KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — The massive information technology (IT) outage caused by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike crippled services worldwide, including at Terminal 2 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
The issue forced affected airlines to manually check in bags and passengers, with the delays causing some to miss their flights and others to be cancelled entirely
According to the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), affected passengers are eligible for at least some form of compensation from their airline providers.
Passengers who faced delays of at least two hours or more are entitled to meals, telephone calls and internet access. For delays exceeding five hours, hotel accommodation and transportation should also be provided.
In the case of cancelled flights, passengers should be offered a full refund or an alternative flight.
However there are exceptions to these compensations, such as when the delays occur during ‘extraordinary circumstances’, such as security risks or unforeseen extreme weather.
The UN Tourism secretary general’s special advisor, Anita Mendiratta told portal Euronews that it is likely that airlines will consider the outage as an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ beyond their control.
“If it is not the fault of the airline, compensation is unlikely,” Mendiratta said.
But not all is lost, at least for those with travel insurances.
Etiqa Malaysia shared on Facebook that it has already begun encouraging travel plan customers affected by the IT glitch to submit their claims for flight delays or missed connections.
AirAsia also offers a special flight delay insurance through Tune Protect. If a flight is delayed for more than two hours from the departure time due to factors controllable by the airline, the insurance holder can receive an inconvenience allowance of RM200.
Following yesterday’s outage, only AirAsia has confirmed that its in-house systems were affected. Despite the disruption, flights at Terminal 2 are still operating, though long queues remained earlier today.
To manage the weekend rush, AirAsia bolstered its operations by deploying over 200 ground staff, nearly 100 volunteers, and additional security personnel to help mitigate the situation and ensure customer safety and comfort.
The airline resumed its online check-in operation at 2pm today although AirAsia deputy group chief executive officer (airline operation) Datuk Captain Chester Voo said the low-cost carrier will continue to monitor the situation.
AirAsia also advised passengers to still regularly monitor their flight status by checking their registered email and mobile phones or visiting its website for updates.
