Staff at Gatwick Airport in London have had to write information about flight departures on whiteboards, after a technical issue means screens have failed.
Photos posted on social media showed people crowding around the boards to find out the latest on their flights.
Staff could also be seen rubbing out information as it changed to update it with black and red marker pens.
The screen failure is affecting both terminals at the airport.
Gatwick Airport tweeted: "Due to damage to a Vodafone fibre optic cable, we are continuing to display our flight info manually.
"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."
Due to damage to a Vodafone fibre optic cable, we are continuing to display our flight info manually. 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.
— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) August 20, 2018
There was frustration among some passengers, who described walking to wrong gates or having their flights delayed.
A Gatwick spokesperson said a "handful of people had missed their flights" as a result of the problem.
August is generally one of the busiest periods of the year for the UK airport, as many families embark on summer holidays.
A user by the name of @helenwalsh tweeted: "Absolute carnage @Gatwick_Airport with no boards working and no staff with gate info."
Absolute carnage @Gatwick_Airport with no boards working and no staff with gate info
— Helen (@helenwalsh) August 20, 2018
@robfahey posted a photo of people waiting by a whiteboard and wrote: "This tiny whiteboard is the only departures information in Gatwick Airport right now; every screen is offline. Utter chaos. This is a signature flourish at the end of a short trip that's been full of reminders of how badly the UK's infrastructure is crumbling."
This tiny whiteboard is the only departures information in Gatwick Airport right now; every screen is offline. Utter chaos. This is a signature flourish at the end of a short trip that’s been full of reminders of how badly the UK’s infrastructure is crumbling. pic.twitter.com/6r7CDVheLf
— Rob Fahey (@robfahey) August 20, 2018
Other passengers saw the lighter side and praised the efforts of staff members for trying to keep the flight schedule on track.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm at Gatwick airport and the screens are broken, so they are announcing boarding gates with a white board! 😂<br><br>They have a guy listening to a walkie talkie, erasing and updating the table! <a href="https://t.co/AoxSpmQfHy">pic.twitter.com/AoxSpmQfHy</a></p>— Raúl Marcos (@raulmarcosl) <a href="https://twitter.com/raulmarcosl/status/1031496898375507968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
