Global IT outage traps The Hits Ben Boyce and family in Orlando as flights cancelled

Ben Boyce and his family were stranded in Orlando for several days as airlines were grounded by the global IT outage. Photo / Instagram

A Kiwi radio host and his family were trapped in the US for several days after the global IT outage forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights.

The global IT outage on Friday, July 19 forced airlines to delay more than 21,300 flights and cancel 2136 in the US alone.

One of these cancelled flights was meant to take The Hits Breakfast host, Ben Boyce, and his family home. Instead, Boyce and his wife and daughters were stuck in Orlando for several days, uncertain whether insurance would cover the costs of their extended stay.

Jumping on The Hits Breakfast on Monday, Ben said they had travelled to the US for the school holidays. The family started in New York, where they stayed with family and saw the iconic sights before moving to Orlando, Florida.

On the final day of the holiday, they were in the hotel with their bags packed, ready to head to the airport when they heard the news.

“[We were] down to our last clean pair of underwear and socks and then we got word that the computers around the world had basically gone down,” he said.

As a result, their flights were cancelled and they were stuck in the US for a couple more days.

Boyce said that, while it was “frustrating” to miss commitments back home, they knew things could be “a heck of a lot worse” and others were far more affected than them.

Plus, the temperature in Florida was around 30C which was “actually really lovely” compared to Aotearoa’s chilly winter.

The most stressful part of the situation for Boyce appeared to be travel insurance and whether it would cover their costs.

“There’s nothing more scary or thrilling than being over here and spending US dollars and not knowing if travel insurance are gonna cover it,” Boyce said.

He then joked that, despite visiting theme parks in Orlando, uncertainty regarding insurance had been “the most thrilling and exciting ride of the whole trip”.

On Instagram, Boyce documented their attempt to get home, which involved getting standby flights to Atlanta and then Los Angeles. Their final flight home to Auckland was delayed an hour but eventually, it departed and arrived in Auckland at 7.15am this morning.

The Boyce family aren’t the only ones asking whether travel insurance will cover the unexpected travel costs caused by the outage. Analysts claim aviation was one of the worst-hit industries and expect insurance claims to cost billions of dollars.

In many instances, experts suggest coverage will depend on whether an insurer considers the airlines responsible for the outage.