Birmingham Airport passenger ‘hundreds of pounds out of pocket’ amid UK air traffic control chaos

A man travelling from Birmingham Airport said he is hundreds of pounds out of pocket amid the travel disruption following the UK-wide air traffic control system failure.

Instead of being able to relax on a holiday, Richie Palmer, a radio presenter on Bromyard FM, had to completely change his travel plans causing frustration and uncertainty.

Richie was supposed to fly from Birmingham Airport to Antalya, Turkey yesterday (Monday, August 28), and shared his ordeal with BirminghamWorld. The air traffic control system failure has affected flights across the country with after effects expected to carry on for the rest of the week.

Richie travelled to Birmingham Airport yesterday from his home in Hereford in time to catch a flight to Antalya at 5.40pm with SunExpress, but after delays of several hours, during which he waited at the airport, he had to find himself a hotel to stay in.

Richie said: “Communication from the SunExpress airline has been horrendous. I spent several hundreds of pounds more to book a hotel for the night, taxi to and from Birmingham Airport and to book a different flight to Antalya. SunExpress hasn’t said anything about compensation either.”

Richie added that he saw passengers sleeping on the corridors and lobbies of Birmingham Airport when their flights were delayed or cancelled yesterday. He ended up booking a new flight with Freebird Airlines to take him out of Birmingham Airport to Turkey today (Tuesday, August 29). He travelled back to the airport at 6am this morning from the hotel he stayed in last night which was 20 minutes away. He told BirminghamWorld: “Luckily, my flight’s queue is moving and it is boarding. So, I will make it to Turkey today.” SunExpress has been contacted for their response.

Birmingham Airport issues advice

Birmingham Airport has issued advice to passengers as air traffic controllers at airports across the UK are still facing the effects of a technical fault. Birmingham Airport said that the effects of the air traffic system failure can take days to “wash out”. Travel chaos has continued today (Tuesday, August 29) with several flights being cancelled after the countrywide air traffic system failure yesterday.

On Tuesday (August 29), Birmingham Airport said X, formerly knowns as Twitter: “We expect full loads of passengers on flights in and out today, including on services rescheduled from yesterday. It may take some days for all the effects of Monday’s air traffic system failure to wash out. Customers are advised to monitor the latest info from their airlines.” Several flights were cancelled at Birmingham Airport today including a flight to Glasgow, Bordeaux and Girona; while other flights were delayed.