British Airways Fixes IT Glitch That Caused Flight Disruptions
British Airways System Facing Problems for Check-Ins, Departures
(Bloomberg) -- British Airways said it resolved a systems glitch that forced the cancellation of more than 90 short-haul flights across three London airports on Wednesday, playing havoc with travel plans for thousands of people.
“Our flights are returning to normal, however there may be some knock-on operational disruption as a result,” the airline said in a statement Wednesday. Flights across Europe and the U.K. were affected, with more than 80 scrapped at Heathrow Airport and at least another 10 at Gatwick. Some 200 other flights were delayed, with London City Airport also affected.
The carrier had to switch to back-up manual systems to keep other flights operating, while offering customers refunds or the chance to rebook from Thursday. British Airways urged passengers to check the status of their planned journey before traveling to the airport.
BA has already faced flight disruptions this summer from baggage issues, an earlier information technology problem, and a threatened strike earlier this week by Heathrow ground staff that was called off at the last minute. The carrier is due to restart talks with pilots on Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a walkout that could come as soon as the end of this month.
The problem on Wednesday had also affected the British Airways app, the airline said in a separate Tweet.
To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Katz in London at bkatz38@bloomberg.net;Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tara Patel at tpatel2@bloomberg.net, Christopher Jasper
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