British Airways passengers have criticised the “absolute chaos” at London’s Heathrow Airport after all short-haul flights on Saturday morning were cancelled due to a major IT outage.
The issue has also caused flight delays, with passengers stuck on planes after landing at the airport and baggage piling up.
It was confirmed by the airline that the situation had been caused by a hardware issue rather than a cyber attack.
Hundreds of people have been queuing outside Heathrow’s Terminal 5 on Saturday with staff only letting passengers into the building an hour before their flight, due to the backlog inside.
Dr Penny Slaney, 62, a consultant radiologist from Worcestershire, told the PA news agency the situation has been “absolute chaos” and the lack of communication from BA has been “appalling”.
What was the reaction from passengers?
Reaction was not kind from those who had had their journeys affected with such short notice.
Journalist Philip Plickert posted on his Twitter account: "Thank you @British_Airways for cancelling all your flights from Heathrow today and and thank you for not informing customers!"
Thank you @British_Airways for cancelling all your flights from Heathrow today and and thank you for not informing customers!#BritishAirways pic.twitter.com/oOjpZii56M
— Philip Plickert (@PhilipPlickert) February 26, 2022
One passenger was very upset, tagging British Airways in a post on Twitter.
They wrote: "hello @British_Airways! i’d like to complain that you made my girlfriend and me cry because you canceled her flight. very insanely rude of you."
Another wrote: "How many more times does it need to fail before BA fix their IT properly once & for all? All airlines have failures but rarely. Feels like constant issues with BA recently."
Almost all @British_Airways short haul flights from Heathrow cancelled until 12pm today due to IT outage. How many more times does it need to fail before BA fix their IT properly once & for all? All airlines have failures but rarely. Feels like constant issues with BA recently.
— Turningleftforless (@turningleftfor) February 26, 2022
Brady Haran tweeted: "Fool me once, shame on you. Book a flight with @British_Airways, shame on me."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here