Many passengers at Edinburgh Airport were left “frustrated” on Friday morning following a nationwide IT outage.
Families and friends were left wondering if they would make their flights after numerous services were affected by cancellations and delays following a major IT outage at Microsoft that caused chaos during the peak holiday season.
Edinburgh Airport is believed to be the only Scottish airport to be badly affected, with passengers being told to “go home” if their flight has been cancelled.
READ MORE: 16-year-old passenger ‘in tears’ at Edinburgh Airport as IT chaos erupts on flight to US to visit dad
READ MORE: Edinburgh cafe thrilled by visit from Hollywood star Bill Nighy
Edinburgh Airport had previously alerted passengers to the situation, writing on X: “Passengers should not travel to the airport without first checking the status of their flight with the airline.”
“Due to the disruption, the waiting time at security checks is currently around an hour and our teams are managing this as best as possible.”
Edinburgh Live spoke to some of the passengers affected by the delays. Sarah Leadingham missed her flight to London and therefore also missed her connecting flight to Singapore.
The 39-year-old was on a business trip abroad with her husband and the two wanted to make a vacation out of it with their five and three-year-old daughters.
“We missed our flight to London because there was no information on board or over the loudspeaker and the flight had already taken off. They said they had announced it, but there were no announcements over the loudspeaker all morning,” she said.
“We had to collect our luggage, go through security again and board another flight to London at 5 p.m.
“It’s going to be a long day!”
Julie Mazorodze from South Queensferry is hoping to fly to Gran Canaria with her daughter, son-in-law and four grandchildren.
“A friend called me and told me there had been some kind of cyberattack, but there was no information or text message from our airline. A friend of my son’s works at the airport and said, ‘Look, it’s chaos, but some flights are still taking off,’ so we headed to the airport.”
She added: “We have booked fast-track access for security and boarding, but I don’t think we’ll be able to get anywhere quickly today!”
Andrew Duff and his family from Auchtermuchty are heading to Stuttgart in Germany to celebrate a cousin’s birthday.
Andrew said: “It’s about time our flight went ahead, but there hasn’t been anyone at the check-in counter for the last hour. I’m angry.”
Another family member said that the staff at Edinburgh Airport had been helpful, but that they were unable to change their flights to another airline as Eurowings had to confirm this, but so far no one had been at the counter.
“This party has been planned for ages. Two of our group are only spending the weekend, so this delay is taking away from their limited free time. Luckily, the others are spending a week.”
Some check-in desks were in motion, TUI and Qatar Airlines had long queues but it was moving very slowly. RyanAir was jam-packed. At lunchtime there were hundreds of people in line and it was not moving at all, many customers said.
Join the Edinburgh Live Whatsapp community here and Get the latest news delivered straight to your message address.
Many people were also stuck trying to get home. A group of over 60 German students were wondering when their delayed flight would leave after countless delays, leaving them unsure if they would get home today.
Bastien Brugger and his two friends Rebecca and Pascal had come to Edinburgh for a short holiday. After hearing about the chaos and delays, they arrived very early for their flight back to Switzerland.
“So far it has been delayed by 50 minutes, but we arrived very early so that’s fine with me. Easyjet sent us a notification that our flight was delayed and told us there were IT problems.”
He adds: “However, we didn’t realise the extent of the problem until we arrived at the airport. I know it’s busy and I think the staff are coping quite well so far.”
The airport’s latest update at 12pm states: “Passengers should continue to check their flight status with their airline before travelling to the airport. Anyone whose flight has been cancelled is asked to leave the airport and contact their airline directly.”
Register for Edinburgh Live Newsletter for more headlines straight to your inbox
