Nick Xydias
Air travelers who faced major disruption on Friday due to a global IT outage will not be guaranteed compensation for delayed or canceled flights.
The travel industry was hit hard when computers around the world began to crash due to a "defect" in a Thursday update for Windows issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Microsoft said the outage had affected 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide as of Saturday. CrowdStrike has said it has fixed the underlying issue.
Nevertheless, just over 46,000 flights were delayed, and more than 5,000 were canceled on Friday, according to the flight tracking platform FlightAware.
While passengers whose flights were canceled are entitled to refunds, they are not guaranteed additional compensation — which will come as particularly bad news for those who still wish to get to their destination, as a last-minute replacement ticket could cost more than the refund.
In UK and EU law, regulations stipulate that passengers are entitled to compensation if airlines are at fault for a delay or cancellation. But this is voided if the issue was caused by "extraordinary circumstances" that the airline could not control.
In a letter to airlines on Friday, the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the outage was likely to be deemed "extraordinary circumstances" and that the industry should not be financially liable, The Times of London reported.
"As a result, passengers are unlikely to be entitled to fixed-sum compensation," the letter said.
The CAA added that passenger groups may "try and claim compensation, including through the courts, if they disagree with the CAA's interpretation," per the Times.
Under US law, there is no industry-wide standard for compensating stranded passengers, with airlines largely setting their own reimbursement policies.
However, the US Department of Transportation previously confirmed to Business Insider that IT-related flight disruptions are deemed "controllable" by airlines, and the department is pressuring carriers to help cover costs.
"We have reminded the airlines of their responsibilities to take care of passengers if they experience major delays," Pete Buttigieg, the US Secretary of Transportation, said, per the Associated Press.
"Let me be clear — you are entitled to get your money back promptly if your flight is cancelled and you don't take a rebooking," Buttigieg added in a post on X.
