'Absolute chaos': Up to 10,000 people missed their flights from London

This was not the kind of May holiday flight that passengers who arrived at London Stansted Airport on Sunday morning were expecting. An IT system failure led to huge queues and difficulties for passengers – there were problems with check-in and baggage drop-off. Although the fault was fixed by 10:30 local time, delays continued to accumulate for some time. According to estimates, as many as 10,000 people could have missed their flights.

Carriers have adopted different strategies, with Jet2 and charter carrier Tui delaying flights by three to four hours to wait for passengers to clear security, while Ryanair sent flights on time to avoid delays later in the day.

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IT system failure at Stansted Airport

Mark Wright, 34, told The Independent that holidaymakers were jostling to board the 5.55am Jet2 flight to Majorca. “We arrived at the airport at 3am in absolute chaos. We could barely squeeze through the main entrance,” he said.

“There were no organised queues, there was just one barrier with three airport employees shouting out flights and letting individuals through,” he explained.

“I had to push my way to the front to find out if our flight had been cancelled, then push my way back through the crowds to find my partner with the luggage and push again to get to the Jet2 bag drop desk,” he said, adding that moving around the terminal was difficult because there were people sitting or sleeping on the floor.

"Absolute chaos"

“Absolute chaos, no one told us where to go, queue for hours, finally got to the gate only to see the plane with the doors open but they refused to let anyone else in. The plane was almost empty. Absolute joke,” wrote one passenger, Leona, on Facebook.

Flights are scheduled to depart on Monday. London Stansted Airport recommends that you always arrive 3 hours before your flight, regardless of any disruptions.

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