British Airways Reports Resolution of ‘Technical Issue’ Following Delays

A “technical issue” led to British Airways passengers being stranded on airport tarmacs at various locations, both within the UK and globally, causing disruptions to the airline’s operations. The airline stated that these problems, which commenced around 17:00 on Monday, have since been resolved. Passengers utilized social media platforms to report waiting in cold conditions for updates regarding their flights. British Airways attributed the delays to an issue impacting some of its computer systems. In a statement, the airline declared: “We’ve apologised to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned.” The company had previously indicated, in an update concerning the disruption, that no flights had been cancelled. Downdetector, a platform that records complaints about non-functional websites, observed a significant rise in reported issues with the British Airways website after 17:00. The full extent of the disruption remained unclear, though reports suggested it impacted flights worldwide, in addition to certain domestic UK services. Simon Calder, a travel expert and journalist, estimated that the issues might have impacted tens of thousands of passengers, despite the delays for affected flights generally appearing to be confined to one or two hours. A passenger posted on X, stating they were “being made to stand on the tarmac in a very cold Verona waiting for an already delayed flight”. Delays were also reported by travellers in Hamburg, Naples, Lyon, and Dusseldorf. Other individuals reported attempting to check in for flights and encountering “systems are down” messages, or that technical difficulties had hindered their ability to book flights. Internal airline sources indicated that the situation was being managed, but concerns persisted regarding potential knock-on effects on Tuesday’s flights due to the evening’s delays. On social media, some travellers mentioned being informed that pilots were unable to produce loading data for their aircraft and were experiencing difficulties reaching colleagues via phone. A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport confirmed awareness of British Airways’ technical issues, while affirming that the airport’s own systems were functioning as usual. This incident marks another instance of British Airways experiencing significant disruption due to an IT failure. Previous occurrences include grounded flights in May last year, a similar event in spring 2017 that affected Bank Holiday plans, and another in February 2020. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.