What Spain, France and Portugal power cuts mean for travellers – and your rights ...Middle East

British people are famous for their love of Spain and Portugal as holiday destinations, with millions visiting every year. 

Monday’s news that the Iberian peninsula has been hit with massive power cuts will make concerning reading for many planning to visit.

It is believed that, at about midday local time, the electricity supply shut down in swathes of the two countries, affecting everything from the internet, mobile phones and cash machines to traffic lights and trains. 

Small areas of France, close to the Spanish border, have also been affected, but not as severely.

While the Portuguese electricity operator has announced the outage was caused by an apparent atmospheric phenomenon, believed to be related to variations in temperatures, and the EU Council has ruled out a cyber attack as the cause, its impact is being very much felt, not least by tourists.

Here’s everything you need to know about the situation and which areas arebworst affected.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium tells The i Paper that there were scheduled to be more than 500 flights to Spain and Portugal on Monday, equating to around 95,000 seats one way.

At Madrid and Lisbon, each country’s respective busiest airport, dozens of flights were cancelled and at London Heathrow, British Airways has been forced to ground at least one return flight to the Portuguese capital.

There are also reports of delays of up to two hours at Barcelona airport and EasyJet has released a statement confirming that “power failures in Portugal and Spain are impacting access to some airports and affecting some airports operations including Lisbon [and] Madrid.

Read Next

Read More

“Like all airlines, we are experiencing some disruption to our flying programme meaning that some return flights from Lisbon and Madrid have been unable to operate,” the airline adds, but reassuring passengers that “our flying programme at Porto and Faro airports is operating as planned.”

EasyJet, along with other airlines affected, has instructed passengers to check their flight tracker and heed local travel advice before travelling.

The airline is also letting passengers know that those stranded in Portugal or Spain who are unable to travel are entitled to free-of-charge transfers within 72 hours, or a flight voucher.

Further south on the Peninsula, Spain’s Alicante and Malaga airports, and Portugal’s Faro are not severely affected, while airports on the outlying Spanish islands – the Balearics and the Canaries – and those belonging to Portugal – Madeira and the Azores – seem to have escaped the situation.

Many rail options are out of service and roads are chaotic

Spain has an enormous rail network, and it has the largest amount of high-speed rail lines in all of Europe.

Renfe, the country’s national rail company, announced that all power to its network had been cut off, which means there are no departures currently running.

In Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Lisbon and Porto across the border, Metro and electric tram networks came to an abrupt halt, with some passengers trapped underground.

While buses are running, the fact that traffic lights have failed means that there is gridlock on many roads. The same applies to taxis and private cars.

What can I do if my travel is disrupted?

While Spanish grid operator, Red Electrica, is confident that electricity across the Iberian Peninsula will be restored “eventually”, hundreds of thousands of travellers are likely to have their trips disrupted.

The UK’s foreign office (FCDO) has been forced to make a statement regarding the chaos, aimed at British travellers to the two nations.

“We are aware of reports of power outages across Andorra, mainland Spain and mainland Portugal and are monitoring the situation,” the FCDO wrote.

“There may be travel disruption, check with your tour operator or airline for more information before travelling. Follow the advice of the local authorities and monitor local updates.”

That same warning has also been issued for Portugal – but the FCDO hasn’t warned against all non-essential travel, which means options are limited when it comes to travellers’ rights.

If you’ve booked your trip through a travel agent, they should be your first port of call, as they’ll have details of all the legal issues on hand.

Most airlines have explained that the situation is out of their control, so will be able to offer minimum assistance.

In circumstances such as these, it’s somewhat unlikely that you’ll be able to get a refund, but the exact terms and conditions can vary depending on your holiday provider, so it’s important to get in touch with them to discuss your options before making any solid decisions.

Some travel insurance policies do provide cover for events like this and some may help you to postpone your trip, albeit it often for a fee.

If your flight has been cancelled, you have the right to choose between receiving a refund or travelling on the next available flight to your destination – but only if your flight is covered by UK law.

UK passenger rights apply to flights departing from an airport in the UK on any airline, arriving at an airport in the UK on an EU or UK airline, or arriving at an airport in the EU on a UK airline.

If a delay or cancellation was not the fault of an airline, it may be considered to be an “extraordinary circumstance” and that generally means that passengers are unlikely to receive compensation for a delay or cancellation.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( What Spain, France and Portugal power cuts mean for travellers – and your rights )

Also on site :

• Could 100 Men Really Take on One Gorilla and Win? We Asked ChatGPT
• Trump sees no red line that would change tariff policy - The Atlantic
• Pope Tawadros meets with mayor of Polish town