NATS Outage: Ryanair, British Airways and Others Cancelled Differently — What It Means for Your Claim

The same NATS fault on 8 September 2026 hit every UK airline operating that day, but the scale of cancellations varied a lot by carrier. Ryanair reported cancelling around 260 flights, affecting roughly 48,000 passengers, largely reflecting the size and density of its short-haul UK network. British Airways cancelled close to 200 flights, concentrated heavily at Heathrow, its main hub.

Why your claim depends on your airline, not just the outage

The NATS fault is the shared root cause, but every compensation claim is still assessed against the airline you actually booked with: the flight you were on, the route's distance band, how the airline communicated with you, and whether it met its duty of care. Two passengers cancelled by the same NATS event, one on Ryanair, one on British Airways, can end up with different outcomes depending on how their specific airline handled rebooking, care, and communication, not because the underlying legal test is different.

Short-haul, high-frequency networks vs long-haul hubs

An airline like Ryanair, with dense short-haul schedules, can often rebook affected passengers onto another same-day flight from its own network, which shortens the disruption but still counts as a cancellation for compensation purposes if it happened. British Airways, more reliant on Heathrow as a single hub with connecting long-haul passengers, faced a different problem: cancellations there were more likely to break connections and strand passengers mid-itinerary, which raises separate rerouting and care obligations for the onward leg.

If you had a connecting itinerary broken by the outage

A single booking with a connection, disrupted at the first leg by the NATS event, needs to be assessed as one journey to your final destination, not two separate flights. Compensation distance bands are calculated on your full itinerary's distance, not just the first sector, and rerouting obligations extend to getting you to your actual final destination, not just the airport where the first leg was supposed to land.

What to check whichever airline you flew with

• The exact reason given for your cancellation, in writing if possible
• Whether you were rebooked, refunded, or left to arrange your own alternative
• Whether meals, hotel accommodation, or transfers were offered, and if not, what you had to pay for yourself

How to claim

Klaimly checks your specific airline's handling of your flight, distance band, and whether care obligations were met, then pursues whatever's owed. We work for a flat 5% fee, only if we win, whichever airline you flew with.

Sources: MiGFlug, British Airways Media Centre.