Air travelers faced delays Saturday because of a worldwide computer systems failure at British Airways, the airline said.
LONDON — Air travelers faced delays Saturday because of a worldwide computer systems failure at British Airways, the airline said.
BA apologized in a statement for what it called an « IT systems outage » and said it was working to resolve the problem. It said in a tweet that the problem is global.
Passengers at Heathrow Airport reported long lines at check-in counters and flight delays. One posted a picture on Twitter of BA staff writing gate numbers on a white board.
« We’ve tried all of the self-check-in machines. None were working, apart from one, » said Terry Page, booked on a flight to Texas. « There was a huge queue for it and it later transpired that it didn’t actually work, but you didn’t discover that until you got to the front. »
Another traveler, PR executive Melissa Davis, said she was held for more than an hour and a half on the tarmac at Heathrow aboard a BA flight arriving from Belfast.
She said passengers had been told they could not transfer to other flights because « they can’t bring up our details. »
Heathrow said the IT problem had caused « some delays for passengers » and it was working with BA to resolve it.
The problem comes on a holiday weekend, when thousands of Britons are travelling.
BA passengers were hit with severe delays in July and September 2016 because of problems with the airline’s online check-in systems.
