British Airways said its flights were returning to normal after passengers had to endure cancellations, delays and long queues at London airports as the airline suffered its third major computer failure in a little more than two years.
Yesterday’s woes are the latest in a string of problems at BA, which was fined $230mn last month for a huge customer data breach and is bracing for potential strikes in a pay dispute with its pilots. BA, owned by International Airlines Group, apologised to customers for yesterday’s disruption and warned it would take time for operations to return to normal.
More than 60 flights to and from Heathrow and Gatwick were cancelled and more than 100 were delayed, according to the departure boards at the two airports.
The problems started when people tried to check in for the first flights of the day and lasted for about 12 hours.
BA would not confirm how many people have been affected but said it had experienced a “systems issue” affecting check-in and flight departures at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports.
Customers could not check in online, while others complained of being stuck on planes unable to take off for hours.
Passengers from as far away as Japan and India complained of delays. Stuart Jackson, a photography business manager, said he was stuck on a grounded plane at Heathrow and had missed his connecting flight, disrupting months of planning and wasting thousands of pounds.
“When I do arrive, I will have to just fly home again,” he said on Twitter. “BA is a complete catastrophe and I will never fly with them again.” The IT failure occurred as tens of thousands of people in Britain prepared to jet off for summer holidays on what is one of the busiest weeks of the year for the country’s airports.
People wait inside Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London, as IT problems caused delays yesterday.
