British Airways system fails globally, thousands stranded

London : Tens of thousands of British Airways passengers face delays and disruption due to what the airline calls "problems with the computer systems". 

Overnight, travellers from destinations worldwide - and in particular North America - have been turning up at check-in to discover long queues.

At Atlanta, San Francisco and both international airports in New York, there have been chaotic scenes with what has been reported as a “global systems” failure.

A spokesperson for BA said: “We are checking in customers at Heathrow and Gatwick Airport this morning, although it is taking longer than usual. We would encourage customers to check in online before they reach the airport. We are sorry for the delay to their journeys.”

Staff at overseas airports were unable to issue onward boarding passes for connections at Heathrow, which could lead to long queues when the arrive at Heathrow.

Delayed arrivals at Heathrow and Gatwick of over an hour from around 20 airports, including Barbados,Orlando, Toronto, Washington and Hyderabad have been tracked. 

Outbound, flights from Heathrow to Brussels, Paris, Aberdeen and Hamburg have been cancelled, and delays are building for other departures. Long-haul flights to Lagos, Toronto, Houston and Bangalore have been delayed by more than an hour. 

Passengers should turn up at the airport normally unless they are warned of a delay or cancellation, and British Airways has asked them to check in online. 

Airlines rely on computer systems to do everything from issue boarding passes to calculate the weight of passengers and their baggage, and if they fail then the “manual fallback” isn’t always resilient. As recently as 10 days ago, Monarch’s systems at Birmingham airport failed, leaving to delays of four or five hours. A month ago, one of the world’s biggest airlines, Delta, had a systemwide failure which it said was caused by a power cut at its Atlanta hub. 

Flights at London City Airport have been seriously disrupted after a group of protesters occupied the runway. Arrivals have been diverted to Southend and Gatwick, and more than a dozen flights have been cancelled. Departures are delayed by up to four hours. 

Airlines are obliged to provide meals and, if necessary, accommodation for passengers who are delayed by more than a few hours. 

For a three-hour delay on arrival, cash compensation of upwards of £200 may be payable.