
British Airways bosses were told their new computer check-in system was 'not fit for purpose' earlier this month before Phillip Schofield had an online meltdown after missing his British Airways flight on one of the busiest flying days of the year.

The TV star, 54, waited for two hours after the airline's new check-in computer system 'FLY' stopped working at the flagship Terminal 5, before having to go home again.

The IT glitch also hit Gatwick and caused huge queues as hundreds of thousands of families start going away for their summer holidays and is the fourth system failure in the past month.

Long queues snaked across terminal buildings yesterday as irate passengers said BA workers were nowhere to be seen or 'pretending to be on the phone'.

British Airways introduced its new IT system earlier this year but one source has said it crashes 'all the time' and claimed check-in staff have been reduced to tears by regular glitches. Some staff fear it may not be able to cope with the summer holiday rush.

Earlier this month union leaders have said that BA staff say FLY 'is not fit for purpose'. A survey by GMB of 700 staff in June found that 89 per cent said training was poor, 94 cent suffered delays or system failures and 76 per cent said their health had suffered because of stress or anger aimed at them by frustrated passengers.

Upset: Phillip Schofield took a selfie of the chaos at Heathrow yesterday and said on Instagram: 'In the queue two hours and not one member of staff to talk to. Love you usually, today you are s***'.

Upset: Long queues snaked across terminal buildings yesterday (pictured) as irate passengers said BA workers were nowhere to be seen or 'pretending to be on the phone', some caught up in the Heathrow chaos yesterday, pictured, said

Delays: BA has asked passengers to expect slower check-ins but some have missed flights completely because of IT glitches, which caused huge queues at Heathrow yesterday (pictured)

Panorama: Queues snaked around Heathrow's Terminal 5 yesterday as check-in ground to a halt again - the fourth time in a month

Scathing: Phillip Schofield was not the only upset person at Heathrow yesterday, with many blasting staff

Mr Schofield live tweeted the chaos at Heathrow Terminal 5 yesterday. Like him some passengers missed their flights because of delays at check-in and either went home or had to stay in hotels.

WHY IS BA'S NEW CHECK-IN SYSTEM SUCH A FAILURE? British Airways introduced its new 'intuitive, legacy replacing' FLY system earlier this year but one source has said it crashes 'all the time'. The software is believed to be for every aspect of a passenger's check-in, from the seats they are allocated and the baggage they are allowed to bring on. It is also believed to handle the checking of documents like passports - or photo ID for UK flights - as well as visas for countries like the US. But desk staff are said to have complained about a so-called 'doughnut of doom' which can appear when they try to work through the system. And as they wait for the system to catch up queues will form - and only gets worse if the system crashes completely. Some staff are said to be completely stressed out by the check-in software and even cry on the way to work because they fear what will happen if there are more problems. A union survey of 700 staff showed workers blamed the introduction of the new system for greater stress. 91% said FLY was not equipped to do the tasks it is meant to, 94% had suffered long delays using the system and 89% felt trainng was insufficient. Meanwhile 94% thought management hadn't listened to staff concerns and 76% said their health had suffered because of it. One source told The Sun last month that a couple heading to Japan for their own wedding were bumped off a flight. It is claimed that that the new system had failed to allocate seats properly because of a glitch. BA has a number of outsourcing deals for IT systems, including one with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), run by the Indian giant now selling off its British steel plants. Advertisement

In a series of social media posts he said: 'In the queue two hours and not one member of staff to talk to. Love you usually, today you are s***'.

He added: 'There's no announcements, no info when the planes left, no help at all'.

A few hours later, having given up, he said: 'On our way back home then @British_Airways'.

It is also the fourth BA systems failure in a month, with similar problems on June 19, July 7 and again on July 13.

One BA source told The Sun that the new IT system could cause a 'summer of holiday chaos'.

The source added: 'The system isn't robust enough for an airport like Heathrow. It's a nightmare'.

Passengers arriving at Heathrow yesterday were confronted with new signs, that say: 'We are currently upgrading our check-in system and with more than 700 flights a day, it's a big change for us. We would like to apologise in advance if it takes longer than usual to drop your bag today.'

Phillip Schofield was among several people who poured scorn on the message, saying: 'What are you upgrading too(sic)? Windows 2.1?!!!'

The software is believed to be for every aspect of a passenger's check-in, from the seats they are allocated and the baggage they are allowed to bring on.

It is also believed to handle the checking of documents such as passports - or photo ID for UK flights - as well as visas for countries including the US.

But desk staff are said to have complained about a so-called 'doughnut of doom' which can appear when they try to work through the system.

And as they wait for the system to catch up queues form, which only gets worse if the system crashes completely.

