Image by Erik Odin, from Unsplash
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-In Systems At Major European Airports
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
Major European airports faced flight delays and cancellations because check-in and boarding systems were disrupted by a cyberattack.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Heathrow, Berlin, and Brussels faced flight delays and cancellations.
- Collins Aerospace software was affected, but manual check-in mitigated impact.
- Passengers reported multi-hour queues and confusion at affected airports.
Some operations at London’s Heathrow, Berlin, and Brussels airports were disrupted after software from service provider Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of RTX Corporation, was affected.
“At Heathrow, Berlin and Brussels, at least 29 departures and arrivals have been cancelled so far,” aviation data provider Cirium reported as noted by Aljazeera .
“We advise passengers to check their flight status with their airline before travelling,” Collins Aerospace said. The company added that “the impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” Cirum added.
Brussels airport said the cyberattack “has a large impact on the flight schedule and will unfortunately cause delays and cancellations of flights.”
Berlin airport warned of longer waiting times, stating, “Due to a technical issue at a system provider […] there are longer waiting times at check-in. We are working on a quick solution,” as reported by Aljazeera.
Travelers at Heathrow Airport faced extended delays and disorganization during their time at the airport. BBC gives the example of Lucy Spencer who said she queued for over two hours for a Malaysia Airlines flight.
“They told us to use the boarding passes on our phone, but when we got to the gates they weren’t working—they’ve now sent us back to the check-in gate,” she said. Monazza Aslam added she had been sitting on the tarmac for over an hour with “no idea when we will fly.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed she was monitoring the situation and “getting regular updates,” as reported by BBC. Some airports, including Frankfurt, Zurich, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Orly, were not affected. EasyJet and Ryanair said they were operating normally.
Image by Sean Do, from Unsplash
Valve Apologizes After Steam Error Kills Indie Game Launch
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
An indie game developer said that the launch of their game, Planet Centauri, became a disaster when a rare Steam bug struck the launch of their game.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Valve admitted a bug prevented wishlist notification emails from being sent.
- The bug affected fewer than 100 games since 2015, according to Valve.
- Valve offered a Daily Deal slot, but developers say it can’t fix losses.
The 2D sandbox game, Planet Centauri, spent more than ten years in early access before it reached its 1.0 release in December 2024. The game achieved 1.0 status in December 2024 after selling more than 100,000 copies while reaching 138,000 wishlists.
The developers predicted high launch sales but the game only managed to sell 581 copies during its first five days of release.
“This is how Steam can ruin more than 10 years of your work,” developer Laurent Lechat wrote on Reddit, as reported by Games Radar . He explained, “the game didn’t even appear on page 2 [of Steam trends]; we were invisible; the release was a total flop. And we never understood why until today.”
Nine months later, Valve admitted the failure was caused by a bug. Games Radar reports that in an email to the developers, Valve confirmed that Planet Centauri’s launch was affected by “a bug that impacted a very small number of game releases (less than 100 since 2015) where wishlist email notifications for the launch of a game were not sent.”
The game received a Daily Deal promotion from Valve as part of their apology, but Lechat remained skeptical. “It’s incredible to win the lottery like this,” he said, adding that the offer couldn’t make up for the lost launch window, as reported by Games Radar.
Too drained to fight further, the small studio has moved on. “We’ve started a second project because it’s financially impossible to continue patching our game, and we’re moving forward, because it’s the only thing to do.” Lechat said, as reported by Games Radar.
