A passenger attempting to travel to Aberdeen from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) on Tuesday, Sept. 8 became a “human megaphone” during the unfolding chaos caused by a National Air Traffic Services (NATS) technical issue. Cyber security expert, Kurtis Toy, helped “overwhelmed” easyJet staff to relay information to the large crowd of confused passengers.
NATS system failure
It is estimated that 2,163 flights and at least 300,000 passengers were affected after the NATS technical issue, the third major technical fault in three years.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander apologised to affected passengers and told the House of Commons that the disruption was caused by a “four-hour traffic outage.”
Alexander told MPs that she had ordered an independent investigation by an aviation watchdog into the system as she believed the failure was avoidable. Despite the significant issue and knock-on impacts, flights from UK airports were thought to have resumed normal operations two days later.
Loud customer service
Footage shared on social media platform TikTok shows Mr Toy shouting helpful instructions to a crowd. He explained to the Metro newspaper that this was because flight information boards were not being updated. Toy explained he stepped in to assist staff because some of the passengers were hard of hearing so had not heard their updates. He reassured the crowd that information was being slowly filtered to staff about which flights were cancelled and subsequently which gates passengers would be able to retrieve their luggage from.
Clearly grateful for his help, Toy received a round of applause from his fellow passengers, as well as a bottle of water and chocolate bar.
Toy said he did not feel like a “hero” as he was dubbed, but called his efforts “just loud customer service, nothing more than that.”
Were you affected by the NATS technical issue at UK airports? Let us know in the comments below.
