BA Computer Crash: Passengers Face Third Day of Disruption at Heathrow


BA Computer Crash: Passengers Face Third Day of Disruption at Heathrow

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Travellers warned to check status of flights before heading to airport as Gatwick says it will run full schedule on Monday.

British Airways passengers are facing a third day of disruption at Heathrow as the airline continues to deal with the fallout from a computer crash.

Short-haul flights from the airport were subject to cancellations and delays, after the IT glitch led to scenes of chaos at Heathrow and Gatwick over the weekend. Both Heathrow and Gatwick warned bank holiday travellers to check with the airline before setting off on Monday, The Guardian reported.

However, BA said it would run a full schedule at Gatwick on Monday and it intended to operate a full long-haul schedule and a “high proportion” of its short-haul programme at Heathrow.

Cancellations on Monday morning included flights to Stockholm, Vienna and Dublin, as well as several domestic routes. Delays were typically less than half an hour.

The airline is also dealing with a backlog of lost luggage after many passengers had to leave the airport without their baggage. “We are working to reunite all our customers with their bags,” a spokeswoman said.

The airline, whose chief executive, Alex Cruz, has apologized for the disruption, said it was continuing to make good progress in recovering from the worldwide IT glitch that grounded scores of planes, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

An airline spokeswoman said: “We operated a full schedule at Gatwick on Sunday. At Heathrow, we operated virtually all our scheduled long-haul flights, though the knock-on effects of Saturday’s disruption resulted in a reduced short-haul programme.

 “As our IT systems move closer to full operational capacity, we will again run a full schedule at Gatwick on Monday and intend to operate a full long-haul schedule and a high proportion of our short-haul programme at Heathrow.

 “We apologize again to customers for the frustration and inconvenience they are experiencing and thank them for their continued patience.”

The airline rejected a suggestion by the GMB union that the outsourcing of IT functions to India to cut costs had contributed to the chaos. “We would never compromise the integrity and security of our IT systems,” the spokeswoman said. “IT services are now provided globally by a range of suppliers and this is very common practice across all industries and the UK government.”

She said the problems were caused by a power outage and the airline was investigating the incident. “The root cause was a power supply issue that affected a number of our systems,” she said. The airline has said there is no evidence of a cyber-attack.

Travellers spent the night sleeping on yoga mats spread on terminal floors on Saturday after BA cancelled all flights leaving the London hubs, and disruption continued into Sunday with dozens more services from Heathrow axed.

The IT outage had a knock-on effect on BA services around the world, while passengers who did get moving on the limited number of flights to take off from the UK reported arriving at their destinations without their luggage.

The disruption also hit transport systems on the ground, with hundreds of travellers flooding King’s Cross station in London in the hope of boarding a train north instead.

Experts predict the knock-on effect could continue for several days, while BA is facing huge compensation costs, with reports suggesting the bill could top £100m.

In a tweet, Heathrow said it had “mobilized additional Heathrow colleagues to assist passengers at the terminals and give out free water and snacks”.

Early on Monday, a Heathrow airport spokeswoman said: “Following a worldwide IT system issue, there continues to be some disruption to British Airways flights from Heathrow. All British Airways passengers due to fly should check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport, via Heathrow.com, ba.com and British Airways’ Twitter account.

 “All passengers whose flights have been cancelled should not travel to the airport unless they have already rebooked on to another flight. Passengers looking to re-book flights should go to ba.com.”

Meanwhile, Gatwick airport tweeted: “Today, Monday 29th May, British Airways are planning to operate a near normal schedule at Gatwick, following the British Airways IT system failure.

 “We continue to advise customers travelling with British Airways over the Bank Holiday Weekend to check the status of their flight with British Airways before travelling to the airport. Customers should not travel to the airport unless they have already rebooked onto another flight.”

The Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement on Sunday highlighting the protections for passengers under by EU law. Matt Buffey, its head of consumer protection, said: “The welfare of passengers must be the priority for any airline experiencing disruption and we fully expect all UK airlines to meet their obligations.

“Passengers caught up in this disruption should be informed of their legal rights by British Airways, but they can find out the full details of their rights during delays and cancellations by visiting the CAA website.”

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