BA FLIGHTS GROUNDED
BRITISH Airways cancelled all flights from Gatwick and Heathrow yesterday afternoon and evening after a global IT crash. Passengers were told not to travel to the London airports because of “extreme congestion”, with scores left stranded at the terminals.
A spokeswoman for the airline said: “We are working hard to get our customers who were due to fly onto the next available flights over the course of the rest of the weekend. Those unable to fly will be offered a full refund.”
The company last night said a “power supply issue” was probably behind the global IT failure.
Chief executive Alex Cruz said: “We believe the root cause was a power supply issue and we have no evidence of any cyber attack.”
The airline apologised to customers facing delays yesterday morning “following an IT outage”.
Yesterday afternoon it was then announced all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick had been cancelled before 6pm.
An update was then issued at 4.45pm saying all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick had been cancelled for the rest of the day.
BA said delays could continue into today, but most long-haul flights should be able to land as normal in London. “Following the major IT system failure experienced earlier today, with regret we have had to cancel all flights leaving from Heathrow and Gatwick for the rest of today, Saturday, May 27,” the statement added.
“The system outage has also affected our call centres and our website but we will update customers as soon as we are able to.
“We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this is causing our customers during this busy holiday period.”
Scores of Britons were stranded as they tried to fly overseas for the long weekend and half-term school holidays, with many venting their frustration on BA’s Twitter page.
Several passengers at Heathrow told the Press Association they had not been told their flights were cancelled until more than an hour after the airline put out a press statement announcing the decision.
Images posted online showed a group of people gathered around the customer services desk at Terminal 5 trying to get information.
Footage filmed at the terminal showed long queues at customer services, after passengers had been advised that they would be unable to rebook due to systems remaining down.
Travellers were told to check the airline’s website and Twitter account for updates on the situation.
The airline has experienced issues with its online check-in systems in the past.
Passengers were hit by severe delays in September and July last year because of IT glitches.
Frustrated passengers could be seen calmly surrounding BA staff at the check-in at Gatwick airport.
BA staff were handing out letters which apologised for the cancellations and gave details about how to claim for hotels, local transport and refreshments.
Bernadette Young, 38, from Farnham, Surrey, was travelling to Portugal with her husband Cris, 37, and daughters Beatrix, five, and Theodo- ra, two, for their first family holiday in three years. Mrs Young said: “We cannot get on a flight today and we have been offered a flight from Manchester tomorrow but we cannot drive up there.
“The girls are really disappointed. It is half-term and we have only got a week. They were looking forward to it and really getting excited about going swimming in the sun.
“Hopefully we will still be able to go.”