With this summer set to be the busiest on record for passenger traffic travelling through UK airports, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published research showing that just one in 10 passengers feel fully informed when there’s a flight disruption.
Passenger traffic passing through UK airports this summer is expected to surpass the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 23.8 million.
However with just one in 10 passengers saying they feel fully informed of their rights when flights are disrupted, the UK CAA is publishing accessible guides on social media and reiterating with airlines their responsibility to keep passengers informed of disruptions.
The CAA’s research stems in part from recommendations made by an independent review of the NATS air traffic control outage in 2023, which caused massive disruptions to flight operations.
“When faced with disruption, passengers need to know what they are entitled to,” said Selina Chada, Group Director for Consumers and Markets at the UK CAA.
While the responsibility to keep passengers lies primarily with the airlines themselves, airports also have a role to play. Despite 92 percent of passengers claiming to check their flight status before arriving at the airport, 41 per cent found out about their disruption through airport speakers/ boards.
The CAA’s research found that 57 per cent of passengers felt airlines providing more detailed information during disruption would have improved their experience. It also stated that first notification is a critical moment to get right, with 45 per cent of passengers being actively dissatisfied with how the disruption they faced was initially communicated.
Moreover, passengers who are not satisfied with their communications are more likely to seek some form of compensation or reimbursement. SMS text was described as the preferred channel at first notification of delay for 64 per cent of passengers, as it doesn’t have to rely on internet connection.
