Consequences of IT outage felt for a while yet: Travel Agencies
The consequences of the worldwide Windows outage will be felt in the travel world for a while yet, the association for Dutch travel agencies AWVN said after CrowdStrike announced it was implementing a fix. Every flight at Schiphol has been delayed or canceled, and the airport is crowded with travelers. That won’t disappear the moment the computers start working again.
CrowdStrike provides cybersecurity software for Windows computers and servers. On Friday, the latest update had a bug in it, which resulted in Windows computers continually restarting. The outage impacted multiple airlines at Schiphol Airport, making it impossible for them to access their check-in systems, among other things. KLM canceled a large part of its operations on Friday and urged customers not to come to the airport if their flight had been canceled or significantly delayed.
The computers might be working again, but the chaos will remain for a time yet, AWVN director Frank Radstake told NOS. “The operation must be restarted. People have not left who should have already departed. They have to be rebooked, and that will really take a lot of time,” he said. “It is a very busy period, and the flights are full, so alternatives will be difficult to find.”
Travelers who have booked a package holiday must report to their travel organizations. Those who booked flights alone should go to their airline. It will be quite an operation to get everyone where they need to go, but the travel agencies and airlines are up to the task, he believes.
Radstake said he is already receiving signals that people are trying to rebook their holidays in a few weeks’ time. That is not necessary, he thinks. “If the malfunction is resolved, we can return to the usual operations fairly quickly. The most acute problems are the people who are now at the airport. We have to figure that out first.”
A Schiphol spokesperson confirmed to NOS that the terminals are crowded, but the situation is manageable. “Today is a busy day, with over 200,000 travelers. A few flights have been canceled, but the good news is that most flights are running, albeit with delays.”
