British Airways: Thousands disrupted as flights axed amid IT crash

[EC]

Serious problems with British Airways' IT systems have led to thousands of passengers having their plans disrupted, after all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick were cancelled.

Passengers described "chaotic" scenes at the airports, with some criticising BA for a lack of information.

The airline has apologised, and told passengers not to come to the airport.

BA chief executive Alex Cruz said: "We believe the root cause was a power supply issue."

In a video statement released via Twitter, he added: "I am really sorry we don't have better news as yet, but I can assure you our teams are working as hard as they can to resolve these issues."

Mr Cruz said there was no evidence the computer problems were the result of a cyber attack.

The airline hoped to be able to operate some long haul inbound flights on Saturday, landing in London on Sunday, Mr Cruz added.

The GMB union has suggested the failure could have been avoided, had the airline not outsourced its IT work.

BA denied the claim, saying: "We would never compromise the integrity and security of our IT systems".

All passengers affected by the failure - which coincides with the first weekend of the half-term holiday for many in the UK - will be offered the option of rescheduling or a refund.

The airline, which had previously said flights would be cancelled until 18:00 BST, has now cancelled all flights for Saturday and asked passengers not to come to Gatwick or Heathrow airports.

Other airlines flying in and out of the two airports are unaffected.

Architect and TV presenter George Clarke was stuck in Heathrow. He told the BBC it was one of the "most turbulent, badly organised days, that I've ever experienced in Britain".

"The lack of communication all day was woeful. There wasn't a single Tannoy announcement all day in the terminal, not a single member of staff came up to us," he said.

"The only time I found out my flight was cancelled was from the BBC News website."

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40069865

It has been somewhat chaotic. In a bit of blind luck, the missus' plane landed about an hour before the computer system crashed.

[INVAR]

Something about that whole things stinks a wee bit more than your usual IT glitch.

Ramadan began last night with prompts from ISIS to do their worst in the West - and the news that passengers were told to LEAVE the airport WITHOUT their luggage.  As in, leave it all behind.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40069865

British Airways tells angry passengers to leave airports without their luggage after IT meltdown sparks travel chaos

'There are people everywhere just sitting around because nobody knows what to do. The whole airport is in chaos.'

Ben Kentish
@BenKentish
18 mins ago


British Airways tells angry passengers to leave airports without their luggage after IT meltdown sparks travel chaos

Furious passengers have told of chaotic scenes at airports around the world after British Airways suffered a huge IT failure that led to all its flights from Heathrow and Gatwick being cancelled.

The airline had announced an initial cancellation of flights until at least 6.00pm early on Saturday afternoon but airport staff had not been informed of the situation and initially told passengers the information was false. BA later said all flights from the two airports had been cancelled for the remainder of the day.

Passengers at Heathrow have now been ordered to leave the terminal but have been told they will not be able to access their luggage for the rest of the day because the baggage system is down. One traveller claimed they had been told it could take a week for their bags to be returned, while another said she had been warned it could take three hours to exit the airport.

BA has been unable to update its website or make announcements at some airports because both rely on the system that has crashed. Staff resorted to writing on whiteboards in an attempt to keep passengers updated.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: "We have experienced a major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide.

"We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this is causing our customers and we are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible."

BA added: "We've found no evidence that it's a cyber attack."

Customers have been left in the dark, with staff giving conflicting information or admitting they did not know what was going on. Customer service representatives are unable to tell passengers with flights booked later on Saturday whether it is likely they will be able to fly.

Emily Wilson, who was due to be flying from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Swedish capital Stockholm, told The Independent the airport was in “chaos”.

“The information kept changing – at first they said anyone who hadn’t checked in would be unable to fly today”, she said. “The staff were confused and were giving mixed messages to everyone.

“Then the news broke on Sky that said all flights before six would be cancelled and a lot of the staff were saying that wasn’t true, that wasn’t genuine information and they hadn’t been informed.

“There’s been a lot of tears from children and families. There are massive queues throughout T5 to try to get out of the airport.

“There have been so many mixed messages. There are people everywhere just sitting around because nobody knows what to do. The whole airport is in chaos.”

Airport chaos as BA cancels all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick

BA staff have told stranded passengers they cannot rebook them on later flights because the IT system remains down.

A number of planes are stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow with passengers aboard because all the terminal gates are currently full.

Passengers took to social media to seek information and express their frustration.

“Stranded in Vienna for three hours already and no indication as to whether we will even get back to Heathrow. Major lack of info”, one wrote.

“Can you at least tell people here stranded at Heathrow [what is happening] instead of [them] hearing about it on media”, another urged the airline.

Another passenger also requested information on what is going on, saying there had been “no info as to what is happening or how long the delay will be”.

A fourth described the situation at Heathrow as “chaos and wall to wall queues”.

[austingirl]

I don't know if we are getting the real story here.

[INVAR]

I don't know if we are getting the real story here.

I've read rumors that the 'hack'/IT crash was a front and cover for the fact that the airline had a credible Jihad threat to it, given everyone was ordered to leave all their luggage in the terminal and no one was permitted to leave with it or claim their baggage that may have been checked through security.