“Absolute carnage”. “Total shambles”. “Chaos”.

Spare a thought for thousands of hardworking Britons trying to flee the country in search of some sunshine this morning – as well as the poor souls put in charge of manning the British Airways Twitter feed.

This is rubbish @British_Airways the gate closed at 0655 and we are still waiting for people!! Do you ever go on time??? — Ian Bell (@IanBulldogBell) August 2, 2017

The beleaguered airline was inundated with angry messages that could only mean one thing: another IT meltdown.

This morning saw more IT problems for BA Credit: 2017 Getty Images/Jack Taylor

The latest systems failure has spoiled the start of countless holidays, with angry passengers facing long queues and delayed departures, while others have missed their flights altogether – often simply because the airline has been unable to print their boarding pass (for those that do make it across the Channel, further problems await, with long delays at European airports reported thanks to the tightening of border checks).

BA insists the problems have now been resolved, but given that only weeks have passed since the airline's last IT crash, which saw 726 flights cancelled, left 75,000 passengers stranded, and cost it a reported £80m, few would put money on the rest of the summer passing trouble-free.

The airline has been hit by cabin crew strikes this summer Credit: © Greg Bajor / Alamy Stock Photo/Greg Bajor / Alamy Stock Photo

The airline is also in the midst of a bitter pay dispute with its flight attendants. Around one-fifth of cabin crew - members of its Mixed Fleet - have spent much of the summer on strike, and, while disruption has been kept to a minimum, walkouts are due to continue until the middle of August.

Such problems might be forgiven by passengers if BA was still living up to its old nickname, “the world’s favourite airline”. But that ship has long since sailed. In an attempt to compete with its low-cost rivals it has shed just about every service that made it a premium carrier. Free food and drink has been scrapped on short-haul flights (one colleague told me he couldn’t even get a glass of water on a four-hour BA flight recently), passengers must now pay more to travel with checked baggage, and seat selection now comes at a cost. Earlier this year BA also confirmed that two more rows of seats would be squeezed onto its A320 and A321 Airbus aircraft. This will cut legroom in economy class on some flights from 30 to 29 inches - that’s an inch less than Ryanair.

Even BA’s premium passengers are losing their perks, with fresh flowers and free amuse-bouches among the luxuries to be grounded.

Free meals have been replaced with M&S sandwiches

Ridiculous in-flight shortages have also been reported. Flights have been delayed because of a lack of loo roll, while others have run out of the M&S sandwiches that the airline now flogs to fliers instead of giving them a free meal.

The impact of the changes was seen earlier this year with the announcement of the 2017 World Airline Awards, based on the opinions of thousands of travellers. BA, which scooped the top prize as recently as 2006, now languishes in 40th place overall, down from 26th last year – just one place ahead of easyJet but behind Virgin, Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, and, perhaps most notably of all, low-cost long-haul trailblazer Norwegian.

It will be fascinating to see how BA performs at this year’s Telegraph Travel Awards, voted for by readers, having won for the last five years on the trot.



There is one thing that does still identify BA as a premium airline, however. Prices. Telegraph Travel checked fares on five flights from London to popular city break destinations for travel from September 15-17, and not once could BA trump the budget airlines. It barely came close.

Which begs the question: why on Earth does anyone still fly BA? The legroom is no better than that offered by budget carriers. It’s usually more expensive. You pay extra to put luggage in the hold and you don’t get free refreshments. And there’s a chance you’ll be delayed by IT problems or striking staff.

One of the most telling comments on Twitter amid this morning’s chaos was from Nick Williams, who asked: “Has does @britishairways justify its ridiculously high prices over other airlines that offer a much better service/flight in comparison?”

Has does @britishairways justify its ridiculously high prices over other airlines that offer a much better service/flight in comparison? — Nick Williams (@WL11AMS) August 2, 2017

Quite. BA’s response was quick – but hardly satisfactory. “We're disappointed to hear this, Nick,” it tweeted. “It's a matter of opinion and we believe we do provide fantastic customer service to our passengers.”

But Nick had the final say: “It's a matter of a lot of opinions right now.”

We hope BA’s customer service team it ready. It feels like a conversation that could be repeated a few more times before the summer is out.