{"id":4319,"date":"2024-07-19T16:44:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T16:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/happy-hens-take-east-midlands-flight-after-it-issues-split-group\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T16:44:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T16:44:48","slug":"happy-hens-take-east-midlands-flight-after-it-issues-split-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/happy-hens-take-east-midlands-flight-after-it-issues-split-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy hens take East Midlands flight after IT issues split group"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By\u00a0Owen Shipton,\u00a0<\/span>BBC News, East Midlands Airport<\/span>\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Samantha Noble,\u00a0<\/span>BBC News, East Midlands<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Six of the 13-strong hen party missed their original flight due to delays while their luggage was manually processed<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A group of women on a hen do who were split up due to flight disruption caused by global IT problems are set to be reunited.<\/p>\n

Some processes at East Midlands Airport, like check-in and boarding, had to be done manually after a defect in a software update by cyber-security firm Crowdstrike caused worldwide issues.<\/p>\n

The 13-strong group were set to fly from the airport to Dublin, but six of them who needed to check in luggage were delayed and missed their flight.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, they were able to secure a later flight and are set to meet up with the bride-to-be and six others who departed earlier on Friday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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About 20,000 passengers were expected to pass through East Midlands Airport on one of its busiest days of the year<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Anna Hindmarsh was part of the six that missed the original flight. <\/p>\n

She told the BBC she was “really disheartened”.<\/p>\n

“They didn’t get the paperwork in time for our flight,” she said.<\/p>\n

But the group – including the maid of honour – were determined to make it and managed to catch a later flight for the four-day hen celebration. <\/p>\n

They will join the rest of the party on Friday night after a long wait in the airport.<\/p>\n

The hens who made it to Dublin earlier had told their stranded friends they were “cracking on”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The bride made it to Dublin on the original flight <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Earlier, airport spokesperson Ioan Reed-Aspley told the BBC the outage appeared to have affected the IT system used by ground handling agent Swissport to check in passengers and board them on to aircraft.<\/p>\n

He said: “That’s obviously done digitally normally but their IT systems are down so those processes are having to be done manually.<\/p>\n

“Fortunately for us most of our departures have taken place this morning. We have a couple of aircraft on the ground at the moment but the vast majority of passengers have gone.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the airport later said no flight cancellations were anticipated but added that some delays were possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Airport spokesperson Ioan Reed-Aspley advised passengers to check their flight with the airline<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Some retailers at the airport have been unable to process card payments because of the issue. <\/p>\n

The outage has caused international disruption across businesses and government agencies<\/a>, and disruption in the region, with GP practices, bus stops and hospitals affected<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the cyber-security firm Crowdstrike admitted the problem was caused by an update to its antivirus software, which is designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks.<\/p>\n

Microsoft has said it is taking “mitigation action” to deal with “the lingering impact” of the outage.<\/p>\n

Follow BBC Leicester on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, on <\/i>X<\/i><\/a>, or on <\/i>Instagram<\/i><\/a>. Send your story ideas to <\/i>eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk<\/i><\/a> or via <\/i>WhatsApp<\/i><\/a> on 0808 100 2210.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n