British Airways has cancelled dozens of flights to and from Heathrow today a day after the airline cancelled all short-haul flights due to a major IT outage on Friday evening.
BA today said the technical issues were resolved but some short-haul flights would be cancelled as a result of the weekend’s disruption.
The airline said it has apologised to the affected customers and offered them the choice of a refund or to be booked onto an alternative flight.
Heathrow’s departures and arrivals boards showed dozen of BA flights were cancelled up to around 2pm on Sunday.
The airline suffered the major IT outage on Friday evening, which then caused cancellations, flight delays, with passengers stuck on planes after landing at the airport and baggage piling up, as well as delays for BA customers using Gatwick and London City Airport.
BA previously confirmed the issue was not a cyber attack, and that it related to a hardware issue.
Passengers queuing at Heathrow Airport on Saturday morning after British Airways cancelled all short haul flights
Passengers were forced to queue at the arrivals entrance to terminal five at Heathrow Airport on Saturday morning
Passengers reported receiving emails about flight cancellations just two hours in advance of their flights
British Airways said it had not been attacked and insisted that it was just a ‘technical issue’
Confirming ‘a small number’ of flights would be cancelled today, a spokesman for the airline said: ‘Our teams have worked around the clock to resolve the technical issues we’ve experienced, and the vast majority of our flights today are due to operate as planned.
‘Unfortunately, with some of our crew and aircraft out of position as a result of the weekend’s disruption, we’ve regrettably had to cancel a small number of short-haul flights.
‘We’ve been in touch with affected customers to apologise and offer them the choice of a refund or to rebook onto another service.
‘We’re asking customers due to travel with us today to check ba.com for the latest flight information before they leave for the airport and to check-in online if possible.
‘We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience our customers have experienced and thank them for their patience and understanding during this incredibly frustrating period.
‘We’re doing everything we can to get them to their destinations as soon as possible.’
Hundreds of people were seen 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.
BA’s website and app were inaccessible for hours on Friday evening, preventing customers from checking in online or booking flights.
On Saturday morning, the airline advised customers to check the website for the latest flight information before coming to the airport and said all short-haul flights had been cancelled for the morning.
On Sunday morning, BA customers contacted MailOnline to say the issues were having a knock-on effect at other UK airports.
Joseph Savage said he arrived at Edinburgh Airport this morning to be told his flight to Heathrow was delayed by five hours, meaning he would miss his connection to the U.S.
Mark Yell said the BA check-in desks were empty when he arrived at Manchester Airport.
He said he was forced to get a train to London in order to board his flight from Heathrow to Brazil and said it was ‘remarkable’ how many other passengers were on trains trying to get to the airport.
Passengers due to fly with BA on Saturday morning experienced cancellations, while electronic boards at Heathrow showed major disruption
Photographs of departure boards in Heathrow Terminal 5 showed few flights boarding, while people complained on social media about a lack of information.
Tom O’Regan said he was due to fly from Heathrow to Naples but his flight was cancelled with ‘barely three hours notice’. He said nobody was answering the phone, leaving him and his two young children ‘little choice but to go to the airport’.
Another customer said she was told her flight from Heathrow – which she was taking to see her nephew on his birthday – was cancelled while she made her way to the airport this morning.
Paolo Bischi advised other customers flying from Heathrow on Saturday to ‘not waste time, stay home’ after not being allowed inside the airport.
Maria Rua Aguete said her BA flight to Barcelona from Heathrow had been cancelled on Saturday morning.
Dr Penny Slaney, 62, a consultant radiologist from Worcestershire, who was caught up in yesterday’s delays, told the PA news agency the situation had been ‘absolute chaos’ and the lack of communication from BA was ‘appalling’.
Dr Slaney said she and her daughter were due to be on the 9.15am flight to Salzburg for a holiday before their travel agent managed to move them to the 12.30 flight – but both were cancelled.
‘The lack of communication is the primary issue. We heard about the IT issue from a fellow passenger,’ Dr Slaney said.
She said their family have not been on holiday for three years and are missing a day of their week-long break in Austria.
‘There was no information from BA at all – nothing. The news has told us more about what is going on,’ Dr Slaney said.
‘It has been absolute chaos. I could organise this better’, she said, adding that the staff at the terminal doors checking passenger details looked freezing without any warm clothing.
‘They said to us when we got to the door to “go home”. I think that is very poorly managed.’
At Heathrow on Friday evening, passengers claimed staff had suggested ‘it was probably down to Putin and cyber attacks’.
But BA said it was just a ‘technical issue’.
A source familiar with the situation told MailOnline: ‘It’s absolutely not the case a cyber attack has been carried out.
‘This is a technical issue and all flights are still operating and customers are being checked in.’
The issue also affected passengers who were attempting to fly into Heathrow.
Emma Jewell said she was ‘stranded’ in Iceland with no idea of when she would be able to get home after her flight to Heathrow was cancelled on Saturday.
She told MailOnline that her suitcase was left in London when she flew out to Iceland leaving her ‘with no clothes or appropriate footwear’.
She added: ‘British airways do not answer the phone and there is no option to book another flight through the “manage my booking” area on their website.
‘British Airways have been in the news before with system issues. Is it not time they upgrade to ensure this does not happen again?’
Hayat Wahab said he was stuck in Istanbul, Turkey, for two more nights after his 5.30pm flight to Heathrow was cancelled.
He said he will have to pay extra accommodation costs himself after receiving ‘no instruction’ from BA.
It was BA’s second outage in 10 days and the latest of several high-profile IT incidents to hit the airline.
Last summer BA settled a legal claim over a major data breach that affected 420,000 customers and staff.
The breach in 2018 included the leaking of names, addresses and card payment details and led to the Information Commissioner’s Office handing out a fine of £20 million.
On July 18, 2018, computer problems hit BA operations at Heathrow and the airline cancelled a number of short-haul flights after the incident involving a ‘supplier IT system’.
In May 2017, 75,000 bank holiday travellers were stranded after a glitch forced the airline to cancel nearly 726 flights over three days.
The outage was suspected to have been caused by human error after an engineer disconnected and then reconnected a power supply to the data centre in an ‘uncontrolled and uncommanded fashion’.
The meltdown was blamed by some on aggressive cost-cutting and outsourcing of jobs.
