I received scant explanation during the air traffic debacle - why are airlines so bad at telling passengers what's going on in a crisis?
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By ERIN DEBORAH WAKS, TRAVEL WRITER
Published: | Updated:
I was waiting peacefully at the gate inside Rhodes Airport in Greece last week, sipping my coffee and checking the news.
It was getting close to our departure time, but to pass the time before my holiday flight home, I caught up on what I had missed in the UK.
‘UK airport chaos’, ‘flights cancelled’ and ‘major disruption at Heathrow and Gatwick’ were among the headlines at the top of my news feed.
In any other industry, you would expect to be informed of any national stories that affect you personally before they hit the news. So why does aviation seem to think it is exempt?
Airlines seem, almost as a rule, to have the bare minimum communication they can get away with. I received just one email from my airline at 7.56pm, an hour after our scheduled departure time of 6.55pm, and several updates to our flight time on the app getting later and later, but little explanation beyond that.
Other flights to the UK were cancelled and we were left in the dark. I knew nothing about my rights or if I was entitled to compensation for the disruption.
Left in the dark: Passengers pictured at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 on September 9th following the air traffic technical failure that saw hundreds of flights cancelled
Overall, it has emerged that more than 2,000 flights were cancelled after a four-hour ‘technical failure’ at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) last Tuesday, affecting more than 330,000 passengers, myself included.
We have learned, since then, that it was down to a situation that, according to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, was not ‘unavoidable’ – and that passengers are unlikely to be due compensation.
But if a single technical failure affected such a great number of flights, why wasn’t there clearer information given out on what was going on?
The NATS meltdown has exposed the true need for airlines to up their game when it comes to communication.
When things go wrong, airlines are remarkably good at making sure passengers know very little about what happens next. Airlines are, in my opinion, bad at explaining both people’s rights and their options.
Anyone taking a flight should be able to find out quickly and clearly what they can do in the event of a delay or cancellation.
Unaware: Erin pictured in Rhodes...she found out more about her delayed flight home from the news than her airline
Otherwise, passengers might run into one of the airline’s famously difficult bots – that is, when a flight has been delayed or cancelled, you might find yourself going in circles with a machine. You have already sent through your flight number and booking reference – why can’t the refund process be automated?
The harder it is to find out exactly how to get a refund, the more likely it is passengers will give up altogether.
Apparently, putting a paying customer in touch with a real person remains an ambitious technological frontier.
So, what can be done? Regular updates from airlines would be a start. An email at the first hint of disruption, too — and a communication system that does not leave hundreds and even thousands of passengers feeling abandoned at the airport, at the behest of equally in-the-dark ground staff.
A regulated, built-in contingency plan explaining rights to customers in the event of delays would be another. The information should not be buried behind a chatbot, hidden in the small print or delivered only after hours of waiting.
It really should not be too much to ask.
Hopefully, next time I won’t find out my flight has been affected from reading the news.
Passengers should not have to read the news to be informed whether they are going to take their flight.
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