BRITISH Airways passengers are facing widespread delays and cancellations due to what the airline has called a “technical issue”.
BA flights from the US, Asia, and Africa are thought to have been hit by the latest in a series of computer glitches to have hit the company in recent years.
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Some customers said their British Airways flights had been rescheduled to the following day, while others reported theirs had been cancelled altogether.
The airline has not provided details of how widespread disruption has been, but a number of posts on twitter suggested flights to Heathrow and Gatwick from the US, Asia, and Africa have been hit, Sky News reported.
Almost all inbound planes from the US, Mexico, and Canada have been delayed by several hours, MailOnline reported.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “Our teams are working hard to resolve a technical issue which is affecting some of our flights, and we have rebooked customers onto alternative flights and offered hotel accommodation where they have been unable to continue their journeys last night.
“We are very sorry for the disruption to their travel plans.
“We are advising customers to check ba.com for the latest flight information and to ensure that contact details are up to date on their booking, so that we can provide the latest information.”
Rory Boland, Which? Travel editor, said: “This is the latest in a long line of British Airways technical glitches causing delays and cancellations and yet again it’s thousands of passengers who are paying the price – left tired, frustrated and with a lack of information and assistance from the airline.
“BA must do the right thing and reroute passengers as quickly as possible, using other airlines where necessary, as well as informing customers facing disruption about their entitlement to compensation.”
Twitter user Matthew Perry wrote he had been delayed by 22 hours and left “13 hours from home”, the Telegraph reported.
Another user tweeted a picture of a long queue at an arrival gate and wrote: “Thanks BA flight delayed overnight, stuck in Cancun,huge queue to leave the airport,one desk open.
“So apart from losing my husbands case and spoiling the beginning of my holiday you’re now ruining the end.”
Another user tweeted a picture from inside a plane and wrote: “Sitting here at #JFK on the Tarmac 2 hours after landing from #LGW with nary any information on why…. @British_Airways needs to do better.”
British Airways has not confirmed the cause of the delays, but a number of stranded passengers suggested there was a computer problem – an issue that has hit BA multiple times since it upgraded its systems in 2017.
Pater Dampiter tweeted: “Their global flight management system seems to be down.
“Global outage. Stuck at Newark NYC here.”
Liz Yates, who had already made the journey to Gatwick for a flight, wrote: “Apparently there’s a power outage at Gatwick and no flight plans are being released.
“Was supposed to take off ten minutes ago. Now no boarding for up to an hour.”
One passenger who had been due to fly to London from Los Angeles told MailOnline: “The woman I just spoke to said the flight-plan generator had crashed, it seemingly means pilots cannot get journey details and are left stranded.”
In July, BA passengers were hit by delays after a problem with the airline’s check-in systems at Heathrow and Gawick.
In 2018, more than 10,000 passengers around the world were hit by a similar glitch.
Yates later tweeted a screenshot of a text she had received containing the airline’s statement, captioned: “Three hours after I was supposed to leave I get word from BA.”
Michael Miller also criticised the level of communication from the company.
“Just had an email to say our flight has been cancelled less than 24hours before we are due to depart, flight number ba2036 from Orlando mco to London Gatwick,” he wrote.
“No alternative options given and no reason for the cancellation either!!!
“Please explain???”
Can I claim compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight?
Passengers flying with an EU airline or a non-EU airline flying from a EU airport are protected by the Denied Boarding regulations.
This means that the airline must offer you the option of either being reimbursed for a cancelled flight or rerouted on either the next possible flight or on an agreed date.
It must also provide you with meals and phone calls and hotel accommodation and transfers if the rerouting involves an overnight stay.
If you opt for a full refund instead then the airline has to give you the money back for the part of the journey that wasn’t made and any parts already made that are then useless.
You are also entitled to the earliest possible return flight.
You may also be able to get some money back if your flight is delayed by three hours or more and you were flying from or to a European airport, or with an EU-based airline such as Ryanair or British Airways.
In the case of strikes or computer glitches, like the one which affected BA passengers in 2017, you can claim compensation from the airline for cancellations and delays of more than three hours.
In August, thousands of BA passengers were told to go home after an IT glitch led to hundreds of cancellations.
A pilot strike, the first in British Airways’ history, led to chaos at London airports after 200,000 passengers had their flight cancelled.
Further strikes could be announced up until Christmas.
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