planned flying programme on Thursday 10 September, and ask that customers come to the airport on time for their departure.\u201d<\/p>\n Natalie Wilson10 September 2026 09:02<\/p>\n <\/a>What counts as \u2018extraordinary circumstances\u2019 \u2013 and why can they prevent refunds?<\/p>\n The Civil Aviation Authority has said that \u201cdisruption caused by the Nats outage is likely to be considered the result of \u2018extraordinary circumstances\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n This means passengers are \u201cunlikely to be entitled to compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n But what counts as extraordinary circumstances?<\/p>\n Typically, the phrase is understood to mean \u201cpolitical instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes\u201d.<\/p>\n Court cases have gradually refined the concept of \u201cextraordinary circumstances\u201d to exclude mechanical problems. A judge ruled such issues are \u201cinherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier\u201d.<\/p>\n Ryanair says: \u201cOnly a small number of claims will be eligible for compensation. Most delays\/cancellations are out of Ryanair\u2019s control.\u201d<\/p>\n Sophie Dickinson10 September 2026 08:56<\/p>\n <\/a>Operations at Gatwick have ‘returned largely to normal’<\/p>\n In a post on Wednesday evening, Gatwick airport said that operations have \u201creturned largely to normal, although a small number of residual delays may still occur\u201d following the Nats technical issue. <\/p>\n Passengers are still advised to check with their airline for the latest information on their flights before heading to the airport.<\/p>\n Natalie Wilson10 September 2026 08:41<\/p>\n <\/a>Flight delays recovering in London<\/p>\n As of 8am Thursday, flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows 58 delayed flights at London Heathrow, with an average delay of 14 minutes. <\/p>\n At London Gatwick, 74 flights are delayed by an average of 13 minutes, with 45 flights delayed by an average of just nine minutes at London Stansted.<\/p>\n Natalie Wilson10 September 2026 08:22<\/p>\n <\/a>Delays \u2018very distressing for elderly people\u2019, says Independent reader<\/p>\n An reader from Australia, Jill Parkes, has shared her experience of the disruption. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are two women in our seventies,\u201d she writes. After her flight from Zurich to Melbourne (via Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur) was cancelled on Tuesday, she says there were \u201cno BA support staff in the airport. Dnata staff told us to take our luggage and find accommodation at our own expense, with no assurance of new flights. <\/p>\n \u201cVery distressing for elderly people with no experience in booking online, or without access to surplus funds to cover these unexpected costs. So far it has cost more than CHF600 (\u00a3545). <\/p>\n \u201cWe have had to pay for two nights\u2019 accommodation, plus taxis and food bought at Aldi. <\/p>\n \u201cAt midnight on the first night, we were offered new flights with Thai from Zurich, via Bangkok. We readily accepted, but the flights are not until today, 10 September.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re still in Zurich.\u201d<\/p>\n Sophie Dickinson10 September 2026 07:32<\/p>\n <\/a>‘Fraudsters tried to sell me fake BA flights’, stranded passengers say<\/p>\n Holidaymakers Geoff and Janina McBride are warning people about a scam that NatWest fortunately rescued them from.<\/p>\n The McBrides, from Hampshire, were trying to travel to Lisbon and then on to the Azores to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary \u2013 but their flight was cancelled.<\/p>\n Former government nanotechnology scientist Mr McBride, 63, told PA they called a phone number on what they thought was the official BA website.<\/p>\n A fraudster pretending to work for the airline tried to offer them alternative flights from London City, Gatwick or Heathrow airports and via Munich.<\/p>\n The false flights were about \u00a3600 each, but the payments to him were not going through.<\/p>\n His wife, 64, called NatWest to ask why and they told her \u201cget off the phone to them immediately\u201d, Mr McBride said.<\/p>\n His card was blocked and the payments cancelled, he added, telling PA: \u201cWhat do you do when you\u2019re in a drama?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very well-versed in cybersecurity, but it\u2019s that one click, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it looked legitimate, proper, he sounded proper, he was going through all the different flights, had all the details, so he can pull that off the internet and speak to me down the phone, credit card details \u2013 so I was lucky, very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr McBride added: \u201cWe were in a panic \u2013 that\u2019s when they get you.\u201d<\/p>\n Harriette Boucher10 September 2026 05:00<\/p>\n <\/a>In depth: Inside the IT \u2018glitch\u2019 that triggered UK flight chaos \u2013 and the warnings issued three years ago<\/p>\n As airport passengers began seeing flights<\/a> delayed on departure boards at Heathrow<\/a> and Gatwick<\/a>, National Air Traffic Services (Nats), the UK<\/a>\u2019s air traffic control provider, issued an alert <\/a>over a \u201ctechnical issue\u201d causing disruption.<\/p>\n An hour and a half later, amid heightened chaos<\/a> that had spread to other major airports across the country, the public-private partnership body<\/a> sent out an update, explaining that the issue in \u201cour flight processing system\u201d had been identified. Some 75 minutes later it said had been fixed and systems were recovering \u2013 but with a warning that the disruption could last days.<\/p>\n Such a recovery<\/a> took longer than hoped, conceded Nats in a further statement<\/a> at 7.30pm, as the increasingly under-fire body offered an unreserved apology to the growing thousands of passengers stranded at airports, including Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester.<\/p>\n To the hardened airline traveller, it brought, perhaps, a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n Harriette Boucher10 September 2026 04:00<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-08-19T062727Z_1880024649_RC2JQDAONUKB_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-PROBE-FEES.JPG\")
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