--- title: Gatwick Airport Uses Whiteboard to Prevent Chaos description: Staff at London's Gatwick airport are using whiteboards in an attempt to prevent total travel chaos following a digital screen failure. canonical: https://time.com/5371707/gatwick-airport-whiteboard-chaos/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-20T15:26:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:23.668Z og:title: Airport Forced to Use Whiteboard to Prevent Travel Mayhem og:description: Staff are handwriting departure information on temporary flight boards og:url: https://time.com/5371707/gatwick-airport-whiteboard-chaos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49549531ff613354/69893821fb4eac56b38976a3/gatwick-airport-chaos.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Group of people standing in queue to board airplane og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Airport Forced to Use Whiteboard to Prevent Travel Mayhem twitter:description: Staff are handwriting departure information on temporary flight boards twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49549531ff613354/69893821fb4eac56b38976a3/gatwick-airport-chaos.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Airport Forced to Use Whiteboard to Prevent Total Travel Mayhem  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Aug 20, 2018 3:26 PM UTC  Group of people standing in queue to board airplane Group of people standing in queue to board airplaneizusek/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Aug 20, 2018 3:26 PM UTC Staff at London’s Gatwick [airport](http://time.com/money/5176917/best-us-airports-2018/) are using whiteboards in an attempt to prevent total [travel chaos](http://time.com/5290713/how-early-get-to-airport/) following a digital screen failure. Photos shared on social media show travelers crowded around airport employees who are handwriting departure information on the temporary flight boards. “Due to damage to a Vodafone fibre optic cable, we are continuing to display our flight info manually,” Gatwick tweeted. “Contingencies are working – we have whiteboards and friendly staff on hand to help, and tens of thousands of passengers have departed on time. Apologies for any inconvenience.” > [](https://twitter.com/Gatwick%5FAirport/status/1031509367491911681) However, some passengers are taking to Twitter to vent their frustration over the situation. “Absolute carnage [@Gatwick\_Airport](https://twitter.com/Gatwick%5FAirport) with no boards working and no staff with gate info,” wrote one traveler. > [](https://twitter.com/helenwalsh/status/1031468708764549121) See some more reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/robfahey/status/1031481952019378178) > [](https://twitter.com/raulmarcosl/status/1031496898375507968) > [](https://twitter.com/ffffelix/status/1031495221991944192) > [](https://twitter.com/hunterruthven/status/1031455564285587456) > [](https://twitter.com/GinaMurrin/status/1031476050696593408) > [](https://twitter.com/lizmezzo/status/1031458857472679936) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5371707/gatwick-airport-whiteboard-chaos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5371707/gatwick-airport-whiteboard-chaos/"},"headline":"Airport Forced to Use Whiteboard to Prevent Total Travel Mayhem","datePublished":"2018-08-20T15:26:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:23.668Z","description":"Staff are handwriting departure information on temporary flight boards","url":"https://time.com/5371707/gatwick-airport-whiteboard-chaos/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Travel","Airports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49549531ff613354/69893821fb4eac56b38976a3/gatwick-airport-chaos.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49549531ff613354/69893821fb4eac56b38976a3/gatwick-airport-chaos.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Group of people standing in queue to board airplane","caption":"Group of people standing in queue to board airplane","creditText":"izusek/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5371707/gatwick-airport-whiteboard-chaos/","name":"Airport Forced to Use Whiteboard to Prevent Total Travel Mayhem"}}]}] ```