Some staff are said to be completely stressed out by the check-in software and even cry on the way to work because they fear what will happen if there are more problems.

One source told The Sun last month that a couple heading to Japan for their own wedding were bumped off a flight. It is claimed the new system failed to allocate seats properly because of a glitch.

British Airways began installing its new system at airports across the world in October and the roll-out was completed around two months ago.

BA, which is run by parent company IAG after it merged with Spanish giant Iberia in 2011, is in the process of cutting costs, including across its IT department.

Last month it emerged hundreds of staff at British Airways are set to lose their jobs after an Indian firm was hired to manage its computer systems.

A raft of IT workers were already made redundant in February when Tata signed the contract with BA.

The company, which also owns Ireland's Aer Lingus, has been amalgamating the buying, IT and finance departments as a cost cutting measure.

It has set up a new division of its business in Krakow, Poland, and the airline has begun flying in staff from India to replace UK workers after signing a contract with Tata Consultancy Services to provide IT support, the GMB union claims.

IAG's Global Head of IT Operations is Adrian Steel, who describes himself on LinkedIn as a 'transformational leader with the experience, energy, enthusiasm'.

He also says he is 'responsible for driving the creation of a world class shared services' between BA and its other airlines including Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus.

Mr Steel, who lives in Spain, posted a picture of himself with Kylie Minogue at a charity gala, and is a football fan who secured tickets for several of England's Euro 2016 games and travelled to France in June.

He has regularly flown to Krakow and India to work with the company's business partners there.

Steve Harding is Head of IT Operations and Infrastructure at British Airways.

He describes himself on LinkedIn as a 'charismatic leader with excellent communication and motivational skills'. He has worked for BA's IT department since at least 1999 and is based in London.

It is not known if either Mr Steel or Mr Harding are in charge of the problematic check-in system and BA said today: 'We would never confirm details of individual members of the company'.

Upset: Mr Schofield sent a series of scathing tweets before giving up and going home after missing his flight

Top brass: IAG's Global Head of IT Operations is Adrian Steel, pictured with Kylie Minogue, who describes himself on LinkedIn as a 'transformational leader' while Steve Harding, right, is Head of IT Operations and Infrastructure at British Airways

Yesterday passengers said it was 'mayhem' and said Terminal 5 'is starting to resemble a 3rd World country domestic airport.'

Reporting problems at Gatwick another BA customer said: 'BA systems down at Gatwick. Even more down than usual. Very harrowing.'

Last week some passengers had to be turned away from their flights despite arriving on time due to the computer glitch.

Two-hour, seven-lane queues formed at all BA check-in gates at Terminal 5 as staff struggled to deal with the huge numbers of people, with first and business class passengers the worst affected.

The check-in system also failed in June, causing chaos at Gatwick and Heathrow, and was only implemented earlier this year.

A number of other disgruntled passengers also expressed their frustration to BA on Twitter.

Ben Middleton said he had received no apology for the 'awful queues' at Gatwick, while Rachel Carter pledged to travel with easyJet in future due to BA's 'shocking service' at the West Sussex airport's north terminal.

Marcus Walker described how the 'utter chaos' at Heathrow meant his flight to Rome landed after the last train had left the airport.

Angela Barratt added: 'The service at Heathrow Terminal 5 right now is appalling. I have never seen anything so disorganised in my life.'

British Airways said today they have rebooked people who missed flights and put stranded passengers in hotels if needed.

A spokesman told MailOnline: 'Since last October, we have rolled out a new worldwide check-in system, and so far more than ten million customers have used it successfully.

'The new system replaces outdated software, and provides a more user friendly platform for our staff, which in turn will result in a smoother journey for our customers.

'We have seen some short-lived issues with the new system during our busiest ever summer and our IT teams are working very hard to enhance the system's overall performance.

'We are confident that the new system will benefit our customers in the long term and improve their journey through the airport'

He added: 'We contacted Mr Schofield to resolve the situation and we are very sorry for the disruption to his travel plans'.

In New York in May there was also chaos at a terminal at JFK Airport's Terminal 7, which is owned by BA.

A queue containing 1,500 people formed when the terminal's internet server went down, leaving staff writing boarding passes by hand - and was still broken eight hours later.

BA has a number of outsourcing deals for IT systems, including one with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), run by the Indian giant now selling off its British steel plants.

In an attempt to cut overheads by £75m by 2018 BA bosses were encouraged at the end of June to ask staff to 'volunteer' to take unpaid leave, according to The Register.

Busy times: The summer holiday rush continued at Terminal Five in Heathrow Airport today as BA said its IT problems were resolved

Troubles: BA's new check-in system has caused problems and delays at Heathrow, pictured today, ahead of the start of the school holidays - to the fury of some passengers