Recent cyberattacks have severely disrupted airports across the UK and Europe, forcing people to reconsider and rebook their original holiday plans
Thousands of travellers have been affected by flight delays and cancellations after a massive cyber attack wreaked havoc on computer systems across Europe and the UK. One of the airports affected was London Heathrow, which saw hours-long queues as flights were either delayed or cancelled altogether.
Following the attack, the European Union’s cyber security agency said that criminals are using ransomware to enact havoc on some of the continent’s busiest travel hubs.
As recently as Sunday, Heathrow said it was working to resolve the issue and stressed that “the vast majority of flights have continued to operate”.
However, this didn’t apply to all of them, including Rachel Waldrun’s from Heathrow to Lisbon. The 41-year-old graphic designer from the West Midlands had been due to fly to the Portuguese destination as part of a £2,000 birthday celebration, but had to change course and organise a staycation in Brighton instead.
Rachel, who rebooked via selfcatering.co.uk, told ReachPlc that by virtue of being at Heathrow she and her partner were “in the eye of the storm”.
Rachel described Heathrow as “chaos” with people “everywhere on foot, in queues and sprawled on the floors, not a nice environment – stress and anxiety was palpable”.
She added: “We pivoted quite quickly because we knew that cyberattacks don’t get sorted very fast. Instead, we found a lovely two-bed cottage in Brighton. We can deal with the insurance claim later!”
Rachel said that despite her birthday being in July they had decided to fly abroad in September outside of peak school holidays.
But, while they were unable to sample Portugal, they said that Brighton proved extremely enjoyable courtesy of its famous Palace Pier, Royal Pavillion and Brighton 360.
Speaking about how Brighton more than a match for the likes of Lisbon, Rachel ruminated: “I’ll know I’ll get to Lisbon one day.
“At the time it was very disappointing but we strolled around shops, ate and drank at lovely and quirky places and enjoyed walking by the sea.
“It was different to what I had expected and certainly different to the trip we had in mind…but Brighton over Lisbon? On this occasion hell yes. Beats the queues at Heathrow any day.”
Rachel’s decision to choose Brighton as her UK alternative to Lisbon comes after the boss of the pier she visited warned that the city needed to do more to attract tourists if it was to survive.
CEO of the Brighton Pier Group Anne Ackord warned the city was failing to recognise the importance of tourism, adding that “incisive action” was required.
She told the BBC: “There is a lack of recognition in this city about how important tourism is, and we risk having a very difficult future unless all get together to take incisive action. We all need to attract people here and not assume they’ll just come.”
