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Handwritten passes, flight delays: UAE expats recall travel chaos during global IT crash

While many residents and tourists experienced smooth departures from Dubai, they encountered significant issues at their arrival or transfer airports

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by

SM Ayaz Zakir

Published: Sat 20 Jul 2024, 4:36 PM

Last updated: Sat 20 Jul 2024, 10:45 PM

Digital systems are integral to the functioning of airports in today’s world, and any disruption can lead to chaos. The recent massive global cyber outage affected various sectors, including airports, resulting in flight delays and cancellations.

Travellers departing and arriving in Dubai shared their experiences, highlighting the vulnerabilities in our dependence on digital systems. While many residents and tourists experienced smooth departures from Dubai, they encountered significant issues at their arrival or transfer airports.

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Amir Ismaili, a Canadian resident in Dubai, shared his cousin brother’s ordeal at Paris Airport. His cousin, Hadi, was in Dubai on a business trip and was returning to Canada with a stopover in Paris.

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“Everything went smoothly at Dubai Airport Terminal 3. The flight was on time and arrived in Paris only half an hour late, but that wasn’t the main issue. Upon arriving in Paris, he learned that his flight to Montreal was cancelled, forcing him to wait nearly 10 hours for another flight,” Amir explained.

“The entire journey took over 24 hours instead of the expected 17 hours,” added Amir, who finally got in touch with his cousin at 1pm (UAE time) on July 20.

Vani Mendon, general manager at ServHub, was eagerly anticipating a family vacation and hiking trip in Ladakh. "We arrived at DXB three hours before our flight, and everything at the airport went smoothly. However, Terminal 1 was very crowded," she shared.

"Our flight was on time, and we arrived at Delhi Airport as scheduled. There was a slight delay in our connecting flight from Delhi to Ladakh," Mendon explained.

"Unfortunately, other groups joining us for the hike had their flights cancelled, forcing us to postpone our acclimatization climb. However, our main Everest Base Camp climb is still on schedule," Vani added.

Similarly, travellers flying from Indian cities to the UAE reported that their flights were delayed due to system failures, and boarding passes were handwritten.

UAE resident Sajay Warrier, who was flying from Chennai to Abu Dhabi on Indigo Airlines, shared his experience. “The cyber attack affected domestic flights, but international flights were still scheduled. I had to wait in line at the check-in counter for hours,” Warrier said.

“The long queues were due to handwritten boarding passes at the check-in counters. There were only three or four counters available for two flights—one bound for Abu Dhabi and the other for Doha,” Warrier added.

Warrier also mentioned that additional staff were deployed throughout the airport to assist travellers.

Meanwhile, travel agents had to work overtime to fix flight schedules. Geoffrey Salatan, CEO of Geof Travel, said his staff were busy doing rebooking for affected passengers on Friday and Saturday morning.

Work also spilled over the weekend for some Dubai employees. Iraqi expat Hazem Ammar, 22, who is an accountant, said: “I was shocked to see that systems were not working Friday morning and was worried not being able to work.

“I could not communicate with any of my colleagues regarding the matter and it has caused me to work on Saturday to catch up on work that I had missed on Friday.

(With inputs from Zain Basalat)

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SM Ayaz Zakir

Published: Sat 20 Jul 2024, 4:36 PM

Last updated: Sat 20 Jul 2024, 10:45 PM

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