Chaos for British Airways as ‘flights are grounded’ over IT glitch

Thousands of British Airways passengers may still face lengthy delays after a major IT glitch hit company software on Monday – causing travel chaos across Europe. Holidaymakers were seen standing in the cold waiting to board their flights yesterday evening, while some were stuck on planes awaiting clearance to take off.

Others were forced to wait for their luggage at the baggage claim area – and said British Airways’s communication was ‘appalling’. The IT issue meant pilots have been unable to file flight plans electronically and had had to manually call into the operations centre at Heathrow .

They captains said they were also unable to file ‘load sheets’ which are critical to aircraft safety, as they calculate the weight and distribution of cargo, fuel and passengers. The airline said on Monday night that the IT issue had been resolved, but passengers were still experiencing severe disruption as a knock-on effect of the earlier technical hitch.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: ‘Our teams worked hard to resolve an issue we experienced for a short time earlier this evening. We’ve apologised to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned.’

Nick Ellis, who was stuck at Heathrow and was due to catch a flight home to Glasgow at 9pm on Monday, had instead been forced to check into a Premier Inn near the airport. The 44-year-old IT executive said: ‘I understand technical problems happen but it seems quite often with British Airways. The lack of communication is a disgrace. I am very angry. I now have to stay in a hotel I imagine and will miss important work meetings.’

He added: ‘It’s appalling. I’m very angry. I’m knackered and really annoyed.’ Another passenger who was also trying to get on the same flight was being forced to do the same. Personal trainer Fergus Marshall, 32, said: ‘It’s cold, pouring it down with rain and now I’m stranded in London. I fully expect to be compensated for this. Heathrow is so often hit with problems. It’s a disgrace.’

At least six BA flights out of Heathrow yesterday were cancelled, including to Geneva, Milan and Nice. Across Europe, North America and Africa, pilots told passengers they would not be able to take off and instead would be held on the tarmac. A passenger stuck on the ground in Cologne, Germany, said their pilot ‘had an email saying it’s a global outage and they can’t get the weight information’ for the aircraft, The Times reported.

Another wrote on social media: ‘BAF535 stuck on tarmac at Naples. Pilot hasn’t received [the] load sheet and [is] unable to communicate with Heathrow as internal phones are down.’ Martin Evans, 45, was trapped at Tenerife airport trying to fly back into Heathrow yesterday. The company director had been unable to board his plane and needed to return to London for business. He told MailOnline: ‘It’s appalling. I have no idea what is happening. The communication has been terrible. British Airways have given us no warning or communication. There are a lot of very angry people at the airport, it’s madness.’

Another passenger due to land on the same flight added: ‘It is a complete joke. I am fuming.’ The airline’s bug-ridden website was taken offline for hours, the app crashed and both the external and internal phone lines were cut off. A message on the website said: ‘We are experiencing high demand on ba.com at the moment.’ 

Passengers started to report problems at around 5pm on Monday, but some noted the issues online before then. The website Down Detector showed reports of an IT outage at around 4.30pm. A source told The Times that the issue was ‘affecting multiple systems’. The cause of the issue is not yet known. Andrew, 34, had just landed in Heathrow Airport when the outage struck. He told MailOnline he had been waiting 45 minutes for his luggage when staff announced that it would not be arriving and they had no clue how long it would be until systems were back up and running.

‘It’s like what can I do? These things can take five minutes or five hours and I’ve got better things to be doing than waiting for my baggage,’ he said. There must’ve been 50 people waiting and I imagine most will wait throughout the night. There’s two staff available, both of whom have no information, they have no idea how long it will be, they couldn’t take reports and just gave me a generic brochure. I am going to check myself into the hotel and hope for the best I can call someone about my luggage in the morning.’

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