Travelers throughout Europe faced widespread chaos on Saturday. A Russian-backed cyber-attack earlier this month knocked out electronic check-in and baggage systems at multiple airports around the world, including Brussels and Heathrow. Massive lines and packed terminals were the scene as thousands of flights—over 400 this morning alone—had delays or cancellations.
Brussels Airport was flooded with travelers struggling with long wait times. Thousands of people stood in line for more than two hours. Staff were left with no choice but to operate the plant manually to deal with the issue. According to FlightAware, hundreds of flights were delayed throughout the day due to the attack, which prompted Europe’s aviation safety organization, Eurocontrol, to recommend that airlines cancel half their flight schedules to and from Brussels Airport.
Lucy Spencer, who was trying to check in for a Malaysia Airlines flight, felt the confusion go down. Like this woman who tweeted, “They told us to get boarding passes on our phones, then when we get to the gates they don’t work now you have to go back to check in gate.
Faced with a chaotic situation, Brussels Airport responded with a major hit to the operating schedule. They went out of their way to establish the new normal for passengers as one of continual cancellations and delays. Staff resorted to manually tagging luggage and checking in passengers over the phone as a short-term workaround.
Passenger frustrations
In Heathrow Airport, the airport assigned extra staff to check-in zones to ease the burden for angry travelers. Monazza Aslam, who waited on the tarmac for over an hour, expressed her concerns: “I’ve been at Heathrow with my elderly parents since 05:00.” Aslam had already missed her onward connection to Doha because of the continued delays.
Equally as impacted was Johnny Lal, who missed his flight to Bombay. He detailed his anger over the lack of mobility, stating “I haven’t been able to walk even 12 feet without her mobility scooter.” He continued, “They just keep playing the game of saying the system’s down.”
Queues in Terminal 3 were “much greater than usual,” said Luke Agger-Joynes. All of them were going way faster than anybody predicted. He also complimented the airport staff during COVID for their diligence and work. He said, “They’re hand-picking specific flights and hand-picking people out of that expatriate queue to make sure that they’re getting on their flights.”
In a statement regarding the situation, Collins Aerospace clarified that “the impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations.”
Heathrow Airport was still laboring to return its systems late into Saturday evening. 致歉 for those affected A spokesperson said they weren’t pleased with delays. They stressed that through working with airlines, most all flights were still safely going without a hitch. We encourage passengers to confirm their flight status with their airline before coming to the airport. For any flight over three hours, don’t arrive more than three hours early; for domestic flights, shoot for two.
As travelers moved through this chaotic day, most shared their anger and confusion with us, not knowing if or when they could continue their journey. With ongoing efforts to resolve the issues caused by the cyber-attack, officials remain hopeful for a return to normal operations in the coming days.