British Airways passengers found themselves facing flight delays and grounded planes early on Tuesday morning following a computer fault.
The airline's schedule faced major disruption predominantly on inbound flights to London from North America, according to reports, with planes unable to access the global flight plan system.
A statement from British Airways said: “We’re experiencing delays to some of our flights due to a technical issue with our flight planning. We're sorry for the disruption to our customers' journey, we’re urgently investigating this so that they can travel as soon as possible.”
If your flight has been delayed or cancelled due to the disruption, then you will likely be entitled to compensation.
Have you been affected by travel disruption? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com
Under current rules, you can claim up to £520 in compensation if the delay is the airline's fault, although this depends on a number of factors including the distance of your flight and how long you were delayed for.
It's unlikely the airline will be able to claim extraordinary circumstances which wouldn't entitle you to compensation, as typically technical issues are considered to be the airline's fault.
So, what are your rights?
- If your flight is delayed for more than three hours on journeys between 1,500km to 3,500km, you could claim up to £350.
- If your flight is delayed for more than four hours on journeys over 3,500km, you could claim up to £520.
- If your flight is cancelled entirely, you can either have a full refund (including other flights from the airline you won't use in the same booking), or a replacement flight to get you to your destination.
You can find out more on citizensadvice.org.uk.
The British Airways computer fault is the latest issue in a wave of travel chaos for UK holidaymakers.
Brits are already facing 18 days of travel strikes over Christmas including railways, security and Border Force strikes.
The PCS Union, which represents Border Force, passport and visa workers, announced eight days of industrial action over the Christmas period earlier this month.
It came after Unite and the RMT Union said workers would be walking out of their positions in train stations, on Eurostar and from their jobs as baggage handlers over the festive period.
We've got a day-by-day breakdown of the strikes affecting trains, Eurostar services and airports.
Just this week Eurostar announced it was cancelling all Boxing Day services, which includes 43 trains linking London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
The cancellations have been announced even though none of the train company's staff are on strike, but the company said that wider strikes in the UK were the reason for the planned disruption.
