The trade has raised fears of a lengthy battle to recoup the cost of rebooking customers after again showing its value during the Heathrow shutdown last week.
Europe’s busiest airport closed on Friday after a fire at an off-site electricity substation caused more than 1,300 flight cancellations and affected 230,000 passengers worldwide.
The shutdown is now the subject of a six-week independent investigation by the National Energy System Operator into why flights were suspended for almost the entire day.
Travel firms cited the impact as “significant”, with many working longer hours and drafting in extra staff and some rebooking clients at their own cost.
More: Heathrow defends contingency planning after shutdown criticism
Aito, The Specialist Travel Association, warned many operators now face a financial battle. Christina Brazier, head of industry affairs, said: “Our members have spent thousands of pounds from their own pockets to rebook flights and accommodation – only to (now) face lengthy battles to recover those costs.
“This is yet another example of how operators are left to pick up the pieces and are suffering due to the failings of third parties.”
Aito member Inside Travel Group, which had 29 bookings affected, said the crisis had so far cost it £20,000, not including extra staffing.
Co-founder Simon King added: “We are fortunate to already have a 24/7 global customer support team, but we had to add extra people to manage the disruption and our flight manager Paul O’Brien went the extra mile, working through the night to check flight statuses.”
Naturetrek, also an Aito supplier, had more than 65 clients affected but said some opted to cancel for a full refund due to the severe flight delays.
Managing director Andy Tucker said: “We’re relying on the goodwill of suppliers to refund us for the accommodation otherwise we’ll lose a lot of money.”
Kuoni’s operations team worked from 7am until 9pm on Friday, while extra staff were brought in over the weekend, with some “working through the night”.
A spokeswoman said: “This demonstrates that having a duty office that works 24/7 is a massive support to customers.”
Gold Medal had a “substantial” number of clients affected. Director of operations and business transformation Kathryn Sharples said: “Last week’s events reconfirm why it is crucial to have a crisis plan in place. We have a robust plan in place for unforeseen circumstances such as this which was put into action immediately.
She added: “Passengers who did not book their holidays through a reputable agent or tour operator will have undoubtedly struggled on Friday and into the weekend.”
Other firms were able to use their expertise to resolve clients’ issues within hours of the initial announcement.
Sunvil Group managing director Chris Wright rearranged all affected customers’ flights and taxi transfers after seeing the news on his phone at 3.30am on Friday when he got up to catch a flight from Heathrow to Athens.
“We had just under 20 passengers affected – mostly agent bookings – and it was sorted within an hour and a half,” he said. “We’ve shown time and time again the industry will pick up the pieces and react quickly.”
Wright said large scale cancellations such as this often led to prices on remaining flights surging to “ridiculous levels” leaving travel firms “huge bills” as part of the rebooking process.
“We even saw taxi prices between airports shoot up in price,” he said, noting: “When I started in travel, we used to have mutual aid seats between operators. If one of us had a problem, other operators would allow us to use seats on their aircraft at a set reasonable rate. I know times have changed and prices are often set by algorithms, but surely we should be able to come up with a system to work together to help each other out.”
Caribtours’ chief executive Paul Cleary began contacting agents at 6am. The operator had 20 bookings affected.
“This [Heathrow closure] had never been thrown at us before and we didn’t know how long it would last, [but] by 9am everyone was sorted out,” he said.
Thames Travel managing director Christian Green received a call from Cleary at 6.30am about a Caribtours booking to Grenada.
“I woke up to Paul ringing me,” said Green, whose agency had four bookings affected including a honeymoon cancelled twice during Covid.
“We swapped a couple to flights the next day and switched airlines but it meant we were already on it before customers contacted us,” said Green, adding: “It was our [agents] time to shine.”
TravelTime World director Ashley Quint said one affected booking for clients diverted to Frankfurt on their flight home from New Zealand “consumed the whole day” after the clients were told they could not travel back with the airline they had been travelling back with and had to wait until the next morning for a flight home.
“All we could do was provide emotional support and guidance and be there for our clients to talk to. The morale of the story was that sometimes you cannot do anything apart from just be there,” said Quint who kept in touch with his clients and rebooked their taxi at 11.30pm after they received their return flight details.
Designer Travel agents started rebooking clients at 5am and had completed most by 9am after liaising with suppliers to find alternative flights, accommodation and airport lounges, and even organised a celebration for clients travelling out to mark a birthday.
Co-owner Karen Pocock said: “It’s important to see the industry pull together when these things happen.”
The Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said: “Agents and operators demonstrated exceptional professionalism and dedication as they rallied to support their customers during this unexpected crisis.”
Inspire Europe chief executive Lisa Henning said the incident highlighted the “immense value” of the trade, noting: “One of our homeworkers, who was on holiday in Morocco, immediately jumped into action. Equipped with her laptop, she was able to assist clients despite being miles away.”
Independent Travel Experts managing director Gary Gillespie cited the main challenges as handling flight diversions and e-tickets not working on rebooked flights.
“Having an experienced advisor can make all the difference in moments of disruption,” he added, but called for improved airline and airport communication to “prevent similar issues” in future.
Nicki Tempest-Mitchell, managing director, Barrhead Travel, stressed: “I do think customers particularly remember situations like this – they’ll always remember if their agent goes above and beyond to support them so it’s important that travel agents have good crisis management processes. In many cases, agents can get to their clients quicker than a supplier can – so it really underlines the importance of the role we play.”
Premier Travel managing director Paul Waters also reported a “significant increase in workload” but agreed: “Despite the challenges, the situation remained manageable thanks to our experienced team and well-established contingency plans.”
He added: “When unexpected disruptions happen, booking with a reputable travel agent puts clients in a much better position to receive support, advice, and help with alternative arrangements. Travellers who had booked independently would likely have struggled to get the same level of support and reassurance.”
The Travel Network Group director of membership services Stephanie Slark said the consortium activated its ‘Cobra’ plan and “made sure our team reached out to every member with an upcoming trip”.
She added: “For members acting as a retail agent on behalf of a business partner, we’ve offered dedicated support to help meet their specific needs. Our team has also focused on those members who were handling packaged travel as the principal, making sure they understand and fulfil their responsibilities under the Package Travel Regulations.”
Graeme Fyvie, general manager at travel management company Reed and Mackay, said: “It is essential to establish clear guidelines for future events of this nature, ensuring that there is a transparent understanding from the outset regarding what can be reclaimed during the rebooking process.”
Travelpack said the cooperation of agents and operators was key, but called for more collaboration between airports to ensure certain flights could continue in the event of an incident and improve overall response efforts.
Marketing manager Sharel Dsa added: “The disruptions resulted in a significant increase in workload for our administrative teams on Friday, continuing through the weekend and into Monday. However, thanks to the dedication of our team and the cooperation of our agents and suppliers, we managed to handle the situation efficiently despite the time constraints and pressure.
“It would be beneficial for Heathrow Airport to implement backup systems for critical operations to mitigate the impact of potential power outages in the future. Additionally, enhanced collaboration with other airports to safeguard certain flights could help reduce disruptions and improve overall response efforts.”