British Airways passengers delayed by computer outage

British Airways passengers are facing delays after an IT glitch affected check-in desks.

The airline apologised to customers, saying its IT teams are “working to resolve this issue”.

British Airways told customers that some flights were cancelled on Monday “due to operational reasons”.

It said in a statement: “We are checking in customers at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports this morning, although it is taking longer than usual.”

“We are sorry for the delay to their journeys,” the airline added.

Customers were encouraged to check in online before they reach the airport.

One passenger, Dana Al-Qatami, who was flying from Switzerland to London, was issued with a handwritten boarding pass on Tuesday morning.

Dana, alongside another Twitter user Susan Stewart, said the delays continued once on the plane.

Ms Stewart, a director at the Open University in Scotland, tweeted: “Dear @British_Airways, could you turn the wifi BA 2953 please so we can work whilst stuck here on tarmac? (or let us off?)”.

Liv Boeree from London told the BBC she had queued for the flight in Las Vegas for two and a half hours. “It’s now midnight and we are boarding. Check-in was long and slow. The staff handled it very well.

“My boarding pass was filled out by hand. Even had a hand written hand baggage label. Staff were updating us well – The staff handled it very well. They were excellent. The pilot said the delays were due to a computer glitch and apologised profusely.”

On Monday customers in the US and Canada reported delays at several airports due to IT problems.

People flying from San Francisco, Washington DC and Atlanta reported long delays on social media.

‘Meltdown’

Twitter user John Bevir wrote: “Huge computer issue affecting British Airways across USA. Friend at #Dulles [Washington airport] tells me pilots by gate but passengers still trying to check in!”.

Ewan Crawford, of Glasgow, said he was at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. He tweeted: “Never a good sign when they deliver water to the gate! Waiting at ORD for @British-Airways 296. Worldwide computer outage apparently! Hmm.”

Matthew Walker, a financial analyst from London, waited for more than two hours to board his flight to Heathrow.

Though he had already checked in online, he said that BA staff could not access their computers to see which passengers had gone through security.

He said: “People were lining up, some had already checked in and got through security, but others, when this thing happened, whatever it is, were stuck in the check-in queue.

“So they (the staff) have the problem that they didn’t know who had already gone through the gate because all the systems literally just had a meltdown.”

In July, British Airways apologised to passengers who faced long delays at check-in at Heathrow and Gatwick.

The airline was upgrading its check-in system and problems led to lengthy queues on one of the busiest days of the year for the airports.

Source: BBC