British Airways has cancelled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick following a massive global IT failure.

Every departure scheduled on Saturday was cancelled and the airline asked passengers not to come to the airports.

On Saturday night the operator said it intended to run a "near normal schedule" at Gatwick on Sunday and the "majority of services" from Heathrow.

It comes as hotels surrounding the airports charged extortionate prices to stranded holiday makers with some charging between £1,000 to £2,5000 a room for the night.

The chaos happened just after 11am on Saturday when the company's unreliable new IT system crashed worldwide for the sixth time in a year.