Passenger stranded overnight by the global IT outage said his airline offered him $10.70 in vouchers

19.07.2024 - 15:17 / insider.com

A massive IT outage hit flights and travel hard on Friday, leaving one passenger with very little to show for his trip to the airport.

Jordan van den Lamb was planning on catching a flight Friday with Australia's low-cost airline Jetstar.

When that fell through, he was left holding vouchers worth a bit less than $11.

He was supposed to travel to Melbourne from Hobart on the island of Tasmania, an easy 75-minute hop.

But the flight was grounded as IT problems with the CrowdStrike security software roiled networks around the world.

Van den Lamb told Business Insider his flight was first delayed, then said to be back on track, then canceled.

By way of compensation, van den Lamb said that Jetstar offered each passenger two vouchers worth 8 Australian dollars, for a total of 16 Australian dollars, or around $10.70.

He was left stuck on Tasmania overnight, with no way home.

Unlike with many international flights, domestic Australian carriers have no obligation to find hotels for passengers left stranded.

So van den Lamb just had his vouchers, which he said offered no change if the purchase was less than the voucher amount.

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"There are only two food places in the Hobart terminal, so we mainly got burrito bowls," he said.

Jetstar's 8 AUD vouchers have been irking travelers for as long as 17 years, per a report in the Sydney Morning Herald dating back to 2007.

"I'm not personally too fussed about the amount — $16 in an airport can get you maybe one beer; they should perhaps have considered two beers as a treat," said van den Lamb, who said he found his own accommodation and would wait for more news.

Jetstar told Business Insider in a statement that all flights were canceled until 2 a.m. local time on Saturday, July 20.

"The IT outage is impacting multiple Jetstar systems, including the system we use to contact customers and we sincerely apologise for the frustration this is causing.

"Our teams are working on recovery options and we will contact customers with updates as soon as our systems are back online. If you're due to travel today or tomorrow, but no longer wish to travel, we're offering free moves (+7 days from date of travel) or voucher refunds," read the statement.

Airlines across the world have been hit by the outage, with passengers stuck at airports for hours.