Rights explained if your flight is cancelled as Manchester Airport give update on travel chaos

There’s been absolute chaos at one of the UK’s busiest airports today (23 June) as flights were cancelled following a power cut.

Manchester Airport had to tell passengers not to show up as all flights from terminals one and two were cancelled, causing an absolute nightmare for people starting their holidays or hoping to get out to Euro 2024.

A new update at 3:15pm gave the positive news that the airport is now ‘in the process of resuming operations’, with flights expected to restart this afternoon and evening.

What about those whose flights were already cancelled?

However, that doesn’t help those who already had their flights cancelled too much as they are now being rescheduled ‘in the coming days’

So, it’s important those who didn't get to travel today are aware of their rights.

The passenger's choice

As the BBC explains, when flights are covered by UK law, the airline must allow passengers to choose between getting a refund or being booked on to an alternative flight. It doesn’t matter how far in advance the cancellation happened.

Plus, you can get your cash back for any part of the ticket that hasn’t been used.

So, if you were supposed to fly out of Manchester this morning as a return flight after flying into there already, then you can get the full cost of your return ticket refunded.

Many people had their flights cancelled from Manchester today. (Getty Stock Image)

If the stress of the cancellation hasn’t put you off and you still want to travel, your airline has to find you an alternative flight.

Or, if there’s another airline flying to the same place significantly sooner, then you’ve got a right to be booked onto that instead.

Fights that got cancelled while passengers were already at the airport

Well, the airline must provide you with assistance until you can get out, including: food and drink, a way of communication, free accommodation (if you’ve got to stay overnight) and transport to there and back.

Flights are now beginning to resume at Manchester Airport. (Getty Stock Image)

If the airline can’t arrange that, you’ve got the right to organise it and then claim it back. But the Civil Aviation Authority does advise that you only spend what’s necessary and keep hold of receipts.

While Manchester Airport starts getting flights back up and running, it added that it’s important for passengers to still check with their airlines before making their way there.

It said: “We thank passengers for their patience and our resilience team and customer service colleagues for their hard work.”