Flight delays tips

The British government was working with airlines on Tuesday to help ensure passengers stranded in airports across Europe can get home after an air traffic control glitch caused widespread disruption to flights that is expected to last for days.

The air traffic control glitch which caused thousands of flight cancellations and delays into and out of Britain on Monday has been fixed and there will be no repeat of the issue, said the head of the country’s air traffic control provider, NATS.

The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said late on Monday it would examine the large number of Southwest Airlines cancelled and delayed flights in recent days to determine if they were in the airline’s control, calling them “unacceptable.”

Spain’s Iberia has been hit by a computer glitch, affecting its booking and boarding system.

A group of more than 120 U.S. lawmakers told the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) its computer outage on Wednesday that disrupted 11,000 flights was “completely unacceptable” and demanded the agency explain how it will avoid future incidents.

Flights across the U.S. have been grounded due to a computer glitch with the Federal Aviation Administration’s systems, according to reports.

Shareholders filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines Co on Thursday, accusing the carrier of fraudulently concealing problems that led last month to an operational meltdown and more than 15,000 flight cancellations.

Train and air services throughout France will be disrupted on Tuesday by a nationwide strike against pension reforms, French authorities said on Sunday.  

U.S. air passengers would be offered refunds for delayed flights and transportation on rival carriers under sweeping consumer protections proposed on Tuesday after a series of disruptions including a holiday meltdown at Southwest Airlines.

Global airports expect smoother travel this summer as staffing improves, but surging passenger demand during peak periods in Europe and North America could still bring long lines, baggage piles and delayed flights, an industry group said.

Southwest Airlines Co’s flights resumed operation Tuesday after a one-hour nationwide stoppage, which the U.S. airline said was caused by a firewall failure.

Inflation be damned. Concerns about rising prices still aren’t slowing down pent-up travel demand in the U.S.

This summer has seen an enormous surge in travel demand with a record 50 million Americans having made plans to travel for the recent Fourth of July weekend.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, August 23. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

In a win for travelers, a new European Union Court of Justice decision is extending E.U. flight delay compensation requirements to connecting flights on the same reservation, even when the second airline is a different, non-E.U. airline (read: one not subject to E.U. rules). The precedent means that E.U. airlines can be required to pay travelers for extensive air travel delays on other, non-European airlines.

The Transportation Security Administration made history ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend, screening the most passengers ever in a single day in the agency’s history.

United CEO Scott Kirby is blaming the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the massive amount of cancellations and delays that thwarted air travel this week.