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British Airways passengers facing significant delays as IT glitch affects check-in desks around the world

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  • Passengers travelling with British Airways today are facing huge delays
  • Airline has suffered a major IT glitch with check-in systems worldwide
  • It means airline staff are being forced to check passengers in manually
  • Pictures show chaotic scenes at airports in the UK and U.S. due to issue
  • Lengthy queues reported and BA does not yet know when it will be fixed

Passengers travelling with British Airways today face significant delays after an IT glitch caused serious problems with the airlines check-in systems around the world.

Travellers across the UK and U.S. have already complained of lengthy queues due to the technical problem, and passengers are warned the heavy delays may continue.

Pictures of the chaos posted online show passengers stranded with their bags at check-in desks in major airports around the world including London Gatwick and Chicago O’Hare International Airport, San Francisco, Atlanta and Seattle in the US.

The ‘worldwide computer glitch’ is also causing problems in the Bahamas and Mexico City. One irate passenger said his ‘five hour delay’ was ‘unacceptable’.

Travellers across the UK and U.S. have already complained of lengthy queues due to the IT glitch which is affecting British Airways check-in desks around the world (file picture)

Ewan Crawford, of Glasgow, said he was stranded at Chicago’s International Airport.

He tweeted: ‘Never a good sign when they deliver water to the gate! Waiting at ORD for @British-Airways 296. Worldwide computer outage apparently! Hmm.’

Another passenger stranded at Toronto Airport in Canada said: ‘I guess the check in application is down and it’s worldwide.’

One passenger shared a letter on Twitter which appeared to have been handed out by British Airways staff to passengers hoping to travel to London Heathrow from San Francisco today.

It said the airline had been forced to switch to a ‘manual’ check-in process after the IT glitch wiped out its entire online system - meaning all passengers would be checked-in by hand.

The letter said: ‘Please accept out apologies for the delay to check-in today. At this time we are experiencing problems with the computer systems.

‘As a result, in order to continue to check-in, in absence of the computer system, we will be using a manual fallback process.

‘Once we begin, check-in will be slower than normal, as information has to be recorded by hand.

The airline added: ‘We have been in contact with the relevant departments who are doing all they can to rectify the problem as soon as possible. However, we are unable to ascertain a time when we might expect the systems to be functional again.

‘Whilst we endeavour to provide as close to a normal service as possible there are some aspects that we will not be able to fulfill, such as seat changes after check-in, we as for your understanding with this please.’

British Airways also took to Twitter to assure passengers it was doing ‘everything possible’ to resolve the problem, although it was unable to confirm when it would be fixed.

A spokesman said: ‘We apologise to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience as our IT teams work to resolve this issue.

‘Our colleagues are doing everything possible to check in customers for their journey.’

The airline was still suffering technical issues at 6.15am. It added on Twitter: ‘Hi there, our IT team are continuing to work behind the scenes to resolve the issue.

‘In the meantime our outstations are doing all they can to support our passengers locally, and check-in has been enabled at some airports.’

WHY IS BA’S NEW CHECK-IN SYSTEM SUCH A FAILURE?

British Airways introduced its new ‘intuitive, legacy replacing’ FLY system earlier this year but one source has said it crashes ‘all the time’.

The software is believed to be for every aspect of a passenger’s check-in, from the seats they are allocated and the baggage they are allowed to bring on.

It is also believed to handle the checking of documents like passports - or photo ID for UK flights - as well as visas for countries like the US.

But desk staff are said to have complained about a so-called ‘doughnut of doom’ which can appear when they try to work through the system.

And as they wait for the system to catch up queues will form - and only get worse if the system crashes completely.

Some staff are said to be completely stressed out by the check-in software and even cry on the way to work because they fear what will happen if there are more problems.

A union survey of 700 staff showed workers blamed the introduction of the new system for greater stress.

91% said FLY was not equipped to do the tasks it is meant to, 94% had suffered long delays using the system and 89% felt training was insufficient.

Meanwhile, 94% thought management hadn’t listened to staff concerns and 76% said their health had suffered because of it.

One source told The Sun earlier this summer that a couple heading to Japan for their own wedding were bumped off a flight. It is claimed that that the new system had failed to allocate seats properly because of a glitch.

BA has a number of outsourcing deals for IT systems, including one with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), run by the Indian giant now selling off its British steel plants.

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