More than 500 flights cancelled or delayed by IT problem affecting London airports

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

British Airways was facing passenger anger on Wednesday as more than 500 flights were cancelled or delayed as a result of a systems failure.

In the latest in a series of operational problems to hit the airline, and the travel plans of tens of thousands with holiday and business plans, London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and City were the airports most affected by the computer failure. BA refused to reveal the number of flights affected but according to Flightstats.com, which tracks arrivals and departures, by 5.30pm the airline had cancelled 140 flights and a further 370 had been delayed.

BA said its latest systems failures affected only the London airports, but the disruption had knock-on effects elsewhere, including at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast and in many European destinations when incoming flights failed to arrive.

Customers experienced difficulties checking in online, and queues formed in airport departure areas as the airline moved to manual systems to keep flights operating.

Some social media users reported that, on flights that did take off, the food and drink service was affected.

Air travel experts said BA may be liable to pay compensation to affected passengers, on top of refunding them the ticket price. Under EU law, some passengers whose flights are cancelled or delayed by two hours or more can be given compensation.

The airline said it was offering customers the chance to move bookings to another travel day between 8 and 13 August.

Quick guide Coronavirus travel shutdown: what are your rights? Show Hide My flight to Europe is cancelled. All I’m being offered is an alternative flight or vouchers. Is this legal? No. But that hasn’t stopped a number of airlines doing exactly that. All flights on EU carriers within, or into the EU, and all flights leaving from an EU airport, are protected by the EU’s “denied boarding” rules, which require a full refund in seven days when flights are cancelled. The problem for consumers is that enforcing these rights is proving very difficult. After initially promising to refund passengers within 20 working days, Ryanair has now said passengers should accept vouchers valid for 12 months, or wait until the Covid-19 pandemic is over for a refund. Refunds at British Airways are only being processed by customer services which, of course, is impossible to contact. easyJet, initially only offered refunds through customer services but now has a web portal to request refunds. Note: the EU cancellation rules do not apply to non-EU carriers where the flight started outside the EU – for example, a Korean Air flight from Seoul to London. In the face of a no-refund policy, what should I do? Taking the offer of replacement vouchers in the current climate is highly risky given the airline may not be around in six months. While some will be happy to accept vouchers, many will not. Coby Benson of the specialist flight compensation lawyers, Bott and Co, advises passengers to submit their refund request in writing, using the following text: I understand that my flight [fight number] on [flight date] has been cancelled and I therefore request a full refund pursuant to articles 5(1)(a) and 8(1)(a) of EC Regulation No.261/2004. You are reminded that the refund must be made within seven days. For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept a travel voucher. If the airline does not respond or does not agree then the passenger can either issue court proceedings or use Alternative Dispute Resolution. If your flight cost more than £100 and was booked using a credit card, you can hold the card provider jointly liable. When things calm down we suspect many passengers will be forced down this route. My flight operated as scheduled but I was unable to go on it. What then?

The fact that the government advised against all but essential travel means travel insurance policies should pay foreign trip cancellation claims provided you bought your policy before the pandemic was declared on 11 March. Miles Brignall

About half of the BA flights scheduled to depart from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 between 9.30am and midday were cancelled or delayed, according to the airport’s website.

It was not until 4pm that BA said it had resolved its computer problems. In a statement, the airline said: “We apologise to all our customers caught up in the disruption, and appreciate how frustrating their experience has been. Our teams have been working tirelessly to get the vast majority of customers on their way, with most of our flights departing.”

It added: “Our flights are returning to normal. However, there may be some knock-on operational disruption.” The airline was still advising passengers to check for flight information on its website before travelling to the airport.

Darren Rowe (@djrowe149) ⁦@British_Airways⁩ ⁦@BBCNews⁩ - here we go again! Chaos! This is only half of one queue! My flight cancelled as are 100’s of others. I had checked-in so need my bag back - others told as checked-in can’t leave T5 without checking out! Happy 100th anniversary #BA pic.twitter.com/xr0DRUieQh

The computer failure is the latest in a series of operational problems to hit the airline in the busy holiday season.

Earlier this week, BA flights were among a total of 177 flights cancelled and then reinstated because of threatened industrial action by Heathrow staff.

The strikes, originally due to be begin at midnight on Monday, were suspended to allow for further talks between union and airport officials.

BA also faces separate strike action from its pilots later this month. In a ballot of the pilots’ union Balpa, 93% of the airline’s 4,000 pilots voted in favour of taking industrial action after rejecting a three-year pay deal. BA lost a legal challenge to the strikes, which are expected to cost the airline £40m a day.

If BA pilots go ahead with strikes, the likely disruption could coincide with five days of walkouts announced late on Wednesday by Ryanair pilots who are members of the Balpa union.

Balpa said that “decades of Ryanair refusing to deal with unions” had led to members voting for a 48-hour strike beginning on 22 August and a 72-hour strike from 2 September.

“No pilot wants to spoil the public’s travel plans but at the moment it seems we have no choice,” said Balpa’s general secretary, Brian Strutton.

A third strike action, by Heathrow ground staff, could still go ahead on 22 and 23 August unless talks result in a compromise.

BA had other problems this week after 200 people had to be evacuated from a British Airways flight after smoke poured into the cabin minutes before it was due to land in Valencia. The crew used oxygen masks as they helped passengers on to the evacuation chutes.

Susanna Way (@SusannaWay) Flights cancelled by @British_Airways - chaos here at @HeathrowAirport

BA has previously been hit by severe computer system failures that have left passengers stranded around the world.

In 2017, over a May bank holiday weekend, 75,000 passengers were stranded when the airline was forced to cancel more than 700 flights over three days.