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TRAVEL NEWS

How the global IT crash affected travel and services in France

A major global IT glitch caused huge disruption around the world on Friday, with airlines and airports particularly affected - here's the situation in France.

Published: 19 July 2024 10:38 CEST
Updated: 19 July 2024 17:05 CEST
How the global IT crash affected travel and services in France
Air France says the IT outage is leading to flight disruption. Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP

Windows users around the world reported the notorious ‘blue screen of death’ error screens on their systems on Friday -an issue caused by a software update to the CrowdStrike security firm.

CrowdStrike’s CEO said in the early afternoon of Friday that the problem has been identified and a fix deployed, but it will take some time for systems and services to return to normal.

Here’s a look at the situation in France;

Airlines

The worst of the problems seem to be with air travel, with France’s transport minister Patrice Vergriete saying that the disruption “was limited to certain airlines and airports”.

The budget airline Ryanair said it was having problems ‘across the network’ and advised anyone travelling with the airline today to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time. Online check-in systems for passengers have also been hit.

French carrier Air France says it has been affected by issues including with check-in, which is causing serious disruption. Air France added that flights already on course are not affected.

The German budget carrier Eurowings is also experiencing problems while the Dutch airline KLM says it has been forced to suspend flights, saying that the IT problems make it “impossible to manage flights”.

Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports – the main entry points for athletes arriving for the Olympics – say they are not directly affected by the problems, but that several airlines using the airport are affected.

The airport operator said that this had led to “a slowdown in check-in, delays and temporary suspension of certain flight schedules” adding that staff were mobilised to assist passengers. By early evening, the airport said things were “on the way to returning to normal”.

There were also reports of delayed take-offs at Lyon’s Saint-Exupéry airport and Marseille-Provence airport.

Multiple European airports including Berlin, Frankfurt and Amsterdam’s Schipol experienced major disruption and in the United States flights were also grounded.

Anyone due to fly on Friday is advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

READ ALSO You rights on delayed or cancelled flights in France

Rail and Metro

The French rail operator SNCF says that its operations have not been affected, likewise the Paris public transport operator RATP says that all bus, Metro, tram and RER services are running as normal.

Ferries

The Port of Calais reported difficulties with Irish Ferries services caused by the IT issues. Passengers at Calais reported long delays on Friday morning.

Irish Ferries said in the late morning that it believed the issue had been fixed.

Paris Olympics

The Paris 2024 Olympics team said that their systems had been affected by the outage, adding that they had activated contingency plans.

Organising committee president Tony Estanguet said that critical IT systems had not been hit but “for operations on the ground, to welcome new athletes, to welcome all the delegations, to issue accreditations, it slows down our operations.”

Ticket sales and the ongoing Olympic torch relay were not affected, the Olympics information app and ticket app both appeared to be working normally on Friday.

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland remained open but numerous electronic display screens at the park were showing error messages on Friday morning.

TV

The French TV channels TF1 and Canal Plus say they have been affected by the problems and are not able to put out their usual programming on Friday. In the UK the news channel Sky was off the air.

Phones

The phone network Bouygues Telecom said on Friday morning that its customer service lines were not available, although the problems have not affected the phone network itself.

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TRAVEL NEWS

France suffers second day of sabotage train delays

Tens of thousands of rail passengers struggled through a second day of cancelled trains Saturday as investigators tracked saboteurs who paralysed the network just ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Published: 27 July 2024 10:37 CEST
Updated: 27 July 2024 15:12 CEST
France suffers second day of sabotage train delays

The SNCF rail company chief Jean-Pierre Farandou said services would be back to normal by Monday. But deputy transport minister authorities acknowledged that 160,000 of the 800,000 people due to travel this weekend still faced cancellations.

Nearly one third of trains were cancelled in northern, western and eastern France. About a quarter of Eurostar high speed trains between London and Paris also failed to leave.

No claim of responsibility has been made for the meticulously planned night-time attacks on cabling boxes at junctions north, southwest and east of the French capital, just ahead of Friday’s Olympics opening ceremony in Paris. Maintenance workers thwarted a fourth attack.

But Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the investigation was progressing.

“We have uncovered a certain number of elements that allow us to think that we will soon know who is responsible for what clearly did not sabotage the Olympic Games but did sabotage part of the holidays of the French people,” Darmanin told France 2 television.

French authorities are on high alert for a terrorist attack during the Games, which run through August 11. Tens of thousands of police and troops are on Olympics security duties.

Some 250,000 people missed their train on Friday, according to SNCF, because of the attacks that dozens of investigators are now working on.

READ ALSO: Rail sabotage: What to expect if you’re travelling in France this weekend

Three in 10 trains cancelled

About three out of every 10 trains were cancelled Saturday in the three regions affected by the attacks, with most trains still operating delayed by between one and two hours, SNCF said.

Kathleen Cuvellier, speaking in the northern city of Lille, said her journey to Avignon in the south was going to be “hell”.

Cuvellier, travelling with her two-year-old son, said she now had to take a slow train to Paris and then switch to another for Avignon. “The travel time was four hours and now it’s going to be seven”.

“One doesn’t have any choice,” commented Cecile Bonnefond, whose train from Lille to the western city of Nantes was cancelled.

Trains to eastern France have largely returned to normal. But traffic will remain disrupted into Sunday in northern France and into Britain and Belgium, while services to western France would slowly improve, SNCF said.

The company said its staff worked through the night “in difficult conditions in the rain” to get the affected lines working again.

‘Back to normal’

The coordinated attacks staged at 4:00 am early Friday cut fibre optic cables running along the tracks that transmit safety information to train drivers. The attackers also set fire to the cables.

“Everything will be back to normal for Monday morning,” SNCF president Farandou told reporters at Paris Montparnasse station. “We will be ready”.

Most passengers at the station remained patient. But they were given regular loudspeaker reminders that “a malicious act” meant trains would be cancelled or delayed.

Due to the exceptional situation, SNCF station staff have been more flexible than usual, allowing more people on trains than there are seats or refraining from checking tickets.

Anyone planning to travel should check the latest on the SNCF information site here, or download the SNCF Connect app.

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