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UK Flight Chaos Continues After Major NATS Failure
The UK air traffic control failure that caused widespread cancellations and delays on Tuesday is still causing disruption today, as airlines struggle to get aircraft and crews back where they should be.
A technical problem with NATS’ flight processing system led to 1,750 flight cancellations on Tuesday, including 541 at Heathrow.
British Airways cancelled 349 flights on Tuesday and diverted a further 17. This led to absolute chaos, especially in T5, with enormous queues and people struggling to contact BA. One flight spent over 5 hours fully boarded, only for passengers to be told they needed to return to check-in. Though BA provided a hotel in this case and many others, rebooking was still an issue, with some passengers offered unattractive alternatives including indirect flights and flights days later. For many leaving the airport, most hotels were fully booked, and prices had risen substantially. Since yesterday, BA has now rebooked 60,000 affected passengers.
The fallout is continuing, with over 300 cancellations already confirmed for today across the UK, with Heathrow and Gatwick among the worst-hit airports. British Airways has cancelled over 190 flights today, and 85,000 BA passengers have been affected so far, though 80% of the schedule is running as normal.
Haven’t We Been Here Before? Unfortunately, yes. Similar issues have occurred in recent years, most recently in July 2025. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander summoned NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to explain what went wrong and reassure the public about the system’s resilience. NATS now has one week to report on what went wrong, and an independent CAA review has been commissioned.
Don’t assume everything is back to normal. Disruption could continue for weeks. Check your flight before you travel, and look for guidance from the airport.
Have you been affected by this? Let us know in the comments below:
View the latest BA guidance here
Air France-KLM: Flying Blue Miles Devalued Up to 25%
The Flying Blue reward changes are now live, with Light, Standard and Flex fares replacing the previous single reward fare structure.
One of the main benefits of redeeming Flying Blue miles has always been the extra flexibility, especially when booking far in advance, but that no longer applies to Light Rewards. If you want something closer to what was previously included, you now need up to 25% more miles. The same number of miles a ticket used to cost now gets you a substantially worse Light fare, with previously included benefits stripped out.
Business Light fares no longer include lounge access or flexibility, and come with one checked bag instead of two; Standard includes access along with a €70 change/refund fee, while Flex adds advance seat selection and flexibility.
This is less of a devaluation if you hold Flying Blue or qualifying SkyTeam status. Depending on your status, many of the missing benefits are already included, such as extra checked bags, lounge access, seat selection and flexibility.
Find out more about the benefits of the Flying Blue loyalty programme in our guide.
When redeeming miles, you’ll now have to look carefully at what’s included rather than just picking the Light fare. This depends on your Flying Blue status, the flexibility and benefits you need, and whether the extra miles are worth it.
Despite the changes, there are still some good-value Flying Blue redemptions, especially the monthly promo rewards, but redemptions are now less tempting for non-status holders.
This makes Flying Blue status more valuable; good news if you matched from BA while the offer was live. It’s a clever way of making status something more people want to achieve, but I hope no other airlines get any ideas. The new structure does not apply to partner redemptions.
Get Up to 10,000 Bonus Qatar Avios and 20% Off.
If you’re planning a trip, the latest Qatar Airways offer is well worth a look. They’re currently running a sale of up to 20% off base fares to select destinations and up to 10,000 bonus Avios.
The bonus Avios offer is for travel until 31st August 2027. To qualify, use the promo code SEPTPC26 and make sure you credit your flights to the Qatar Privilege Club.
If you are travelling before 30th November, there are a number of extra benefits including:
- Economy – 2,500 Avios each way (1,500 from 1st December)
- Premium cabins – 5,000 Avios each way (3,000 from 1st December)
The offer is valid only on flights marketed and operated by Qatar, and you can use both discounts more than once.
The bonus is based on the qualifying Europe-Doha sectors rather than your full route.
The discount is valid when you book by 18th September 2026 for travel until 31st May 2027 (or 10th December 2026 for one-way flights) to Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, the Maldives, Nairobi, and Zanzibar.
This is a tempting offer, especially if you book by18th September for the discount and travel before 1st December, while the higher Avios bonus applies. A return Business Class trip between Europe and Doha could net you an extra 10,000 Avios!
5 comments
NATS: why didn’t the hot standby immediately take over? They do have one? Is it co sited or diverse? Disaster recovery is regularly exercised?
I was at T3 on Tuesday. After 3 hours on the runway, my 2.30pm flight was finally cancelled at 6pm and we were bussed back to the terminal. Although I was travelling business class, a Silver BA Club member, and in an Assistance wheelchair, when I finally got to see a BA rep I was told to find my own accommodation and the airline was unable to help.
Flying from HEL to LHR on 14.05 Tuesday 8/9 AY1335 Finnair.
We landed an hour late at STANSTED!. I was dreading having to get trains to London and then back home but that would have been luxury. We sat on the runway for 4 hours with little or no information. No reason given for not allowing disembarkation. Then we were told that we had to fly back to HEL (quite aptly named). Got there at 12.50 am, given a room at Hilton airport. First attempt by Finnair was Friday at 14.05, after a lot of effort , eventually rebooked for 19.30 on the Wednesday 9/9 at 19.30, got home about 11.00pm
Will be raising a complaint to Finnair as to why they would let us off the plane.
While airlines, airport operators, NATS & politicians play the ‘Pass the – Blame – parcel’ game in situations like Tuesday’s, it’s incredulous that airports like Heathrow do not seem to have any contingency plans in place to get people, trapped for hours, off planes stranded on taxiways.
While appreciating that it doesn’t take long for all the actual stands to fill up in situations like this, there needs to be a way to create some sort of emergency disembarkation area – say an area for 4 aircraft by the cargo sheds at Heathrow – where planes come in, disgorge their passengers and baggage, and are then towed off and put back on the taxiways to allow other planes to release their captives. (Similar to the areas set aside at some airports for de-icing in winter)
If airfield operations have all but ground to a halt, there must be staff and ground equipment available to be reallocated to this vital task.
Or, will it be a case of the aforementioned parties playing the ‘Pass the – It’s Not My Responsibility To Do That – parcel’ game, brushing it aside…. until the next time?!
Lisbon to LHR5 on Wednesday 9 September. 4 hours delayed plus 2 hours waiting for my luggage that never came (still waiting for it).
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